Sinking Currency, Sinking Country

[Aptrgangr]

Sinking Currency, Sinking Country

The euro, worth 83 cents in the early George W. Bush years, is at $1.45.
The British pound is back up over $2, the highest level since the Carter era. The Canadian dollar, which used to be worth 65 cents, is worth more than the U.S. dollar for the first time in half a century.
Oil is over $90 a barrel. Gold, down to $260 an ounce not so long ago, has hit $800.
Have gold, silver, oil, the euro, the pound and the Canadian dollar all suddenly soared in value in just a few years?
Nope. The dollar has plummeted in value, more so in Bush's term than during any comparable period of U.S. history. Indeed, Bush is presiding over a worldwide abandonment of the American dollar.
Is it all Bush's fault? Nope.
The dollar is plunging because America has been living beyond her means, borrowing $2 billion a day from foreign nations to maintain her standard of living and to sustain the American Imperium.
The prime suspect in the death of the dollar is the massive trade deficits America has run up, some $5 trillion in total since the passage of NAFTA and the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994.
In 2006, that U.S. trade deficit hit $764 billion. The current account deficit, which includes the trade deficit, plus the net outflow of interest, dividends, capital gains and foreign aid, hit $857 billion, 6.5 percent of GDP. As some of us have been writing for years, such deficits are unsustainable and must lead to a decline of the dollar.
A sinking dollar means a poorer nation, and a sinking currency has historically been the mark of a sinking country. And a superpower with a sinking currency is a contradiction in terms.

What does this mean for America and Americans?
As nations realize that the dollars they are being paid for their products cannot buy in the world markets what they once did, they will demand more dollars for those goods. This will mean rising prices for the imports on which America has become more dependent than we have been since before the Civil War.
U.S. tourists traveling to the countries whence their ancestors came will find that the money they saved up does not go as far as they thought.
U.S. soldiers stationed overseas will find the cost of rent, gasoline, food, clothing and dining out takes larger and larger bites out of their paychecks. The people those U.S. soldiers defend will be demanding more and more of their money.
U.S. diplomats stationed overseas, students and businessmen are already facing tougher times.

U.S. foreign aid does not go as far as it did. And there is an element of comedy in seeing the United States going to Beijing to borrow dollars, thus putting our children deeper in debt, to send still more foreign aid to African despots who routinely vote the Chinese line at the United Nations.
The Chinese, whose currency is tied to the dollar, and Japan will continue, as long as they can, to keep their currencies low against the dollar. For the Asians think long term, and their goals are strategic.
China — growing at 10 percent a year for two decades and now growing at close to 12 percent — is willing to take losses in the value of the dollars it holds to keep the U.S. technology, factories and jobs pouring in, as their exports capture America's markets from U.S. producers.
The Japanese will take some loss in the value of their dollar hoard to take down Chrysler, Ford and GM, and capture the U.S. auto market as they captured our TV, camera and computer chip markets.
Asians understand that what is important is not who consumes the apples, but who owns the orchard.

Other nations that have kept cash reserves in U.S. Treasury bonds and T-bills are watching the value of these assets sink. Not fools, they will begin, as many already have, to divest and diversify, taking in fewer dollars and more euros and yen. As more nations abandon the dollar, its decline will continue.
The oil-producing and exporting nations, with trade surpluses, like China, have also begun to take the stash of dollars they have and stuff them into sovereign wealth funds, and use these immense and growing funds to buy up real assets in the United States — investment banks and American companies.

Nor is there any end in sight to the sinking of the dollar. For, as foreigners demand more dollars for the oil and goods they sell us, the trade deficit will not fall. And as the U.S. government prints more and more dollars to cover the budget deficits that stretch out — with the coming retirement of the baby boomers — all the way to the horizon, the value of the dollar will fall. And as Ben Bernanke at the Fed tries to keep interest rates low, to keep the U.S. economy from sputtering out in the credit crunch, the value of the dollar will fall.
The chickens of free trade are coming home to roost.
To find out more about Patrick Buchanan, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at Creators Syndicate - Celebrating 20 Years as a World-Class Syndicate Of Talent.

Sinking Currency, Sinking Country - Yahoo! News

[Errigal]

Asians understand that what is important is not who consumes the apples, but who owns the orchard.

That's what happens when a country takes advice from cultural nomads like Thomas Freidman.

As well, the Chinese and Japanese may be giving the Americans a mild taste of what damage they can do to the US economy if the Americans continue their Middle East adventure.

Edit:

Here's one German-Brazilian girl who knows how to stay cool when everyone else is starting to lose their heads.


Supermodel Gisele rejects the dollar - Telegraph

[Savorgnan]

Originally Posted by Errigal

That's what happens when a country takes advice from cultural nomads like Thomas Freidman.

Not to mention how much economical and social damages has already done to their country another Friedman ( Milton ).

Originally Posted by Errigal

As well, the Chinese and Japanese may be giving the Americans a mild taste of what damage they can do to the US economy if the Americans continue their Middle East adventure.

I think there is so much to learn from the Japanese. From their economic growth without immigration to their masonic-free political system and medias... Unfortunately, westerners are taking what's Japan has worse to offer, that is mangas and sushis.[/quote]

[Ikutiera]

Pay in rupees, not dollars, govt tells foreign tourists

New Delhi: Indian authorities have ruled that tourists visiting the country’s monuments must pay at a fixed local rupee rate rather than in dollars to shore up revenues as the greenback falls against major currencies.

Pay in rupees, not dollars, govt tells foreign tourists - livemint

[Aptrgangr]

Rapper Jay-Z dissing the dollar

Wads of dollar bills are usually as much a part of rap videos as fast cars, diamond-encrusted jewellery and scantily-clad models.


Rapper Jay-Z appears to be endorsing the euro

Video clip

But in an apparent nod to the low value of the dollar, rapper Jay-Z's new video Blue Magic features another currency.
He is seen cruising the streets of New York in Bentleys and Rolls Royces (now owned by Germany's Volkswagen and BMW) with a briefcase of 500 euro notes.
It follows reports that the supermodel Gisele Bündchen also favours euros.
The catwalk star's twin sister and manager Patricia told Bloomberg in September that: "Contracts starting now are more attractive in euros because we don't know what will happen to the dollar."

The US currency has been ticking off historic lows over the past few months as falling US interest rates make other currencies more attractive.
It recently passed $2.10 to the pound, reached parity with the Canadian dollar and set an all-time record of $1.4752 to the euro.
Other more conventional market-watchers have also been snubbing the dollar, including the billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
There have been no suggestions that Jay-Z's fellow rapper 50 Cent could be considering a move into a different currency.

BBC NEWS | Business | Rapper Jay-Z dissing the dollar

Dis be a real hono' fo shoh!

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

The man with the long surname joins in the choir.

Iran leader dismisses US currency



The value of the US dollar has fallen steadily in recent times

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested an end to the trading of oil in US dollars, calling the currency "a worthless piece of paper".

The call came at the end of a rare Opec summit, and was opposed by US ally Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian president had wanted to include the attack on the dollar in the summit's closing statement.

The communique made little mention of the dollar, however, focusing instead on energy security and the environment.
The summit in Saudi Arabia was only Opec's third in 47 years.

During the talks, Opec members revealed differences about the future direction of the exporters' group.

But Opec leaders ended with a pledge to provide the world with reliable supplies of oil.

Unfair trade?

Speaking after the end of the summit, Mr Ahmadinejad said all leaders at the meeting were unhappy with recent falls in the value of the dollar.


Oil reached a record high of $98.62 a barrel earlier this month

The dollar has weakened considerably against the euro and other currencies in the past 12 months.

Its decline has affected the revenues of Opec members because most of them price and sell their oil exports in the US currency.

Mr Ahmadinejad said that all Opec countries had showed interest in converting their cash reserves into other currencies.

"They [the US] get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper," he told reporters.

But Saudi officials were against including any such language in the declaration. One is reported to have warned that it could add to the pressure on the dollar.

However, in the communique Opec did make a reference to the debate, by committing itself to studying "ways and means of enhancing financial co-operation".

Iran's oil minister said that this would allow the formation of a committee to study the dollar's effect on oil prices and investigate the possibility of alternative trading currencies.

Political agenda

The summit was also marked by divisions over the role of Opec in the world oil market.


Chavez (r) and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are staunch US critics

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Ecuadorean counterpart, Rafael Correa, whose country rejoined Opec at the summit, both argued for a more political agenda for the group, but ran into opposition from US ally Saudi Arabia.
King Abdullah, the head of state of the host nation, Saudi Arabia said: "Those who want Opec to take advantage of its position are forgetting that Opec has always acted moderately and wisely.

"Oil shouldn't be a tool for conflict, it should be a tool for development."

President Chavez had opened the meeting with a warning that oil prices could double if the US attacked Iran. Oil has been hitting record peaks of well over $90 a barrel as markets believe the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will not boost production, despite calls from oil-consuming countries such as the US to do so.

Venezuela's president said the price of crude could reach $150 or even $200 a barrel.

[source]

[Ikutiera]

Oil leaders' private debate televised by mistake

Kill the cable, kill the cable,' shouted the security guard as he burst through the double doors into the media room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh, followed by Saudi police. It was too late.

Oil leaders\' private debate televised by mistake | World | The Observer

[Lucas Corso]

Originally Posted by Savorgnan

Not to mention how much economical and social damages has already done to their country another Friedman ( Milton ).

I think there is so much to learn from the Japanese. From their economic growth without immigration to their masonic-free political system and medias... Unfortunately, westerners are taking what's Japan has worse to offer, that is mangas and sushis.

[/quote]

Mangas are not so bad

[Ikutiera]

Foreigners shop till they drop

Falling U.S. dollar gives Canadians, Europeans super buys

NEW YORK - Glenn Branney didn't come to New York this week for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, the Empire State Building or Central Park.

The 31-year-old tourist from Belfast, Northern Ireland, came to shop.

First, the Apple store, where he bought an iPod Touch and iPod Nano. Then Macy's, where he snatched up a bundle of coats, belts and wallets.

Branney was just one of many overseas visitors who descended on New York this weekend to partake in the post-Thanksgiving shopping scrum and take advantage of a very weak dollar.

Foreigners shop till they drop -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Home price drop largest on record

Tue Nov 27, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes in the third quarter slumped 4.5 percent from a year earlier, matching a record decline from the previous period as the housing downturn deepened, according to a national home price index on Tuesday.

The S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index fell 1.7 percent from June, marking the largest quarterly decline in the index's 21-year history, S&P said in a statement.

Robert Shiller, a Yale University economist and co-developer of Standard and Poor's S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, on a Standard & Poor's teleconference following the release, said that at this point there is substantial concern and uncertainty about the outlook for the U.S. housing market.

"The downward momentum is looking impressive right now and at the very least ought to be a source of worry about the future for home prices," he said.

The futures market for the S&P Case-Shiller Composite Index is indicating home prices down another 5 percent in 2008, he said.

On the teleconference, titled "Current & Future State of U.S. Housing Market," Shiller said he is not able to predict the bottom for the U.S. housing market at this point of time.

"We do not know where it is going to go from here," he said. "I would hope that it would motivate people to start thinking about hedging their real estate risk."

The quarterly S&P/Case-Shiller index has been falling since the second quarter of 2006 as lenders clamp down on lending to risky borrowers who had depended on home price gains to keep their homes. Rising foreclosures are adding to soaring inventories of unsold homes, depressing prices further.

The composite month-over-month index of 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.9 percent to 195.62 in September from August, bringing the measure down 4.9 percent from a year earlier.

S&P said its older, composite month-over-month index of 10 metropolitan areas declined 0.9 percent in September to 212.65, for a 5.5 percent year-over-year drop.

Florida is the hardest hit state, with prices in the Tampa and Miami areas down 11.1 percent and 10 percent respectively over the past year, the indexes show. Home prices around San Diego, California, and economically depressed Detroit, Michigan declined by 9.6 percent over the 12-month period.

Lehman Brothers said the decline in home prices is the start of an extended decline in the market.

"We look for home prices to fall well into 2009 as excess inventory is slowly cleared and foreclosed homes return to the market at a discounted price," the company said in commentary published Tuesday.

This will translate to a 15 percent decline in national home prices from peak to trough, Lehman Brothers said.

(Reporting by Al Yoon and Julie Haviv; Editing by Diane Craft)

[source]

[Sifjar]

Originally Posted by Plethon

[source]

Guys Guys it's all about capitalism, a nation without capital growth is nothing. But I know for sure India has more capital growth about 25 % per year compare to Sweden which is only 5 % per year. Well India is all for high tech technology. And in Germany lots of system administrator and system developers are from India.

[Aptrgangr]

Originally Posted by Sifjar

Guys Guys it's all about capitalism, a nation without capital growth is nothing.

That's what they keep telling us. I have no indicator proving a protectionist economy could not prosper.

Originally Posted by Sifjar

But I know for sure India has more capital growth about 25 % per year compare to Sweden which is only 5 % per year.

Yet most Indians are poor and hardly can survive, these numbers really say not much.
India has more millionaires than Germany has, yet we pay lot's of development aid.

Originally Posted by Sifjar

Well India is all for high tech technology. And in Germany lots of system administrator and system developers are from India.

Where did you hear this? There are not many, most Indians go to English speaking countries, and from what I heard those coming here often enough did not fulfil the requiremets.

[Sifjar]

Originally Posted by Aptrgangr

That's what they keep telling us. I have no indicator proving a protectionist economy could not prosper.

Yet most Indians are poor and hardly can survive, these numbers really say not much.
India has more millionaires than Germany has, yet we pay lot's of development aid.

Where did you hear this? There are not many, most Indians go to English speaking countries, and from what I heard those coming here often enough did not fulfil the requiremets.

I do not hear this matter, I read them on the '' Economic Magazine'' and I've also seen a documentary aired on the Tv in Sweden 7 months ago, lots of Indian system administrator and system developers working there for cheaper salary. Well '' Aptrgangr'' these fields which I have mentioned need brain and fingers, English and communications. I'm sure they're given a crush courses in Germany after all they're import-at. I'm sure German administrators and system developers are well versed in English, beside who do- not want a cheap labour, they could have 10 Indian system administrators compared to 3 Germans, You might not agree but what I read and saw on the Swedish Tv remains as a fact. It's globalization remember? You supposed to globalized in a world of capitalism and Germany is such as huge high tech industries. You see want, you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear.

[Susi]

Most jobs are imported to India, it's more costeffective.