For years, the legions of U.S. perma-bulls have scoffed at the suggestion that foreign investors would ever stop financing excessive U.S. spending/consumption. It is now time for the economic commentators who live in the real world to scoff at the perma-bulls.

The Treasury Department just released its July “TIC report” which measures the capital flows into/out of the U.S. economy. For years, this number could be counted upon to show a net inflow which exceeded $100 billion/month. During the worst of last fall's U.S.-created crisis/meltdown, the inflows for October alone exceeded $260 billion.