In a great Foreign Policy piece, Clyde Prestowitz debunks the notion that the U.S. is enjoying export-led growth.  While Prestowitz has long been an advocate of boosting U.S. exports to grow the nation's economy, he said that, unfortunately, this isn't happening of late, despite some unnaturally cheerful media predictions:

...the chronic U.S. trade deficit has been rising steadily for the past twelve months and that the current account deficit is now well above the 3 percent of GDP level considered sustainable by most economists....

Of course, it would be wonderful to double exports. But if attention to that diverts the President and others from noticing that imports continue to rise more than imports, we are very likely to fall into a new crisis.

Prestowitz says we face an "export dodge"-- namely that the "present system is actually disadvantageous to the U.S. economy."  Exports may rise, but imports are skyrocketing.  So the pundits play a bit of disinformation and "emphasize how well our exports are doing and how much they are contributing to growth."

Good for Prestowitz, calling it like it is.

Read his full editorial.