Marcy Kaptur: “Mr. Speaker, this long-term trade deficit is not sustainable. With depressed wages in this country, ultimately we are…”

“Mr. Speaker, this long-term trade deficit is not sustainable. With depressed wages in this country, ultimately we are buying all of this on credit, and the credit is overseas. We are getting close to $2 trillion of debt. Forty percent of the Treasury debt of the United States is owned by foreigners. Our number one trade deficit is with China, not the country with the best interests of the United States in mind, in my opinion, anyway. I do not consider China to be a great ally or friend of the United States. Number two is Japan. Number three is Canada, obviously a close relationship with the United States. Then Mexico, Germany, Taiwan, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, and Ireland. Those are the countries with whom we are accumulating this huge and growing debt. This is of tremendous concern. As we undermine the buying capacity of the American people and the industrial might of the United States, and ultimately when they one day ask for their money, their $2 trillion that they are owed, we are going to have the IMF and the World Bank dictating terms because this is not a sustainable system. We cannot borrow money year after year after year.”