The trade deficit one is a funny condition, isn't it? The US is the world's largest consumer, doesn't it make sense that they are in deficit to most countries? They set it up this way - to live in deficit to be able to consume and control from that position.
The US today is built on debt. The bubble must burst eventually. The US could be an agricultural and industrial powerhouse again, but regulatory capture and taxation have killed a lot of entrepreneurial activity and competition here to concentrate wealth in the hands of politically-connected megacorporations while bailouts protect them from the failures of bureaucracy within.