Thank you for your comments.  Please note my responses to London Yank and Jerome above.  I agree with you that trending from the past does not necessarily lead to accurate projections of the future.  But the above questions and yours have allowed me to lay out more fully the reasons for my views of the future.  To LondonYank I basically responded that I see US GDP continuing to grow strongly because of US domination of key growth industries in the world.  I also briefly explained that I think the American economic system will drive faster growth than the EU.  I think the past does support this comment (though not prove it), because clearly the economic/social policies of the two areas are different, and my understanding of economics made me predict faster US than EU GDP growth 10 years ago--and since the policies followed by the two are not fundamentally changing, I expect that to continue.  I don't criticise the EU for its choices--they are fair choices and don't really hurt other countries.  In fact, it's to some degree a plus for other countries, because if this model can provide better economic results with the social benefits--hey, let's all do it.

As to the current account deficit, I'll don't think I can add to how I responded to Jerome.