KenH
Well-Known Member
"In The Wealth of Nations, the great economist Adam Smith wrote, “If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them …. In every country it always is and must be the interest of the great body of the people to buy whatever they want of those who sell it cheapest. The proposition is so very manifest that it seems ridiculous to take any pains to prove it; nor could it ever have been called in question had not the interested sophistry of merchants and manufacturers confounded the common sense of mankind. Their interest is, in this respect, directly opposite to that of the great body of the people.”
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Trade deficits or surpluses will always occur and will vary by product and from country to country. Keep in mind, you may buy lots of things from Amazon or Whole Foods yet they never buy anything from you. That’s a huge trade deficit on your end. But it does not matter because both parties benefited. The same economic relationship exists on the international level."
- rest of article at https://www.cato.org/blog/ignore-politicians-trade-deficits-dont-really-matter
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Trade deficits or surpluses will always occur and will vary by product and from country to country. Keep in mind, you may buy lots of things from Amazon or Whole Foods yet they never buy anything from you. That’s a huge trade deficit on your end. But it does not matter because both parties benefited. The same economic relationship exists on the international level."
- rest of article at https://www.cato.org/blog/ignore-politicians-trade-deficits-dont-really-matter