US Trade Tide Moving in the Wrong Direction
Once again, rhetoric from the Obama administration has trumped action. President Barack Obama’s pledge to double exports in five years is off to a rocky start. Tax relief and support for U.S. exporters has failed to materialize. The result is the U.S. trade imbalance continues to grow. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased to $558 billion in 2011 from $500 billion in 2010. That’s up 11.6 percent from 2010 as imports continue to rise much faster than exports. As a percentage of U.S. gross domestic product the goods and services deficit was 3.7 percent in 2011, up from 3.4 percent in 2010. For December 2011, the trade deficit increased to $48.8 billion from $47.1 billion in November. Every indicator is going in the wrong direction despite the emphasis placed on exports by... Read More
US Trade Tide Moving in the Wrong Direction
Once again, rhetoric from the Obama administration has trumped action. President Barack Obama’s pledge to double exports in five years is off to a rocky start. Tax relief and support for U.S. exporters has failed to materialize. The result is the U.S. trade imbalance continues to grow. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased to $558 billion in 2011 from $500 billion in 2010. That’s up 11.6 percent from 2010 as imports continue to rise much faster than exports. As a percentage of U.S. gross domestic product the goods and services deficit was 3.7 percent in 2011, up from 3.4 percent in 2010. For December 2011, the trade deficit increased to $48.8 billion from $47.1 billion in November. Every indicator is going in the wrong direction despite the emphasis placed on... Read More
Cherry-Picking the Employment Numbers
The White House trumpeted an unemployment figure of 8.3 percent as great progress. That would be encouraging if it were true. It’s not. The administration selectively chose the data that seemed to indicate a drop in unemployment while ignoring any numbers that would detract from their findings. Interestingly, this is exactly how the first unemployment figures were tabulated in 1878 by Carroll D. Wright, chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of the Statistics of Labor. According to the New York Times, he circulated a survey that asked town assessors to estimate the number of local people out of work, but only count adult men who really want employment. “By doing this, Wright said he understood that he was excluding a large number of men who would have liked to work if they could have found a... Read More
Cherry-Picking the Employment Numbers
The White House trumpeted an unemployment figure of 8.3 percent as great progress. That would be encouraging if it were true. It’s not. The administration selectively chose the data that seemed to indicate a drop in unemployment while ignoring any numbers that would detract from their findings. Interestingly, this is exactly how the first unemployment figures were tabulated in 1878 by Carroll D. Wright, chief of the Massachusetts Bureau of the Statistics of Labor. According to the New York Times, he circulated a survey that asked town assessors to estimate the number of local people out of work, but only count adult men who really want employment. “By doing this, Wright said he understood that he was excluding a large number of men who would have liked to work if they could... Read More
A Wealth Gap or a Crisis of Confidence?
Winston Churchill once wrote: “You don’t make the poor richer by making the rich poorer.” If he were sitting in the House chamber during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, Churchill would have been flabbergasted by the contention that a “wealth gap” was the cause of the nation’s woes. It’s not a wealth gap that is slowing recovery – it’s a crisis of confidence in Obama’s ability to lead the nation. Some of history’s most accomplished leaders, like Churchill, got their inspiration from time honored thought leaders and statesmen. In his State of the Union Address, Obama got his inspiration from the Occupy movement, and catered to this largely discredited group. This agenda is fraught with peril. It is clear that rather than face the lingering unemployment... Read More
A Wealth Gap or a Crisis of Confidence?
Winston Churchill once wrote: “You don’t make the poor richer by making the rich poorer.” If he were sitting in the House chamber during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, Churchill would have been flabbergasted by the contention that a “wealth gap” was the cause of the nation’s woes. It’s not a wealth gap that is slowing recovery – it’s a crisis of confidence in Obama’s ability to lead the nation. Some of history’s most accomplished leaders, like Churchill, got their inspiration from time honored thought leaders and statesmen. In his State of the Union Address, Obama got his inspiration from the Occupy movement, and catered to this largely discredited group. This agenda is fraught with peril. It is clear that rather than face the lingering... Read More
A Cautionary Tale About Brain Drain
If you’re following the financial mess in Europe, the U.S. economy in comparison doesn’t look that bad. Yes, the United States is suffering through its worst economic malaise in more than a generation but our entrepreneurs, small business owners and inventors are giving us hope by slowly getting us back on our feet. That’s not the case in Europe, which is experiencing a domino effect as once financially viable countries are drowning in debt and are in danger of defaulting. What we do have in common with Europe is some of our best and brightest people are leaving our labor force, for many of the same reasons. Currently in Europe, the economic downturn is driving tens of thousands of skilled professionals away from their home countries. Spain and Portugal have been hit hardest by the flight... Read More
A Cautionary Tale About Brain Drain
If you’re following the financial mess in Europe, the U.S. economy in comparison doesn’t look that bad. Yes, the United States is suffering through its worst economic malaise in more than a generation but our entrepreneurs, small business owners and inventors are giving us hope by slowly getting us back on our feet. That’s not the case in Europe, which is experiencing a domino effect as once financially viable countries are drowning in debt and are in danger of defaulting. What we do have in common with Europe is some of our best and brightest people are leaving our labor force, for many of the same reasons. Currently in Europe, the economic downturn is driving tens of thousands of skilled professionals away from their home countries. Spain and Portugal have been hit hardest... Read More
Welcome to the Department of Global Commerce
Last week, President Barack Obama asked Congress for authority to close the Commerce Department and create a new export agency. Obama wants to put the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM), Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), the Trade and Development Agency (TDA), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and parts of the Commerce Department under a new roof — something that has been kicked around for years. As I point out in my book “Conscientious Equity,” we have created a bloated behemoth government infrastructure to manage our global trade relations that is uncompetitive and inefficient. Our exporters aren’t getting the support they need to combat foreign governments that erode our access to markets by erecting... Read More
Welcome to the Department of Global Commerce
Last week, President Barack Obama asked Congress for authority to close the Commerce Department and create a new export agency. Obama wants to put the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM), Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), the Trade and Development Agency (TDA), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and parts of the Commerce Department under a new roof — something that has been kicked around for years. As I point out in my book “Conscientious Equity,” we have created a bloated behemoth government infrastructure to manage our global trade relations that is uncompetitive and inefficient. Our exporters aren’t getting the support they need to combat foreign governments that erode our access to markets by... Read More
