I went mountain climbing a few years ago with an American. The topic of the U.S. trade deficit came up. He said "So what? We've always been in debt. The world will keep selling to us because we have the most important economy. They will keep financing our debt because they want to keep selling to us." I know that's not how all Americans think, but I think he captured the attitude towards debt by U.S. politicians.

One thing that really struck me while I was down in California recently was that none of the three business channels I watched (Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox) had coverage of world markets. It really bothered me because I buy stocks worldwide.  They also presented a lot of hype and glam. I could understand Fox, but all three? It's scary that BNN has better coverage. The rest of the world doesn't appear to exist as far as the U.S. investor is concerned.

MR