TRADE DEFICIT $300 BILLION BELOW LAST YEAR, COULD THAT BE DUE TO OIL PRICES?

So, I read the report on the trade deficit and shockingly no where is oil mentioned. We import about 20 million barrels of oil a day. At today's approximated $60 per barrel that is $1.2 billion dollars a day in trade deficit. Multiply times 30 days in the month and $36 billion per month is our trade deficit with the world in oil. If my numbers are correct, then we would have a trade surplus if it weren't for oil imports!!! Please someone correct me if I am wrong!
Let's look at last year when oil was, say an average of $120 per barrel. Those are easy numbers, all other variables the same then our trade deficit would be $72 billion per month. Wow, read the article, last year we averaged $56.75 billion per month in trade deficit. I guess all other variables were not the same.
The REALITY IS the trade deficit is breaking this country, our wealth being shipped to other countries. Folks, this is a redistribution of wealth, in other words a TAX. This is easily curred, stop importing oil. That would break the backs of countries like: Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and affect others in the middle east, but those in the middle east don't need any more money.
I know we can't stop importing oil over night, but we can pass regulations that equalize the playing field for clean energies. REMEMBER, big oil has had the help of favorable regulations for years and today is still subsidized by the US Government or Tax payer for 10's of billions of dollars per year.
OK, just some food for thought.
Just my opinion...Jeff Cameron

Trade Deficit Widens to $27.6B

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP

WASHINGTON (May 12) - The U.S. trade deficit rose in March for the first time since last July as the global recession cut sharply into sales of American exports. The politically sensitive deficit with China increased.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday the deficit widened to $27.6 billion in March, slightly lower than the $29 billion gap that economists had forecast.

The March deficit was 5.5 percent higher than February's revised $26.1 billion trade gap, which had been the smallest since November 1999.

Through the first three months of this year, the deficit is running at an annual rate of $359.7 billion, far below last year's $681.1 billion. Economists expect the deficit will remain at low levels this year as a recession in the U.S. crimps demand for foreign goods.

Read the rest of the story: http://money.aol.com/article/trade-deficit-widens-to-276b/471938

ENERGY COSTS DRIVE INFLATION

SHOCKER! No way is this a shocker, Hello, with oil near $150 per barrel, everything is getting more expensive. There is only so long that business can absorb this expense before passing it on to the consumer. WE NEED AN ENERGY PLAN TODAY! We ship over $60 billion a month to other companies for oil. Why? Because we have let the big oil companies keep our addiction up and high. I don't like government intervention, but if a $1 tax on gas had been applied 10 years ago at an incremental pace, then our SUV's would be getting 40 MPG today and gas would be around $3 per gallon including the tax. We would not be sending our equity to the OPEC nations.

Just my opinion,

Jeff Cameron

Inflation Rate Hits 26-Year High
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER,
AP
WASHINGTON (July 16) - U.S. consumer prices shot up in June at the fastest pace in 26 years with two-thirds of the surge blamed on soaring energy prices.The Labor Department reported that consumer prices jumped 1.1 percent last month, much worse than had been expected. Energy prices rocketed upward by 6.6 percent, reflecting big gains for gasoline, home heating oil and natural gas.The big rise in prices cut deeply into consumers' earning power with average weekly wages, after adjusting for inflation, dropping by 0.9 percent in June, the biggest monthly decline since 1984.
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/inflation-rate-hits-26-year-high/20080716092709990001

US EXPORTS SET NEW RECORD, BUT OIL SQUANDERS

The week dollar has boosted exports to an all time HIGH. Awesome for the exporters. But oil imports wiped the whole gain out. That was on an average price of oil below $100 per barrel.
the deficit was $60.9 Billion dollars, the highest in over a year. People we just gave one of our $60 billion companies to the rest of the world Or 2 $30 billion companies Or 6 $10 billion companies Or any mix. The trade deficit is what countries use to go to war over. One country would have the best economy and the others would have to send them all their gold. They then fought to get it back.
We need to fight to stop the Bleeding of America's savings. We can fight by becoming Energy Free. We can fight by having a better Education System. We can fight by ending the thoughtless purchase of worthless trinkets imported from evolving companies. We can fight by recognizing the problem and working together to fix the problem.

Trade deficit jumps to highest level in 13 months
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER,
AP
Posted: 2008-06-10 08:53:15
WASHINGTON (AP) - The trade deficit jumped to the highest level in 13 months in April as America's bill for foreign crude oil soared to an all-time high.The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the gap between what the nation imports and what it sells abroad rose by 7.8 percent to $60.9 billion, the largest imbalance since March 2007. The April deficit was $4.4 billion higher than the March imbalance of $56.5 billion.The deterioration in the deficit was driven by a $4.3 billion increase in crude oil imports which jumped to a record $29.3 billion in April, as the average per barrel price rose to an all-time high of $96.81.Oil imports are expected to climb further in coming months given that crude oil has continued its relentless rise and is now trading above $130 per barrel.U.S. export sales totaled $155.5 billion in April, up 3.3 percent to an all-time high, reflecting big gains in sales of commercial aircraft, farm machinery, medical equipment and computers. But this increase was swamped by a 4.5 percent rise in imports, which also set a record at $216.4 billion, reflecting the huge increase in oil as well as big gains in imports of autos and consumer goods.
Read the full article: http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/trade-deficit-jumps-to-highest-level-in/n20080610085309990019

OIL DROPS TO $122

We have seen the dot com bubble grow and burst. We have seen the housing bubble grow and burst. Has the oil bubble grown enough, is it time to burst. I sure hope so. Talking about American greed. Investors buying up oil futures and running up the price are un-American. This is hurting everything right now, plus sending an additional TRILLION dollars to the OPEC nations in profit. How much of that money will end up in the hands of terrorists? The extra income is supporting regimes in Venezuela, Iran and Russia from dealing with the west. They don't need us, they are getting our money through oil.
OK, what just happened. I started off mentioning oil and went into a tirade.

Let's hope this bubble burst too, I would like to see oil back between $40 and $75 per barrel.

Just my opinion,
Jeff Cameron

DESPITE ADDICTION TO OIL, US TRADE DEFICIT IS DOWN IN 2007

The good news is the US trade deficit shrunk in 2007 by 6.2%. The bad news is we passed $711.6 Billion of our equity to the rest of the world. That is equal to giving the following companies to the rest of the world's investors:

Coke
McDonalds
Home Depot
Citigroup
Motorola
Microsoft
AT&T

Most of that deficit is due to oil imports and the price of oil today. We import 11 million barrels of oil per day. At $90 per barrel, then we are sending $990 million American dollars to other countries. That is near $1 Billion dollars a day. That is over $360 billion dollars a year, which is more than half of our trade deficit. If we lowered oil to $45 per barrel, then we could lower our deficit by $180 BILLION PER YEAR. In that case we would keep Home Depot and Citigroup as American owned.
Below is the article about the trade deficit.

Trade Deficit Eased Last Year
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER,
Associated Press
Posted: 2008-02-14 09:34:08
WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite a soaring foreign oil bill and another record deficit with China, the overall U.S. trade deficit declined in 2007 after setting records for five consecutive years. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the deficit dropped to $711.6 billion last year, a decline of 6.2 percent. The trade deficit with China continued to rise, jumping by 10.2 percent to $256.3 billion. That was the largest gap ever recorded with a single country, as Chinese imports surged despite a string of high-profile recalls of tainted products. The Bush administration credits its free trade policies for spurring strong growth in exports while critics contend that even with the lower overall deficit, the imbalance is still nearly double what it was in 2001, the year Bush took office. For December, the deficit fell by 6.9 percent to $58.8 billion, a bigger-than-expected improvement to close out the year. Analysts said the decline in the dollar over the past two years has helped spur strong increases in U.S. exports, with American goods now cheaper and thus more competitive in many overseas markets.
Read the full article at: http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/trade-deficit-eased-last-year/n20080214093409990007