Anemic GDP Growth Fueled by Massive 4Q Trade Deficits

In a report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that relied on figures from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, it was announced that the U.S. trade deficit recently rose by more than 10% as total exports declined and imports increased substantially. This resulted in a trade deficit of a whopping 47.8 billion dollars for the month of Nov. 2011. In layman’s terms, that simply means that we are buying a lot more goods and services from other countries than what we are selling to them.

In real dollars value, November exports dropped from October’s revised numbers by $1.5 billion dollars while imports increased by $2.9 billion.  Despite President Obama’s recent claims of fluffed up numbers of jobs created or saved due to the signing of the free trade agreements [that sat on his desk for almost 3 years before he decided to send them to Congress] the big jump in the U.S trade deficits once again proves that the president is either misinformed or misleading the public, to put it nicely. This also explains the root of the quagmire-like economic growth stats that show us mired in a measly last quarter of 2011, GDP growth statistic of just 2.0%. 

This information also goes hand in hand with the facts presented in this article on Obama’s beans and rice economy being sold to the citizenry as a steak dinner. Three years into President Obama’s first [and only] term as POTUS, and the fact is that the U.S. economy is stagnant at best. The 2012 presidential elections will indeed be all about jobs and the economy, and with proven statistics such as the November 2011 trade deficit jump to $47.8 billion dollars, Obama needs to be made a one and done President, no matter who wins the GOP nomination. We need jobs to get this economy moving forward,  Mr. President, not more campaign speeches. All the speeches in the world can not hide President Obama’s job-killing policies of the past three years.