> >
> >Current account surpluses are cool as long as the countries running the
> >deficit are more or less good for the money. Do you seriously think the US
> >will *ever* run the 1-2% of GDP surplus it needs just to service its foreign
> >debt? What the hell are they going to export?
> >
>
> Presumably the same stuff the U.S. exported in February--$84 billion
> of it --only more so..
How so? Exports are flat, in spite of a world economy recovering at a fairly good clip.
Do you really think American consumers will take the fairly dramatic cut in living standards required to swing the trade balance 6%? Unlike Indonesians, Americans *don't* have to take it.
> .
>
> Brad DeLong
-- Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034 Electrical Engineering Home # (607) 272 4808 112 Phillips Hall Fax # (607) 255 4565 Cornell University mailto:enrique at ee.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853 http://peta.ee.cornell.edu/~enrique