The US is the indebted superpower. It has massive current account deficits whose domestic counterpart are huge public sector borrowings. Is this something the two presidential candidates wish to discuss? "No" is the answer. They are intent, instead, on competing to spend money they do not have.

The US slide into debt is impressive by almost any standards. Its net external liabilities could easily reach 50 per cent of gross domestic product before the end of the decade. Not only are current account deficits over 5 per cent of GDP, but exports are only 10 per cent. Because exports are so small in relation to GDP, the ratio of debt to exports is already close to 280 per cent. It could attain 500 per cent by 2008, well above that reached by Argentina before its recent financial meltdown.