Read this regarding people's misunderstanding of macroeconomic factors, primarily the trade deficit. Think the economy would boom if we had a trade surplus? Well we had a trade surplus in the 1930's. We also had a little thing called "The Great Depression." Right now we have a trade deficit and since 2001 the U.S. has created over 9.3 million new jobs. Countries/economic zones with trade surpluses, Japan and the European economic zone foremost among them, have created a fraction of that total. Many of the countries in Europe have trade surpluses, and most of those countries have stagnant economies where it's very tough to find a job. The U.K. and Spain, like the U.S., have trade deficits, and they have created far more jobs since 2001 than European countries that have trade surpluses. Which economy would you rather be in? We tend to think of trade deficits as bad because the media that reports on deficits has little understanding of macroeconomics, and also like to ignore historical fact when it goes against their ignorant agendas.

An example to give you an idea why a trade deficit is not bad. I go to the grocery store and pay them money and they give me goods. Never does the opposite happen. So I run a permanent and irreversible trade deficit with the grocery store. Does this mean I am starving, that I have no job, that the grocery store now has power over me? No.

I want to mention that the trade deficit and the government budget deficit are different things. And a lot of journalists, and thus a lot of average citizens, do not understand this.