B. Sanders: Economic Policy estimates that NAFTA has led to the loss of more than 680,000 US jobs...

[Fred Sanders]

1. PNTR with China also permitted the purchase by Americans of cheap Apple and all those addictive electronic products in the millions.

In the tens of millions, thousands and thousands of a vast array of imported consumer products are purchased by Americans, as wealthy America always has - but America has always balanced its massive trade deficit by just simply and easily printing more of the world's only reserve currency, without much consequence, not even inflation.

Amazing.

Americans want cheap products, China can supply the Walmarts and Targets of America with these inexpensive products, American companies can not. Not at the price. American companies simply can not, not without lower production costs.

How can American companies supply the vast array of goods and things so desired by Americans, desired for cheap - when they can all be purchased by import, by using inflated value American currency, up 20 % just in the past year?

The alternative is trade protectionism - and much higher product costs and possibly lower quality leading to lower purchases....and loss of jobs in America as well.

There is a perfect balance between protectionism and all out free trade, maybe. Who is going to take a stab at finding it and then committing the decision to ink and paper?

I trust Obama, not to be perfect, but to be the perfect person most likely to find the balance and, as importantly, least likely not to totally screw it all up.