Testimonyto the Trade Deficit Review Commission byJohn H. Makin.

On trade, President Obama has only moved the country to where it was in mid-2007. On the deficit, he has moved the country backwards.

The agreement that extended the debt limit has been very controversial. Even Republicans have questioned whether it was responsible to go to the brink with the country's credit standing at stake. But given the severity of the county's debt position, "grand bargains" involving tax increases are not a viable option.

When serious action on the international economic front is deferred for a couple of years, institutions deteriorate, problems fester and grow, and resolutions to address these issues may be undercut by new crises that demand attention.

Question for the super committee: Why are you there, if not to make history and improve the lives of Americans? You all have a rare, maybe unprecedented chance to do something remarkable. Don’t blow it.

Under the Obama healthcare plan, Medicine is undergoing industrialization as doctors become owned commodities of large hospitals and health plans.

There is a disconnect between U.S. policymakers' sense of what global rules of economic conduct ought to say and what they actually say, and a meeting with a pre-set mandate to address imbalances would offer the best opportunity to defuse some of those festering tensions.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 25, President Obama is expected to present a plan to improve the economy and reduce unemployment through competitiveness and innovation.