> Yes, but I do not have a trade deficit on the whole as well.

Yeah you (as in, most people) do, people just call it a mortgage, a car payment etc.

I.e. they enjoy the present-day use of assets whose total price today is something they'll be paying for down the line, because they think having them today will contribute to their future growth.

The exact same logic is at play when countries decide to indebt themselves. Public debt just amounts to borrowing from the future.