*looks at the US. weeps for my future*

^ArtofAngels

that dosent make me feel any better about my country. It makes me feel worse that NZ is not on that list.

China likes US buying Chinese goods --> re-invests into US economy (T-bills, property, goods) ---> US buys more.

 Also, countries that try to sustain long term positive balances have also caused problems for themselves. See a lot of the Asian Tiger countries in the late 80s - today. 

 A good thing to keep in mind is that for every country positive another country has to eat that as debt. The US eats a lot of that debt, and at the same time supports a good deal of the world economy. 

Norway is high on both lists hehehe.

That makes me feel even better than before because Switzerland is in the top 10 in both lists!

According to some of the latest studies, the 3rd most richest countries are the following :

1. Ireland
2. Iceland
3. Netherlands

it has changed a bit because those numbers listed before are all for either 2006 or beginning of 2007.

Cute how the most socialist places on Earth (Nordic countries, Netherlands, Germany etc) are way up, while the haven of capitalism is last. Could some libertarian explain to me why these statistics are biased/don't matter/etc?

I probably won't agree, but it'd be nice to hear the other side of the story.

I think some of the people in this thread are equating this list to national debt, this is merely a ranking of Countries with a Trade Surplus or Deficit.

How many Blue Countries would go red if it wasn't for the Americans buying? Canada for one. I am impressed with Germany, most blue countries are resource based but Germany has a well balanced and huge economy.

@demac, in fairness it works both ways, do you happen to know which country is the #1 importer of American-made goods? Ya it would be your Canuck friends to the north.