[familyop]

A matter of presentation by the Agency also might be of interest. It shows the number for the USA at the bottom of the page.

CIA World Factbook [Excerpt]

Country Comparison :: Current account balance

This entry records a country's net trade in goods and services, plus net earnings from rents, interest, profits, and dividends, and net transfer payments (such as pension funds and worker remittances) to and from the rest of the world during the period specified. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Rank     country     Current account balance     Date of Information

[...]

190    United States    $ -380,100,000,000               2009 est.

[familyop]

I’ll emphasize that it’s “calculated on an exchange rate basis.” ...takes some of the wonder of it all. Granted, we can do fine with that to some extents on trade for civilian wealth. But one problem that it presents for us, is that they don’t need to spend US dollars on military hardware or to spend it on US contractors.