Trade Deficit Increases. . . or Does It?
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) just announced that the country’s current account deficit for 2011 was $473.4 billion. This number includes transactions like exports and imports. Cue the “sky is falling” headlines. However, the BEA did not point out that the overall U.S. international transactions deficit was $0. That means the number of dollars leaving the country and the number of dollars entering the country in 2011 balance out. Clearly explaining this information might reduce the number of inaccurate reports on the trade deficit’s impact, such the Associated … More
