Bank Underground — A prince not a pauper: the truth behind the UK’s current account deficit

Bank of England — Bank Underground
A prince not a pauper: the truth behind the UK’s current account deficit

Rachana Shanbhogue, Macroprudential Strategy and Support Division, and Stephen Burgess, Macrofinancial Risks Division

Joseph P. Joyce — Current Account Deficits and Safe Assets

Global appetite for US Treasuries as "safe assets." This is a primary function of a reserve currency as a saving vehicle that is regarded as a safe haven.

Economonitor
Current Account Deficits and Safe Assets
Joseph P. Joyce

Nick Edmonds — The Net Internation Investment Position and the Trade Balance

 

Paul Krugman oversimplifies the actual situation by assuming cet. par. when all things other than the independent variable almost never remain the same in the real world. It's the same kind of pseudo-argument about the future as debt and deficit hysteria based on "unfunded obligations" coming due in the future, along with eventual runaway interest on debt.

Reflections on Monetary Economics
The Net Internation Investment Position and the Trade Balance

Nick Edmonds

Ramanan on US U.S. Net International Investment Position

The direct investment abroad makes a huge killing for the U.S. as can be seen from the balance of payments. In 2011, direct investment receipts was around $480bn and direct investment payments only $159bn.

Read it at The Case of Concerted Action

U.S. Net Indebtedness Above $5T Now
by Ramanan

Demand leakage in the US to external saving in dollars has resulted in an add to unemployment in addition to that resulting from debtor and consumer deleveraging owing to the balance sheet recession.

At the same time, US multinationals have been raking in money abroad through their investments there.

Whether or not it is sustainable economically, I doubt it is sustainable politically.

BTW, during his campaign trip to Iowa this week, Biden was going after Romney big on this.