In a speech to APEC in Yokohama on Friday 12th, President Barack Hussein Obama called for surplus economies such as China, Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, and Germany, to end reliance on exports for growth. “For too long many countries oriented their economies toward producing for export,” he proclaimed (does he also mean Columbia, I wonder), “rather than consuming at home—counting on the United States to import more of their goods and services than they bought of ours.”
This is rich coming from America which for the best part of the 20th Century until 1984, made its wealth by exporting coca cola, junk food, agriculture, cars, wall street, deadly tobacco products, cheap films, computers, pharmaceuticals, aircraft, and massive amounts of arms to people who could least afford it. While the money was coming in, NO US President complained to a world forum that they were raking it in at other’s expense. Now we suddenly have these crocodile tears.
In 1999 Clinton claimed that the US Government budget surplus would be $1,000bn (£600bn) higher than previously planned over the next decade and a half. The government's coffers were supposed to have been boosted by the strong economy, which then was supposed to have registered nine straight years of economic growth—the longest peacetime boom in history. The Clinton administration further said it wanted to use the budget surplus to pay off the entire $3,700bn national debt by 2015.
By 2001 the national debt was $5.7 trillion and little sign of any “pay off.” We are now in 2010 and the US budget has a deficit of some $13,000bn—thanks to the CR card mentality of both the US government and its people. On January 28, 2010, the US debt ceiling was raised further to $14.3 trillion dollars. Only the banks are smiling. It is a “Las Vegas” country which spends, spends, and spends again—all on credit. Every facet of the US economy is in trouble, barring the huge porn industry, Wall St. and arms peddling. It is hedonism gone berserk. Now Hussein Obama complains that people are making money from America, rather than as it used to be, America gouging out money from the rest of the world. When America was getting fat on its exports, where were the complaints?
Public debt $13.2 trillion (July 2010) 88% of GDP. As of 2009 US households, businesses, and governments owed some $50.7 trillion of debt, representing more than 3.5 times the annual gross domestic product of the United States. It is a country fiscally out of control.
