11-26-2004, 08:58 AM
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Too lazy to set a custom title
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 12,240
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Quote:
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Americans need to save much more so they aren't relying on foreign lending to fund the federal government and to satisfy their huge craving for imports. In the fiscal year just ended, the U.S. government ran up a $413 billion budget shortfall. The current account, the broadest measure of trade and investment and capital flows, is headed for a $620 billion deficit this year. That means foreigners are essentially lending America nearly $1.7 billion a day to support its lifestyle. Much of that shortfall is being covered by the governments of China, Japan, and other Asian countries in the form of purchases of U.S. Treasuries. Naturally it's increasingly difficult for Washington to bargain on tough trade issues when it is also going begging to its trading partners for one more loan.
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I post on GFY so that when people ask me what I do,
I can tell them that I work with the mentally retarded.
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