UK and US balance of payments question(s)

Quote:

UK current account deficit far bigger than forecast Government gap stands at more than £22bn, which equates to 5.4% of GDP, undermining claims of economic recovery

per The Guardian earlier this year.



The US trade balance looks like this:







As long as I can remember, the UK's trade balance has been in deficit and for the US it looks like the deficit goes back nearly 40 years, becoming sizeable (in relative terms) somewhere in the 1990s.



I have some basic questions:

1. can a country sustain a negative trade balance for ever?


2. is a negative trade balance a problem of some kind?


3. are there any examples of countries going bust because of their trade balance (Argentina maybe?)?


4. what happens in such cases?


5. does having a negative trade balance suggest a country is crap at making stuff and selling it?


6. how does a country with a prolonged negative trade balance get the money to pay for imports - by borrowing?


7. how come the UK and the US seem to be able to borrow for ever/without limit?


8. is there something the US and the UK have in common in this (i.e. having prolonged negative trade balances) regard?