Los Angeles port traffic is up 46.6%. Traffic is up 44.7% in Long Beach, the biggest monthly gain since 2013.
Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, says “This means that the economy is healthy and poised to get better, benefiting from trade that is expanding big and small businesses alike while creating more and higher-paying jobs.”
Mish says “What a bunch of nonsense.”
Before I provide the reason, let’s tune into As U.S. Ports Go, So Goes the U.S. Economy by Matthew Winkler.
You’ve heard it from Donald Trump. You’ve heard it from Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton chimed in. Some famous economists, too. It’s the idea that trade liberalization has sapped U.S. economic strength, and that it’s time to make it stop.
Flourishing U.S. ports tell a different story. Business is booming, and the unprecedented quantity and quality of port commerce announces their role as a leading indicator of America’s strengthening job market and her robust consumers.
Los Angeles and Long Beach, the continent’s two biggest gateways, reported the best February traffic in their histories going back more than a century. Total imports to the U.S. last month increased 27.4 percent from 2015, the most since 2010. Everything from furniture and electronics to apparel and machinery unloaded and distributed via Los Angeles surged 46.6 percent in February, the largest increase since February 2002. Long Beach traffic was up 44.7 percent in the same period, its biggest monthly gain since 2013.
This means that the economy is healthy and poised to get better, benefiting from trade that is expanding big and small businesses alike while creating more and higher-paying jobs.
I am a huge free trade advocate. I side with Winkler on that side of his story. The rest of what Winkler says is total rubbish.
Flashback February 21, 2015: Bloomberg: West Coast Ports Shutdown Averted With Five-Year Labor Deal.
