Economic Doom Mongering as Bad Movie Cliché

Is current account and budget deficit angst just a bad Oliver Stone movie cliché?  BlogginWallStreet quotes Gordon Gekko in Wall Street:

Well ladies and gentlemen, we’re not here to indulge in fantasies, but in political and economic reality. America has become a second rate power. Our trade deficit and fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions.

If it was a movie cliché in 1987, it must surely be getting pretty long in the tooth in 2005.  Plus ca change…