The United States Current Account Balance

[FourScore]

Scroll down...thats right...keep scrolling...more...moooorrre...yep, down there...Waaayyy down there.

Oh Shit, are we in trouble or WHAT???

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html

[Subdivisions]

1. Holy Cow! Everything Tuvalo gets has to be boated in and yet,

despite the fact they are sinking into the ocean, they still manage to operate at a surplus. Now THAT's fiscal responsibility!

[FirstLight]

2. Oh my freaking GAWD

No dubya, "That ther war don't got nuttin' to do with that ECONOMY thang..."


we are so royally fucked, it is all an illusion, the rest of the world thinks we are the richest nation? now that's funny.
:scared:

[Angela Shelley]

8. The "rest of the world" knows the facts,

it´s the American public who have decided to look away and keep smiling!

[bdamomma]

13. it is denial, and the truth will be smacking alot of people hard

in the face.

oh, that list says it all doesn't it? this cabal should be impeached, is it pitchforks and torches time, or do people have to be in the streets, oh, wait they are already without their homes.

[tabatha]

3. Wow.

The "socialist" countries certainly do better.

[slipslidingaway]

4. That's great, the U.S. has the highest number...

:sarcasm:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

Economy - overview:

"...Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households...

Imported oil accounts for about two-thirds of US consumption. Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits, and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups. The merchandise trade deficit reached a record $847 billion in 2007. Together, these problems caused a marked reduction in the value and status of the dollar worldwide in 2007."

[Elwood P Dowd]

5. Were it not for our worthless dollar, the amount would be much higher.

The total budget and current account deficits are close to 1.2 trillion dollars a year when use "real" figures and not Bushitler's cooked books. Ain't free trade and trickle-down economics wonderful?

[Shadoobie]

6. Coalition of the Willing

I see a lot of our friends from the coalition of the willing at the bottom with us. Even Poland. I wonder if that is a coincidence...

Greg

[Angela Shelley]

9. Poland will receive large sums of money

from the US, as an incentive to allow the US to place military equipment in Poland.

[laconicsax]

7. We're number 1! We're number 1! We're number 1! We're number 1!

:woohoo:

Oh...wait...shit.

[troubleinwinter]

10. The CIA has a "Kid's Page" with games???!!! WTF?!

https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/index.html

[MiniMe]

11. We're number 163, we're number 163. Woot, way to go George

Dead last. Amazing. Terrific job of bankrupting the country Bozo.

[FourScore]

22. LOL.

"We're number 163!" :rofl:

[kansasblue]

12. Current Account Balance?

I think a little more explanation would help. What are they exactly talking about?

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. The difference in the value of the goods and services the whole of the US imports

against those it exports. A deficit, such as the US (or UK) has, means the country buys more stuff from abroad than it sells. To pay for this, the country (as a whole - ie we're not just talking the government here) must sell off American-owned assets (like companies, or real estate) - whether they're assets abroad it already owns, or assets inside the US; or borrow money from abroad. In the long term, something will have to change - you can't run a deficit forever (it might be a collapse of the dollar, for instance, making imports really expensive, but US exports very cheap - in that case, the US would consume and import less, because people personally couldn't afford it, but US exports would be more competitive around the world, so they'd sell better).

[kansasblue]

16. Thanks!

I just wish they would label it better because you can just send someone that link with out more background.

[FourScore]

18. Thanks! I didn't know that. n/t

[kineneb]

20. import-export balancing will not work - manufacturing has been offshored

we don't make anything, anymore...except weapons and fast food...

"Would you like fries with that bomb, sir?"

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. Well, in reality, the US still makes a fair amount of stuff

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#Econ

Exports: $1.14 trillion (2007 est.)
agricultural products (soybeans, fruit, corn) 9.2%, industrial supplies (organic chemicals) 26.8%, capital goods (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment) 49.0%, consumer goods (automobiles, medicines) 15.0% (2003)

And a fair amount of that appears in the imports list too - as well as exports, a devalued dollar would mean Americans would switch to US goods, since they'd become relatively cheaper. And remember that even if a computer is assembled in Taiwan, say, some of the selling price comes to the parent company if the design and marketing is done in the US.

[dysfunctional press]

15. it looks likw WW2 didn't work out so bad for germany and japan after all...

:shrug:

things can go pretty well when you don't have to worry about being overwhelmed by criminally enormous military spending.

[kineneb]

21. and you start with all-new factories

unlike the old ones we abandoned in the Rust Belt... Japan and Germany (with the Marshall Plan) rebuilt their manufacturing sector in the 50s-70s with state-of-the-art new factories, since we conveniently bombed the old ones during WWII. They have kept renewing them, not letting them fall apart as we did. They are both net exporters.

[dysfunctional press]

23. considering our wealth of resources, both natural and human, it's disgusting that we aren't as well-

net exporters, that is.

we keep "maintaining" our standard of living by selling big chunks of our country & industry to foreign investors to bail our asses out when something "goes wrong" and some group of white-collar criminals has ripped us off to some unbelievably mind-numbing extent yet again.

what happens when we have nothing left to sell them?

[Coexist]

17. How many of the bottom ten spent $ military in Iraq?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_force_in_Iraq
http://www.findmapping.com/show.php/iraq-coalition/member-countries

154 Portugal $ -18,530,000,000 2007 est. - Withdraw Date : Feb-05

155 Romania $ -20,950,000,000 2007 est. - Troops : 405

156 France $ -35,940,000,000 2007 est. -

157 Turkey $ -36,270,000,000 2007 est. -

158 Greece $ -36,400,000,000 2007 est. -

159 Australia $ -50,960,000,000 2007 est. - Troops : 550

160 Italy $ -57,940,000,000 2007 est. - Withdraw Date : Nov-06

161 United Kingdom $ -111,000,000,000 2007 est. - Troops : 5000

162 Spain $ -126,300,000,000 2007 est. - Withdraw Date : Apr-04

163 United States $ -747,100,000,000 2007 est. - well, you know this one.

7 out of 10 countries drowning in debt choosing to engage in an unnecessary war.
Lovely.

[angstlessk]

19. no wonder bangledash is offiering us 'poo folks loans'...they are richer than us er uh US!

shit! what else to say?

[movie_girl99]

24. i would love to see what it was before Chimpy took over. n/t

[FourScore]

25. Me too. n/t

[TahitiNut]

26. Here ya go ...

[Pastiche423]

28. Check out where Venezuela is

#20 in the BLACK.

[FlyingSquirrel]

29. If we're playing Monopoly, this is the point where the other player says

"I've loaned you everything I can dude. You lose."