*  *  *  The U.S. economy appears to have been pressing a number of historic limits in recent years without experiencing the types of financial disruption that almost surely would have arisen in decades past. This observation raises some key questions about the longer-term stability of the U.S. and global economies that bear significantly on future economic developments.
Among the limits that we have been pressing against are those in our external and budget balances. In the United States, we have been incurring ever-larger trade deficits, with the broader current account measure moving into the neighborhood of 6 percent of our gross domestic product. Yet the dollar's real exchange value, despite its recent decline, remains above its 1995 low.