Michele Bachmann, the new Joseph Goebbels

Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann opened the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington Thursday with a speech focused on America's debt. Referring to President Barack Obama, she said: "With all the money that we owe China, I think you might correctly say, Hu's your daddy."

According to Census Bureau data, 1985 was the year in which trade with China started becoming lopsided in China's favor. 1985 lay in the midst of the presidency of Ronald Reagan, Bachmann's #1 hero.

And using the same Census Bureau data, 2008 was the year trade with China became most lopsided: we exported 69,732.8 and China imported 337,772.6, both in millions of U.S. dollars. 2008 lay at the tail end of the presidency of George W. Bush, Bachmann's #2 hero.

Here is a graph of the Census Bureau data through the end of 2010. Note how the trade deficit with China has steadily increased regardless of the occupant of the White House, with a slight reduction in 2009-10 due to the onset of Depression 2.0.


The trade imbalance in 2007 was 258,506.0; in 2008 it was 268,039.8; in 2009 it was 226,877.2; and in 2010 it was 252,384.0; all in millions of U.S. dollars. All four figures were to China's favor. Therefore Obama is not nearly as bad as Bush the Younger with respect to our trade deficit with China.

So it appears that Bachmann's daddy is Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi master of propaganda.