07 February 2017 (13:55 UTC-07 Tango 06) 19 Bahman 1395/10 Jumada l-Ula 1438/11 Ren Yin 4715
U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed that the past four years of the 2nd term of Barack Obama did nothing to reduce the trade deficit between the United States and the rest of the world: “For 2016, the goods and services deficit increased $1.9 billion, or 0.4 percent, from 2015. Exports decreased $51.7 billion or 2.3 percent. Imports decreased $49.9 billion or 1.8 percent.”
But wait, the devil is in the details and Donald Trump can’t blame China as the data shows the trade deficit with the country he loves to hate (along with Mexico) actually declined: “The deficit with China decreased $20.1 billion to $347.0 billion in 2016. Exports decreased $0.3 billion to $115.8 billion and imports decreased $20.4 billion to $462.8 billion.”
Who can we blame? We could blame Obama for not being anti-oil like so many of his blind faith followers think he is.
According to the data, the overall trade deficit increase (for the entire Gregorian year of 2016) came mainly from the drastic U.S. petroleum industry cutbacks in production, and massive layoffs (as I’ve documented on BlindBatNews), in an effort to force the price of oil back to record highs: “Exports of goods decreased $50.5 billion to $1,459.8 billion in 2016. Exports of goods on a Census basis decreased $47.9 billion. * Industrial supplies and materials decreased $28.2 billion. o Fuel oil decreased $6.5 billion. o Organic chemicals decreased $3.8 billion. o Other petroleum products decreased $2.9 billion. * Capital goods decreased $20.1 billion. o Drilling and oilfield equipment decreased $3.7 billion. o Other industrial machines decreased $3.0 billion. Net balance of payments adjustments decreased $2.5 billion.”
The other culprit was the evil banking industry (Wells Fargo anybody?): “Exports of services decreased $1.3 billion to $749.6 billion in 2016. * Financial services decreased $7.3 billion. * Charges for the use of intellectual property decreased $4.4 billion. * Other business services, which includes research and development services; professional and management services; and technical, trade-related, and other services, increased $5.2 billion.”
Just remember, this all happened under Obama’s watch.
OBAMA LEGACY: MUJAHIDEEN RE-TAKE MORE OF AFGHANISTAN