Buy Imports For Economic Health

Consider, for example, this recent claim by Morici: "(T)oo many of those
dollars were spent on imports that did not return to buy U.S. exports -
the gap between new imports and new exports was lost demand for U.S.
goods and services."

He's talking nonsense.

Dollars that foreigners don't spend on U.S. exports are emphatically not
"lost demand for U.S. goods and services." Instead, these dollars are
invested in the U.S. And being invested in the U.S., they create demand
for U.S. goods and services no less than if they were spent to buy U.S.
exports.

The dollars the Chinese invest in U.S. Treasuries become demand for U.S.
goods and services - demand expressed by Uncle Sam or by private
citizens who sell bonds to China and who then spend in America the
dollars they earn on those sales. Likewise, the dollars the Swedish
furniture retailer Ikea invests in building stores in America become
demand for U.S. goods and services - demand for the likes of
construction materials and construction workers in America.



Read more:
http://triblive.com/opinion/donaldboudreaux/2740507-74/dollars-public-ec
onomic-demand-foreigners-goods-services-america-americans-buy#ixzz290XfR
jMH

Government is all about picking winners and losers and using its
monopoly on coercive force to back up their picks - in this case,
tariffs, the poor suffer from loss of choices, fewer jobs, and decreased
competition for their consumer dollars.