I've been thinking a lot about the US Trade deficit today and I know that there really is a lot we can do [as Americans] to do something about our economy. The most important thing that needs to be done for our economy is that we need to stop buying products from abroad. More products that are made in the US need to be purchased by ourselves (and foreigners.)

Next time you have a choice between two products and don't know which one to get, check the label. If one is made in the US, pick that one. Even though it's just one product, it can make a major difference.

If you're really bored (or really interested in the topic,) you can check out the top exports by state, how much was exported (in value) in the last few years, what percentage of US exports the state accounts for, to which countries each state exports, and a lot more. You can do this at the US Census Bureau website here.
This is actually really interesting. For example (statistics for 2006), Michigan's largest export are PTS & ACCESS OF BODIES OF MOTOR VEHICLES, which account for 8.4% of Michigan's exports. Also, Michigan accounts for 3.9% of the US exports. That means it's picking up the slack from another state (not that it's a problem or anything.. just soliloquing, here.) Any state which accounts for more than 2% of the exports, is picking up the slack from another state. I wonder which states aren't exporting as much. Also, the fact that PTS & ACCESS OF BODIES OF MOTOR VEHICLES accounts for 8.4 percent of Michigan's exports and that Michigan's exports account for 3.9% of all US exports means that PTS & ACCESS OF BODIES OF MOTOR VEHICLES account for a little more than 0.3% of all US exports. Those little parts (the ones made only in Michigan, at that) account for more of the US exports than ALL the exports that West Virginia contributes. 0.3% is actually quite a large number considering that the parts contribute directly to lowering the deficit.

On the flip side, we're talking about car parts and not cars as a whole. This means that these car parts are likely being sent to foreign countries to be actually assembled into cars. This action would actually contribute to the rising deficit by negating in part (or in whole,) any "closing in" on the deficit the actual making of the parts (in Michigan) would do.

"Because we don't export as much as we import, we must either curtail our international shopping or continue to buy on credit and add further to our trade debt."
--Lou Dobbs

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