According to the latest US statistics as reported in the February 28 issue of Manufacturing and Technology News, in 2007 imports were 14 percent of US GDP and US manufacturing comprised 12% of US GDP. A country whose imports exceed its industrial production cannot close its trade deficit by exporting more. —Paul Craig Roberts writing in "A Bankrupt Superpower - The Collapse of American Power"

No problem. We'll just "ramp up" production, as business school graduates are fond of saying, to close the gap. Of course this assumes that we can produce more of something that someone wants to buy.

Oh I forgot—this will also require capital, and the "credit crunch" means that no one, at least anyone local, is willing to cough it up. No problem. We can get the capital by selling off ownership of American industry, banks and infrastructure to foreign competitors.

Problem solved. The global "free market," promoted by the United States for so long, will come to the rescue. And what a wonderful insight into the mechanisms of Third World exploitation this will provide.

Tags: news and politics economics import-export statistics trade imbalance capitalism foreign acquisitions