Another Drink? Sure. China Is Paying. - required reading

[housewolf]

Another Drink? Sure. China Is Paying.

GUESS who's paying for America's spending binge - for the ballooning credit card bills, the scramble for homes, the country's gaping budgetary hole? Poor countries have become the financiers of the United States, fueling one of the most extravagant consumption drives in world history.

From 1996 to 2004, the American current account deficit - which includes the trade deficit as well as net interest and dividend payments - grew to $666 billion from $120 billion, swelling the nation's demand for foreign financing by $546 billion.

The cash has come mostly from what the International Monetary Fund defines as emerging markets or developing countries - nations that have piled up mountains of cash even though most of their citizens are poor. High on the list is China, whose per-capita gross domestic product of $1,300 last year was a thirtieth that of the United States. Others are Russia, where G.D.P. per head was $4,100, and India, where it barely topped $600.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/business/yourmoney/05view.html?

[GeorgeGist]

1. And the US GDP per head....

$40,100 in 2004. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html#Econ

Apparently that isn't enough.