Central bankers are paid to worry. But top officials at America's Federal Reserve appear quite relaxed about the country's current-account deficit, just as it hits a new record. According to figures released on March 16th, the deficit widened to 6.3% of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2004. To sustain it for a year, America would have to borrow a net $750 billion. An odd moment, then, for the Fed to send sanguine signals. But that was the message from speeches by Alan Greenspan, its chairman, and Ben Bernanke, an influential governor, given only days before the latest figures were released. Mr Greenspan's thesis was not new. He has argued before that integrated global capital markets allow the world to transfer its savings to America with much less strain than in the past. But the tone was noticeably more upbeat this time.
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