[OPE-L:6608] Re: Re: NYTimes.com Article: Scandal's Ripple Effect: Earnings Under Threat

[Allin Cottrell <cottrell@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Paul Cockshott wrote:

> If the [U.S.] personal, the financial and the corporate sector are
> all net debtors and increasingly so, who holds the corresponding
> credit balances?
>
> Is it:
>
> 1. The state sector due to a budget surplus?
>
> 2. The overseas sector due to a trade deficit?

Both, but the latter to a larger extent.  There's also quite a big
statistical discrepancy these days, making it a bit hard to tell
exactly what's happening.  Data below.

Figured from Table F.8,
Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/Z1/Current/

                     1997    1998    1999    2000    2001*
Private S minus I   -46.7  -163.8  -288.7  -444.6  -284.9
Govt S minus I     -106.1    -4.8    54.9   144.4    28.9
Foreign             123.1   199.7   306.7   430.5   390.9

Discrepancy         -29.7    31.1    72.9   130.3   134.8

'S' = Gross Saving; 'I' = Gross Investment.
* 2001 figure based on the first 3 quarters only, at an
annualized rate.

Allin Cottrell.