The U.S. dollar is weakening, for many reasons, including the large U.S. current account deficit and national debt. What is driving this? Why are Americans spending so much money overseas? WHICH Americans can afford to spend a lot of money overseas (on expensive imported goods, such as high-end automobiles)? This is one of the biggest problems for the Bush economic team. Even when the U.S. economy slows, our trade deficit continues to grow. Why might this be? Perhaps it is the massive concentration of wealth among the wealthiest Americans. As long as the rich are getting richer, the trade deficit will continue to grow. Why? Because the rich don't have any problem spending huge amounts of money for expensive imported goods. As long as the rich are permitted to become more and more wealthy (due in part to the Bu$hCo tax cuts), we will have a major trade deficit with the rest of the world.