posted on August 13, 2004 05:25:42 PM
WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit widened much more than expected in June, hitting a record $55.8 billion as the biggest drop in exports in nearly three years combined with record imports, the government said on Friday.
Wall Street economists had expected the deficit to widen, but looked for a gap of just $47 billion. In its report, the Commerce Department also revised May’s trade shortfall to $46.9 billion from the previously reported $46.0 billion.
The department said exports fell 4.3 percent to $92.8 billion in June, the biggest decline since September 2001 and the weakest performance since February.
At the same time, imports climbed 3.3 percent to an all-time high of $148.6 billion, partly reflecting a run-up in oil prices.
Crude oil prices hit $33.76 a barrel, according to the department’s measure, the highest price since March 1982. The quantity of crude imported also rose to a record level.
While other recent data had led economists to expect an upward revision to the government’s measure of second-quarter economic growth, the trade data was likely to lead them to lower their sights.
In its first snapshot of the second quarter, the government said U.S. gross domestic product advanced at a 3 percent annual rate, a sharp slowdown from the swift 4.5 percent pace at the start of the year.
The trade report showed the politically sensitive trade gap with China widened to a record $14.2 billion as exports eased and imports soared to an all-time high. U.S. manufacturers and labor groups complain that Beijing’s policy of holding the value of its currency, the yuan, steady against the dollar has given it an unfair trade advantage.
The Bush administration has claimed it is making progress getting China to move toward a more flexible currency regime, but Democrats want to ratchet up the pressure with a trade investigation.
The report also showed the U.S. trade gap with Mexico reached a record.
For the first half of the year, the trade gap came in at $287.7 billion, putting it well ahead of the same period last year and on track to break last year’s record $496.5 billion.
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on August 14, 2004 08:51:05 PM
Cheryl crude oil price just went up again. Come November the GOP will stand for Get Out and Push.
News of an explosion at the Whiting, Indiana refinery also helped push U.S. front-month September light crude to a record $46.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before closing at $46.58, up $1.08, or 2.4 percent, on the day.
posted on August 14, 2004 09:38:44 PM
Of course somebody's economy got better...just ask Oprah, Ted Turner, the Clintons, the Mellon family, Bush family, over paid movie stars, over paid sports stars, corporate executives and anyone one else in the richest 1% of the population.
posted on August 15, 2004 05:51:34 AM
stop driving so much,stop eating so much,stop running your washer so much,dry your clothes on the clotheseline.
read a book and clean house.
grow your own food,wash car,eat at home.
feel free to add more chores we could all do.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on August 15, 2004 06:12:29 AM
stop driving so much,stop eating so much,stop running your washer so much,dry your clothes on the clotheseline.
read a book and clean house.
grow your own food,wash car,eat at home.
feel free to add more chores we could all do.
You forgot to mention, getting rid of the internet and ebay and then perhaps we can all go wash clothes down by the river and mow the back forty with our trusty oxen while the wife churns butter in the kitchen. Then once a week we can shower and go to church.
Let's have a BBQ, Texas style, ROAST BUSH
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YOU CAN'T HAVE BULLSH** WITH OUT BUSH.
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We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union....
.....one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for ALL.
posted on August 15, 2004 06:27:07 AM
Stopwhing: "stop driving so much,stop eating so much,stop running your washer so much,dry your clothes on the clotheseline.
read a book and clean house.
grow your own food,wash car,eat at home.
feel free to add more chores we could all do."
Been there , done that.
Now it's time for life in the United States of America to become better.
OR,
How far back should we go......no TV
no more sports,
no more sports stadium shoved down our throats by greedy politicians for their rich friends,
no Humvee to drive to the video store,
no more videos,
no overpriced sucker electronic gimmicks,
no grocery stores,
no power tools,
Actually this is starting to sound pretty good to me but when do we stop......when we're in mud huts ???????????
posted on August 15, 2004 06:35:36 AM
just think,we will all fit into clothes we bot and think we will all lose weight soon to wear them.
instead of joining a health club or tanning booth,find a job at supermarket pushing carts inthe parking lot,good workout,suntan and get paid doing it.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on August 15, 2004 07:03:26 AM
My oh my where is all that oil we invaded Iraq for?
Economy hasd slowed due to the rise in oil production and of course the election, business owners maybe holding off on hiring because they want to see if a traitor is elected or we keep the strong leader we have today...
even though it does look bad on President Bush, it continue to improve... and it is improving just not as fast as was hoped and does depend on where you live...
posted on August 15, 2004 09:15:32 AMMy oh my where is all that oil we invaded Iraq for?
The pipelines had to be shut down last week because all those people we "liberated" were going to blow them up.
business owners maybe holding off on hiring because they want to see if a traitor is elected or we keep the strong leader we have today...
Business has been slowing down for the whole of Bush's term because the business owners figured out the Supreme Court put a retard and deserter in the White House.
even though it does look bad on President Bush, it continue to improve... and it is improving just not as fast as was hoped and does depend on where you live...
Nothing has improved during his term. With Bush in office things can only get worse.
