Exporting is done by putting a special block down near your sculpture, house or what have you, and giving it a few parameters: how many blocks in this direction to capture, etc.
Even the economy's one bright spot, exports, is doing little for employment.
Aside from the fact that a large percentage of U.S. commodity exports are done via increasingly difficult-to-obtain letters of credit that are supported by European banks, U.S. banks possibly are sitting on a pyramid of undisclosed so-called "balanced risk" on debt issued by European Union countries.
Exports are doing well, shrinking the gaping current-account deficit.
But while exports are doing well, the price of exports is falling.
"Even though infrastructure development is slow, the other two pillars of the economy — i.e., domestic consumption and commodity exports — are doing well," he said.
Replacing nuclear or gas – as US coal exports are doing in other parts of the world – would reverse the study's conclusion.
"You can import as much oil as you want, you can pay for it because your reserves are high, and your exports are doing reasonably well even though they may not have done so well in one or two quarters.
Normally, petitions for safeguards or limits to exports are filed after the damage is done and can be measured.
So what is the evidence for the continental model being better?The continental countries certainly have not escaped the recession: France may be doing a bit better than the world's other big rich economies this year, but Germany, dragged down by its exporting industries, is doing significantly worse.
