Between 1950 and the early 1980s, our current account balance stayed close to zero - sometimes we borrowed from foreigners, and other times we lent, but for many years we remained a net global  1  For estimates of productivity growth and the contribution of capital deepening through 2001, see the Bureau of Labor Statistics release Multifactor Productivity Trends.
For more recent years, I use Federal Reserve estimates. 2  BIS Review 57/2004  creditor. Since then we have become increasingly reliant on the willingness of foreigners to fund our investment needs; the current account deficit now stands at almost 6 percent of gross domestic product, and foreigners today fund about 30 percent of our domestic investment.