1. Deficit is usually measured as a percentage of a country's GDP ( $ value of goods and services sold in a country for a year) . As it stands now the total current US deficit is about 80% of US GDP. This may be alarming to some but the size of the entire US capital stock is about 20 times the size of US GDP. So a simple math will show that 80% of GDP is only 4% of the capital stock ( Capital stock measure is a better measure of a country's total wealth).
2. The US population makes only 5% of world population but the US trade makes up for 25 % of the volume of total world trade . No other country matches this relative position. Therefore the US is still the richest economy.
3. US worker is also ranked to be the most productive in the world. A country grows in 2 ways; by increasing the size of the (working ) population and by improvement in worker's productivity. So as long as the US enjoys the benefit from the world's most productive workers, the label the richest country in the world isn't a misnomer.
4. Social mobility in the US is also amongst the best in the world. The US is the home of the biggest no of self-made billionaires and entrepreneurrs. This new generations of billionaire entrepreneurs are also young, ambitious, and driven suggesting that despite the deterioration of the public school systems, America still stands a good chance to keep having the privilage of being called the world's richest country in the world.
5. America is in the unique position of being the owner of the world currency, the dollar. Since most of its debt is denominated in dollar, the US is the only country in the world which can virtually keep on borrowing and repaying all in dollar without having to incur potentially devastating losses in currency fluctuation. Even its biggest creditors will find it to their advantage to keep the dollar strong for the last thing they want is to have their reserves dollar currency become worthless.
