Obama's Trip to Asia Is Money Well Spent

President Obama writes in the NYT today about the need to increase our exports:

AS the United States recovers from this recession, the biggest mistake we could make would be to rebuild our economy on the same pile of debt or the paper profits of financial speculation. We need to rebuild on a new, stronger foundation for economic growth. And part of that foundation involves doing what Americans have always done best: discovering, creating and building products that are sold all over the world.

We want to be known not just for what we consume, but for what we produce. And the more we export abroad, the more jobs we create in America. In fact, every $1 billion we export supports more than 5,000 jobs at home.

It is for this reason that I set a goal of doubling America’s exports in the next five years. To do that, we need to find new customers in new markets for American-made goods. And some of the fastest-growing markets in the world are in Asia, where I’m traveling this week.

The great challenge of our time is to make sure that America is ready to compete for the jobs and industries of the future. It can be tempting, in times of economic difficulty, to turn inward, away from trade and commerce with other nations. But in our interconnected world, that is not a path to growth, and that is not a path to jobs. We cannot be shut out of these markets. Our government, together with American businesses and workers, must take steps to promote and sell our goods and services abroad — particularly in Asia. That’s how we’ll create jobs, prosperity and an economy that’s built on a stronger foundation.

It would seem to be economic common sense that this is true, so I wish him well, and I think it's definitely a good use of his time and taxpayer dollars.

And I really doubt that it's costing $200 million dollars a day!! Whatever it costs (and I'm sure it's comparable to what other Presidents have spent on trips like this) is money well spent, it seems to me, an investment in America's economic strength.  The Right-wing is acting like a bunch of imbeciles in their criticism of this.