Economics: What next for the US?

The mushrooming US budget deficit is the big potential threat to the overall health of the global ec...

The mushrooming US budget deficit is the big potential threat to the overall health of the global economy. This is the view of HSBC Bank senior economist Mark Berrisford-Smith, who believes if the government does not sort out the issue then the markets might “impose a solution.” Berrisford-Smith said that while global growth has been powerful in recent years it has produced imbalances, the most noticeable being the US deficit, which has been growing since the mid-1990s and is now racking up by $200bn each quarter. The 13 rises in US interest rates have helped to keep the dollar strong but...