[Olog-hai]

Explain why we have a colossal trade deficit and why our war machines are being built overseas for the second time in history.

[Alberta's Child]

We have a colossal trade deficit because we can import a lot of things (oil is a good example) for a heck of a lot less than we can produce them here.

Keep in mind that our trading partners can't eat U.S. dollars, so they have to do something with them that circulates the money back into the U.S. We're basically buying oil from the Middle East and cheap crap from China, and they're turning around and using the cash to buy U.S. Treasury bills that are paying ridiculously low interest rates.