I think it's possible that the excessive popularity of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games is confusing people about this. It is possible, in many gaming environments, for each player to simply accumulate gold. The actual financial system doesn't work like this. Your debt is my loan. I save money by depositing it in my account at PNC, which is to say I lend the money to PNC who, in turn, lends it out to their clients. Germany is a net exporter because it's a net saver, but that in turn requires someone else to be a net debtor and net importer. It's quite possible that the overall scale of the imbalance between lenders and borrowers, importers and exporters, etc. has gotten out of whack. But it's a push and a pull. It doesn't make sense to think that everyone can simultaneously borrow less, unless your plan is for incomes to fall across the board.
The world needs Germany, China and very wealthy Americans to spend more and import more stuff, as much as it needs Greeks, Italians Spaniards, Portuguese and not very wealthy Americans to save more.
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