The trade deficit has turned very oily lately - The Curious Capitalist - Justin Fox - Economy - Markets - Business - TIME
Justin Fox looks at a graph:
And writes:
The trade deficit has turned very oily lately: The U.S. economy remains globally competitive and may even be headed for a trade surplus ex-oil within the next few years, barring another investment bubble like houses or tech stocks. And... that our addiction to oil is costing us big-time. Whether that cost is something we really ought to worry about depends on whether the current high oil price is the artifact of an investment bubble or a sign of things to come...
Two quibbles.
First, we ought to worry about our addiction to oil even if the oil price drops a lot in the near future. Even if we don't pay for oil at the pump, we pay for it in terms of the additional global warming disaster risk we assume.
Second, this "competitive"--the U.S. can have an export surplus if the dollar drops far enough. It may be "competitive" at a lower standard of living than other countries, but "competitive" and "uncompetitive" are not clarifying adjectives in this discussion.
