Exports Alive and Well

Today's Washington Post tried to snuff the one bright spot in the economy -- U.S. exports to China. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

Some U.S. exports have slowed, sure. Especially raw materials that we send to China for fabrication into the products that we then import again. So cotton into khakis. Plastic into toys. Our demand for consumer goods is slowing, so the inputs that we export to China to make these goods is slowing, as well.

But that's only half the story. Exports of higher value goods to China continue to grow. Boeing is selling aerospace products to China. Caterpillar is selling equipment. Accenture is selling consulting. Contrary to popular opinion, China is the assembler to the world, not the factory to the world, and still lags decades behind the U.S. in its capability to make most higher value goods and services.

So as China spends its vast savings to prop up energy, health care, housing, infrastructure, agriculture and other sectors of its economy, China's demand for higher value U.S. goods and services will continue to grow -- creating jobs here in the U.S.