Cline (a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics) assesses the implications of US external debt and proposes policies for mitigating their dangers. He develops a model for forecasting the capitalized value of annual net capital income and the net international investment position. He analyzes fiscal imbalance as part of the problem and considers means of external adjustment, advocating for a coordinated appreciation of external currencies in order to avoid the "hard landing" scenario of recession caused by higher interest rates provoked by a cutoff in foreign capital inflows. Annotation 2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)