The NYT told readers that Obama must worry about maintaining the confidence of world financial markets because the United States has a trade deficit. This is not true as can be easily shown. Suppose that foreign investors refuse to buy U.S. bonds. This would have two effects. First it would drive down bond prices (pushing up interest rates). Second it would drive down the value dollar. Higher interest rates would be bad news right now, but we know how to counter this effect. The Fed just has to buy up long-term Treasury bonds. It can buy as many bonds as it needs to keep interest rates low. Would this cause inflation? That's not likely given the severity of the downturn. We have 7.2 percent unemployment and it's rising fast. That's not an environment that is conducive to inflation. The second issue, the fall in the dollar, is something that must happen in any case. Clinton gave us an over-valued dollar, which Bush largely maintained. The result was a huge trade deficit. The only remedy for our trade deficit is a lower dollar. (Remember, we have ostensibly been pressuring the Chinese to raise the value of their currency [i.e. lower the dollar]). If large budget deficits are the mechanism that finally gets the dollar down to a sustainable level then it will be just one more benefit from the stimulus program. Rather than being a problem, as the NYT tells readers, this is an important part of the solution for getting the U.S. economy back on a sustainable growth path.
--Dean Baker