Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Home Equity, Personal Income, and the Trade Deficit

D'oh!

It is typically used when Homer injures himself, realizes that he has done something stupid, or when something bad has happened or is about to happen to him.


Click to enlarge.

I have removed the area in yellow from the red trend line. Other than the massive debt and sluggish growth that remains, it is almost like that era never happened. Woohoo.

Now that I've done that, we all better hope that the red trend line doesn't continue. The following chart shows a similar trend line that better not continue, although much of the damage has already been done.


Click to enlarge.

June 18, 2012
So-Called Free Trade -- Bad Policy and Wrong Debate

In our NAFTA and WTO debates, advocates of so-called free trade promised us a rising standard of living, balanced trade and millions of good new jobs. Instead, U.S. companies shifted 2.4 million jobs abroad, while eliminating 2.9 million jobs in America. Our cumulative trade deficit since NAFTA is over $7 trillion. Our economy is de-industrializing, and we are losing strategic opportunities to produce the next generations of products.

These are fundamental flaws in our trade policy that lower our standard of living -- well worth a serious public discussion. Nineteenth century "free trade" theory may work well in a textbook, but it has profound conceptual, economic, social, environmental, and political shortcomings in our real 21st century global economy.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Home Equity / Disposable Personal Income
St. Louis Fed: Trade Deficit / Disposable Personal Income

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