It might be as simple as Americans consuming more per capita than other countries. Bring it down to families again. If my household income is $60,000.00 a year before taxes are taken off, and we continue spending $70,000.00 a year, we are soon going to be in trouble. The answer is in cutting back on spending. Make that car last a year or two longer, eat at home more often instead of at restaurants, buy less clothes, etc etc etc. and pretty soon you will pay down your debt. If every family did that the whole country would benefit with less imports. Sure, it would slow down the economy a bit but living within ones means would mean less credit card debt, less bank loans, etc. The population of a country is like a big family, each doing a little makes a big difference.