When politicians propose that we need to a have a trade surplus, what do they do to achieve this?
Isn’t it private firms that engage in international trade?
Inflation.
Yes. But when you devalue your currency, you make your goods more appealing on the international market. You create illusory and artificial comparative advantages.
Real wealth and real monetary value is created and/or acquired ONLY when the members of a family (or a nation, tribe, city-state, etc.) plant, grow and/or harvest something of commercial value from the earth, extract something of commercial value from the earth, provide professional services (medical, legal, dental, engineering, architecture, accounting, land surveying, technology, etc.) to others outside of that family, and/or manufactures or constructs something of commercial value that is consumable (or permanently useful for income or rent) and then SELLS, LEASES OR RENTS these items and/or services to parties outside of their family, IN RETURN FOR A NET TRANSFER OF GOLD, CURRENCY OR COMMODITIES from other parties outside of their family into their own family. The members of that family can reflect their real wealth with the accumulation of grain, gold, cattle, jewels, land, buildings, commodities and/or other marketable products for reserve use in times of emergency and/or also to raise the standard of living for the members of that family.
Did the Biblical Jacob squander his assets unwisely and then became hungry when a famine occurred? Did Jacob sacrifice all of his cattle to his god? Or sell his assets for food & wine to have a bunch of parties? Did Jacob burn his tents, grain and other assets as sacrifice to his god? When the Jacob’s family faced starvation, Jacob took his family to Egypt where there was grain stored and hoarded by the greedy Egyptians to insure the survival of Egyptians during times of drought and famine. Jacob and his descendants probably submitted themselves to be slaves of the Egyptians in return for food and shelter. Is the US government repeating these actions?
The USA is Bankrupt! Instead of redeeming our freshly printed US dollars and other currency with gold, the US government is allowing these freshly printed US T-Bills, Bonds, or other Securities to be redeemed for title to privately owned businesses, factories, casinos, hotels, farms, land, ports, breweries, refineries, forests, ports, breweries, refineries, and other privately owned assets located in the USA (that were created by previous US generations) to foreigners in order to pay foreigners to manufacture our imported products that we consume, rather than have US citizens work to produce the things that we consume and also to pay for growing US government expenses that are in excess of our federal tax collections.
When the USA has no more privately owned assets to sell to foreigners in industrial countries in return for freshly printed US T-Bills, Bonds, or other Securities, those foreigners will not buy any more of our freshly printed US currency. Foreign manufacturers will then stop accepting US dollars for the consumer products that we continue to import. The US government will then not be able to sell any US T-Bills, Bonds, or other Securities to raise US dollars from these foreign manufacturers to pay for our US government expenses and/or our imported consumer products.
The USA has almost entirely ceased to generate wealth for future US generations. Instead the USA has elected to sell or export our existing wealth, including title to privately owned businesses, factories, casinos, hotels, farms, land, ports, businesses, refineries, forests, ports, breweries, refineries, and other privately owned assets located in the USA that were created by previous US generations in order to pay people in foreign countries to manufacture the things that US citizens consume, and also to pay for expanded US government expenses when the expenses exceed the taxes raised by the US government Taxes by selling freshly printed US bonds, T-Bills and other US paper currencies. The US government is selling our children’s means of creating future wealth, in order to pay for the imported products that US citizens consume instead of producing these products ourselves, and also to pay for US government payrolls, hiring of the unemployed to dig holes today then re-fill the same holes tomorrow, pork barrel projects with imported construction materials, free educations, provide free medicine, subsidized housing, humanities, art, music, writing poems, make-work schemes, entertainment, etc., and/or similar things that does not contribute positively to correcting the basic structural problems with our economy.