Your 50 years is a radical exaggeration. America had a budget surplus and stable dollar 12 / 13 years ago. Which is why gold was $270x / ounce, and oil was $12 to $20 and gasoline was still $1.

Trade deficits are mostly irrelevant so long as you aren't accumulating debt, and your domestic economy is highly productive.

I run a huge trade deficit with Amazon.com for example, as do all of their customers. That's ok because I'm being productive elsewhere, and the profits I'm generating through work make it possible to run that deficit. The same concept works at a macro economic level.

America ran trade deficits during almost the entire 19th century. There was more money (eg British investment) and goods flowing in, than out. The huge profits being generated domestically by the productivity gains, made it possible to finance that deficit without debt accumulation.

http://www.cato.org/publications/trade-policy-analysis/ameri...