The U.S. economy will need to be less driven by consumption and housing and will need to rely less on debt to finance spending on consumption and housing. And exports and capital investment will need to play a larger role in the economy. To some degree, this rebalancing is already happening.
The U.S. current account deficit fell to 3 percent of GDP last year, about half the size of its previous peak. Part of this narrowing reflected a rise in household saving relative to disposable income.