The Skeptical Optimist: Trade deficit? Or trade surplus?

Great post from the Skeptical Optimist... read the whole thing and then read the research paper (don't worry... it's short and easy to read).

The Skeptical Optimist: Trade deficit? Or trade surplus?: "Ever wonder why economic doomsday hasn't arrived yet? I've been hearing that economic calamity or collapse is only a decade away - for at least the forty years I've been paying attention, anyway. Fifteen years ago was when I started looking at the other, more optimistic side of the argument (...the side that still never gets any airtime), and started finding the growth and prosperity arguments that predicted economic outcomes far better than the doomsday folks had.

Specifically, why hasn't the trade deficit cratered our economy and standard of living yet? Is all that survival gear, canned food, and bottled water we were supposed to sock away going to rot, while doomsday keeps us waiting, waiting, waiting? "