The non-recovery in U.S. trade

On a forum I visit, someone posted a graph of global trade in nominal terms and claimed it was irrefutable evidence that Obama has really turned the economy around.

The graph was provided without context, but a smart and skeptical poster tracked down the source data on global trade.

So anyway, I spent the last little while building up some line graphs out of the currency-adjusted trade volumes coming in and out of the United States from August 2005 to October 2009.

Nominal worldwide data doesnt demonstrate a real American recovery
Nominal worldwide data doesn't demonstrate a real American recovery

We are indeed, “off the bottom” in that our international economic activity is higher than its lowest post-bubble point. However, there is definitely no indication of a trend toward recovery and I’m pretty certain the momentum is pointing toward further declines and new lows.

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