Chart of the day: current account deficit

By Edward Harrison On May 17, 2008

The U.S. has been spending more than it earns for years. This deficit spending is measured as the current account deficit. The graph here is a depiction of where we were and what we have come to. We had a slight surplus in after the last major recession in 1991. Now the figure is over 170 billion per quarter, down from a 2006 high of over $200 billion per quarter.

The graph looks at the measure in percentage of GDP terms to keep a constant yardstick. This is why the U.S. needs to save more and spend less.

Edward Harrison 7783 posts 575 comments

Edward Harrison is a senior Editor at Bloomberg. He is also the founder of Credit Writedowns newsletter, a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty five years of business experience. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

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