But it has lost only 10% or less against the yen and many other Asian currencies, and it is unchanged against the Chinese yuan, although most of the Asian economies have large balance-of-payments surpluses.America's biggest bilateral trade deficit is with China ($103 billion in 2002).
International trade secretary Liam Fox, if he had wanted to attack the UK's "lazy" business culture seriously, could have pointed to the UK's large balance of trade deficit and compared it with Germany's surplus.
In his most recent pamphlet, The Exchange Rate, he outlines the costs of going back to an era when a strong currency created a large balance of payments deficit and a cascade of side-effects, from weak investment through to low productivity and stagnant wages.
Debt-driven consumer spending drove robust growth in the first half of the decade, helping fuel a large balance of payments deficit that posed a challenge for economic managers.
Some health care advocates and Democrats point to the large balances at the end of each year, and theorize the pools have far more money than they need.
Nationwide still offers 5% on a slightly larger balance of £2,500 for Flex customers.
According to Mr. Perrineau, it was unlikely to shift the larger balance of power between right and left in France, but would make it more difficult for the far-right National Front and its leader, Marine Le Pen, in elections.
Large balances are fine, but of course only for consumers who manage their borrowing effectively.
Lloyds makes most of its profit in the UK and has a smaller bank levy than HSBC, which pays around £370m because of its large balance sheet but makes less of its profits in the UK.
Rarely has cash been such a large proportion of the corporate balance sheet this late in an economic expansion.
