[1rudeboy]

I couldn't figure-out where Mr. Buchanan gets his trade figures. For example, auto and auto part exports have been firm, and agriculture makes up just 8% of our total goods-exporting picture. I figured that he simply needed to make his point. But then I took a closer look at this excerpt, emphasis added:

After airplanes, our No. 1 export in terms of a trade surplus is ... soybeans. Corn is next, followed by wheat, animal feeds, cotton, meat, metal ore, scrap, gold, hides and skins, pulp and waste paper, cigarettes, mineral fuels, rice, printed materials, coal, tobacco, crude fertilizer and glass. Airplanes aside, the United States has the export profile of an agricultural colony.

Clearly, the "export profile" of the U.S. does not bother Pat a whit, as by his standard, we should export more corn and soybeans and concentrate on that increasing that share of agricultural goods exports from 8%. In other words, Pat (the economist) correctly identifies some of the comparative advantages, but Pat (the Luddite) looks at the largest exporting country on the globe and sees an "agricultural colony." His supporters, meanwhile, skip right-over the passage I emphasized. Nothing is more important than their faith in the idea that our economy sucks and that no one but Pat can save them.

[dennisw]

Clearly, the "export profile" of the U.S. does not bother Pat a whit, as by his standard, we should export more corn and soybeans and concentrate on that increasing that share of agricultural goods exports from 8%. In other words, Pat (the economist) correctly identifies some of the comparative advantages, but Pat (the Luddite) looks at the largest exporting country on the globe and sees an "agricultural colony."

Advanced nations export high value added, manufactured goods. That's how Japan has run  a trade surplus for three decades. Usually it's third world nations that try to pay for imported manufactured goods by selling raw agricultural commodities abroad.