One positive thing

You know, having to spend a trillion here and a trillion there can really drive up a deficit. You know, past even the extreme measures we normally use to drive up the deficit. But if there's one silver lining to the complete collapse of the world economy, it's this: we've shrunk the way with which we normally explode the deficit.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed by 9.7% to $36.0 billion in January on an across-the-board decline in demand for imported goods, the Commerce Department estimated Friday.

The drop was helped by a continued drop in the average price for a barrel of oil.

Economists have been stunned by the swift deterioration in global trade. Reasons for this are unclear. It seems consumers and businesses around the world are pulling back as the credit crunch sinks its teeth into the newly-globalized economy.

Bust out the imported wine and fancy cheeses, 9.7% trade deficit decline. Now of course that has something to do with the collapse of demand for oil as productivity collapsed, combined with American's buying less shit on margin because they can't afford it due to the economic collapse. See, we can learn. All it takes is the worst economic crisis since the Midwest turned to dust, you know, when our grandparents had to eat that dust for sustenance and to clean up the farm belt, for us to cut our desire to bankrupt ourselves by almost double digits. More likely a fraction of a percent once the oil price drop is factored in.

Still, every cloud....