What, the war in Iraq doesn't count?

U.S. Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High

WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit soared to an all-time high of $725.8 billion in 2005, pushed upward by record imports of oil, food, cars and other consumer goods. The deficit with China hit an all-time high as did America's deficits with Japan, Europe, OPEC, Canada, Mexico and South and Central America.


The Commerce Department reported Friday that the gap between what America sells abroad and what it imports rose to $725.8 billion last year, up by 17.5 percent from the previous record of $617.6 billion set in 2004.

You'd think the crack economic team at the White House would come up with some way to use the spending on the Iraq war to offset some of these unbelievably bad numbers. When the dollar collapses, we'll all be scrambling for outsourced jobs in tech support call centers.