Friday, August 31, 2007


Yea! We’re dead last

In how indebted we are. The U.S. current accounts debt is bigger than the current accounts surplus of China, Japan, Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Norway — the six largest countries in terms of current account surpluses — combined!

This is Shrub’s massive budget deficits, but it’s more than that. It’s people buying more house then they can afford, launching massive home equity loans, buying more car than they can afford (now courtesy of six-year payment plans) and more.

Yes, some of this is a middle class with stagnant wages wanting to keep up with the richer Joneses. But, all that does is feed the monster of job-shedding, finance-chopping U.S. companies. So, too, does buying their stocks, especially afer leveraged buyouts.

Sidebar note: We invaded Iraq just months after Hussein started the process to denominate oil in euros as well as dollars. Guess what Iran does? Gives a whole new meaning to gunboat diplomacy, right?