You're patently wrong about German exports depending on U.S. consumption because said German-U.S. exports are too small.

On the other hand; sure, a large trade balance surplus is just as stupid (albeit not as dangerous for yourself) as a large trade balance deficit. The German public needs to get rid of a package of its own myths and legacies as well. These necessities are very different than the U.S. necessities, though.

Now let's think for a while why some produce surpluses and others produce deficits. The problem is called competitiveness.
Exchange rates are only a part of this competitiveness. Germany did not cheer the "post-industrial services economy" for a generation. It still cheers its SMEs and their competitiveness. In fact, we underwent a series of painful industrial competitiveness-increasing reforms while we produced major trade balance surpluses. Our education system is trimmed for a huge output of skilled industrial labour and university graduate engineers.
We aren't on a shopping spree, but on a savings & industrial production fixation.

In the end, the reduction of imbalances in world trade will be painful for countries like U.S., UK, Greece, Italy and look very much like a phase of great wealth to countries like Germany, Japan, PR China (because balancing a trade balance surplus means to increase domestic consumption).


You had your consumption party, it's over. The U.S. may pretend that a return to its old ways is possible, but that will only provoke the inevitable next and extremely painful crisis that finally dispels the deficit & consumption myth because it will wreck the remaining U.S. industry beyond denial.


The population of the USA PRODUCED ABOUT 18.25 % LESS GOODS THAN IT CONSUMED AND INVESTED in 2008 (and this counts the service balance surplus as "goods produced" to be fair).
The monthly trade balance deficit was crunched to half in the crisis and is already recovering almost to the pre-crisis level.