Asia are now the producers of the world. The West, largely, are the consumers. The proof is in the numbers.

Consuming more than you produce is bad, by the way, despite what American politicians say. If you plan to improve your life in the future it is always better to produce more and consume less. That's about as basic as it gets. But with leaders like George W. Bush intoning Americans to "Get out there and shop!" after the 9/11 attacks this logic obviously goes over his head!

Take a look at the current account balance (effectively exports minus imports of goods & services) leaders taken from the 2008 World Economic Outlook database. Here are the top 25 producing nation states:

A quick glance through that list will show that many of the top producers in the world are oil-producing countries. There's nothing wrong with that but unless you are looking for a future wherein you are employed or are active in the petroleum industry (which is not a bad idea at all) then you wouldn't have much interest in those countries.

Let's take out the countries in which the great majority of their exports come from oil from that list and highlight the Asian countries:

No countries from Africa. No countries from Latin America.

Wondering what are some of the places to avoid? Here are the bottom 10 nation states in the world in terms of Current Account Balance:

That is a pretty motley crew! You couldn't pick a better list of places that are in crisis... Portugal, the UK, Greece, France, Italy, Spain. Here are some recent snapshots from on the ground in those countries:

It's pretty obvious at which end of that list you want to be.

The scary part is that the U.S current account deficit is more than 4 times larger than the next biggest loser, Spain.

It makes one wonder what the photos coming out of the US will look like in the coming months.

The Dollar Vigilante