It turns out that just 4 categories out of a few dozen, Clothing, Oil & Energy, Automobiles, and Electronic commodities such as TV's and VCR's, accounted for some $370 Billion of a $411 Billion trade deficit last year. Oil and natural gas deficits are a sign of a very strong economy, not a weak one. It would be one thing if Americans were willing to pay $15 for a pair of underwear and $25 for a t-shirt but they are not. Ditto for low value added electronic commodities which will never be made here, and lets hope they won't since that would mean we would be a 2nd world country.
Certainly, we could benefit to export more than the $277 million that we did of automobiles but the $150 Billion we imported was again, a sign of strength. More to the point, while our jobs and pay were supposedly melting away, our exports more than doubled and imports almost tripled in the last 10 years. If anything, these figures show that the rest of the world is just too damn poor for their own good.
But fortunately is as relevent as buchanan is himself.
How much of that was paid in cash? People might have 3 televisions and feel they are very well off but in the past people could buy a house in 15 years, pay few taxes on it, buy a car in 2 years, many now have 5 year loans just on their cars. I don't see someone with a new car sitting in their driveway as being a wealthy person unless I know it's completely paid-for. People living in the red are not wealthy. We've redefined wealth to mean how many things you're paying for but it doesn't mean financial solvency at all anymore.