China's January 08 trade surplus grew by 22.7% over January 07.  Big stuff.  The U.S. economy slows, but China keeps rolling.  The government owns much of the economy there, manipulates its currency, creates barriers to imports, tariffs imports through value added taxes, and subsidizes its own businesses in illegal ways. 

Free trade they say.  Hardly.

China's economy will grow by 10% this year.  Its pollution will grow, adding to the Asian brown cloud drifting across the Pacific and increasing the particulates and carbon in the atmosphere. 

We could balance the trade deficit unilaterally by countervailing the Chinese unfair practices, but we simply don't. 

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