1952 the international reserve position of the U.S. has fallen from 50% of the world's total to a 2.4% ratio - - a 95% drop. The decline continues.
• Many other productive nations now have up to 23 times more foreign reserves backing up each of their children than we have backing ours, and their lead is increasing as the U.S. continues with massive trade deficits and record high internal private sector debt ratios, with nil savings. With 5% of the world's population, America consumes over 20% of world imports.
• The U.S. is the world's largest debtor, a long fall from being the world's largest creditor when I was a young worker.
• For the past 30 years the U.S. increasingly has been unable to adequately compete internationally to balance its trade with the rest of the world to export sufficient goods to balance and pay for its imports. Massive deficits soared. Even the information technology sector is in deficit, and for the first time food imports exceeded exports.
• The U.S. economy is less independent than prior generations yet one quarter of the economy depends on international trade in goods, 3 times more than before - and foreign entities own more and more of our assets than we do theirs - while our education quality suffers relative to others.
• The merchandise import ratio has soared five times, from 3% of national income in the mid-1960s to today's 16% ratio - - while the export ratio has failed to improve despite numerous devaluations of the dollar.
• As the U.S. manufacturing base declined 60% the economy realized significantly less capacity to produce goods needed domestically or desired internationally - - assisting import ratios to national income soaring 5 times.
• While the U.S. energy production base declined, energy consumption zoomed and the U.S. has become more dependent on imported foreign oil and natural gas than ever before, as graphically shown in the Energy Report. The oil consumption-production gap is a whopping 71%, as consumption soars and production and reserves continually decline. At the time of World War II the US produced all the oil it needed, even exporting to others. No longer.
• For most of the 20th century the U.S. 'wrote' most of the rules for world trade. No longer.
• For a long time the U.S. dollar was unchallenged as the world's reserve currency. No Longer !
• Year 2005 trade performance produced a $782 billion merchandise trade deficit, the largest negative trade balance in history.
• Cumulative trade deficits since 1985 total $5.7 Trillion - - producing a negative international net worth of $5 Trillion.
• And, these trade deficits are owed to non-Americans - - not to ourselves.
• Our annual international trade deficit is 35% larger than Social Security spending, 50% larger than all defense spending, and 2.5 times larger than Medicare. This International Trade Report, together with the chapter called America's Total Debt Report, proves we are living way beyond our means.
For decades Americans enjoyed the game of consuming more than we produce, borrowing from the future to make-up the shortfall with unprecedented ratios of domestic and foreign debt increasing much faster than national income. These are dramatic facts, with significant long-term implications for the currency, international economic power, relative standard of living, and possible national security of our nation's children into the future.
This lack of savings and over-borrowing from foreign interests cannot continue forever.
http://mwhodges.home.att.net/reserves.htm
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