U.S.A. in Deep the Hole

It's not bad enough that the wild deficit spending of the Bush administration has driven down the value of the dollar to record lows -- so low that the euro is fast replacing the dollar as the new world currency.

Now comes the serious imbalance in U.S. trade -- we're buying much more than we are selling -- and that imbalance now places America as the most imbalanced nation of 163 nations surveyed by the number crunchers at the CIA.

The "current account" of the balance of payments for each nation is the sum of the balance of trade, (exports minus imports of goods and services), net factor incomes (such as interest and dividends) and net transfer payments (such as foreign aid). Both government and private payments are included in the calculation. A current account surplus increases a country's net foreign assets by the corresponding amount, and a current account deficit does the reverse.

By that measure, the U.S. is deep in the hole.

The balance of trade is typically the most important part of the current account. This means that changes in the patterns of trade are key drivers in the current accounts of most of the world's economies. However, for the few countries with substantial overseas assets or liabilities, net factor payments may be significant. Together with net capital outflow, they are a major measure of how much a nation invests abroad or how much foreigners invest in that nation.

The latest current account CIA figures show 66 countries with a surplus, including China with a whopping surplus of  US$250 billion. Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Russia all have surpluses of over or near $100 billion. Even Switzerland's current account plus balance is $64 billion.

At the very bottom of the 163 nation list is the poor old United States with a current account balance of minus -$811,500,000,000 

For more information see LINK: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html