Comments on: Who lost the dollar?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:35:56 +0000

Well informed blog, interesting. I like this site. Just to let you know what I see is inflation and the smart money managers moving their funds to combat it. Grocery store prices on normal items have all went up fifteen cents so that corporations can recoup their losses. And the treasury will be printing money to cover all the debt the country has incurred and will continue to incur.
The dollar will be worth less. The only bright spot I see happens to be in the fact that the cost of producing goods overseas will increase because of fuel cost, low currency value, and higher wages for overseas workers, hopefully to the point that it will become cheaper to produce products in the United States again. If the money keeps flowing out of this country and the debt keeps adding up we will eventually be broke and suffer a recession in spite of the bailouts.

By: D White

D White — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:17:58 +0000

We independent conservatives have watched both major parties pass entitlements with out sunshine reviews for the past 50 years. Now we are all reaping the consequences. The only solution is an honest balanced budget that includes the entitlements. It will be hard to wean the pork barrelers from their crony reward system but unless we “throw the bums out’ and elect fiscal conservatives we will see economic chaos and hardships that will make the great depression look like the ‘good old days’.

By: Leo

Leo — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:21:21 +0000

Nice article, James, in which you address both sides of the weak dollar argument. In reading the posts, I find it interesting that some here like to shove blame completely over to the Republicans for the mess that we’re currently in, without holding the Obama Admin accountable for the further reckless spending that THEY are now responsible for. Yes, the Bush Admin was just as wreckless, but no one should give the current President a free pass either. Truth is, our elected officials from both major parties keep playing us against one another to get themselves reelected and to maintain their own party’s advantage. Until we all stand up together and demand that the Fed government stop spending money it doesn’t have, the nation will remain on its current path to economic disaster.

By: BOBBYG

BOBBYG — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:50:39 +0000

From what I remember about 9 or so months ago, bush/cheney pushed the stimulus and the TARP but congress did the legal part. I guess it had something to do with the trillion or so we wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the almost 5,000 US lives lost- not to mention the destroyed lives in those countries.

Didn’t hear conservatives bitching back then.

Finally, anyone with half a brain can point out problems, what is Mr. Pethokoukis’ solution?

By: mark godfrey

mark godfrey — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:50:15 +0000

Note to Reuters: moderated blogs are useless, never get much action, and always fail in the end.

We police ourselves, thanks.

By: ray brooks

ray brooks — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:11:48 +0000

We are over-extended – over sexed – dim-witted, lazy and addicted to something….If it isn’t one thing – it’s another….
It is easier to “market” chinese stuff than make our own – easier to “fake-it” than get a real degree in a science!
Basically it is the last thirty years of: lying-cheating-stealing! (and now we are going to “blame Obama”) ???

By: Jonathan Cole

Jonathan Cole — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:03:06 +0000

What a moronic article. The dollar was always underpinned by military power. Now after the communicidal reign of George Bush and Dick Cheney and their brain-dead legions, the actual value underpinning the dollar (the wealth-building productivity of U.S. citizens built up over centuries) has been delivered into the hands of the speculators and the vulture-corporatists.

Those bailouts went to pay bogus bonuses to the top tier of the pirate capitalists. What a joke to say it is Obama’s problem. Those in both the Democrat and Republican parties who have supported the move to oligarchy and vulture-corporatism are politically culpable. We have been sold out to the highest bidder and now we are being farmed and rendered like so many cattle.

The dollar will get exactly what it deserves. Double the dollars in circulation and you will ultimately halve the value. Thanks, Bernanke, Geitner, Summers, Bush, Paulson, Cheney, Pelosi, et al.

By: Not Silent Not Bob Either

Not Silent Not Bob Either — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:26:28 +0000

The dollar’s weakening, and the possibility it may spiral catastrophically out of control, is hardly a new issue. It is the inevitably result of decades of political and economic decision making – or perhaps one might more accurately say avoidance-of-responsible-decision-making , and has been a bipartisan, indeed a society-wide process.

There will, of course, be the customary political gamesmanship with respect to the issue.

That squalid process aside, the best that might be hoped for is to manage the process of devaluation intelligently – unlikely though such management may be.

The reality is that decades of accumulated unsustainable debt will, one way or another, be written down.

The devaluation of the dollar and accompanying inflation are the principal elements of that process of real debt reduction.

The US ran up the bills over many decades of irresponsible behavior, mismanagement, delusion, and self-indulgence – hardly new in human affairs.

Now the bill comes due.

By: NoName

NoName — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:14:45 +0000

It’s crazy that people can’t grasp that the low interest rates currently needed to stimulate investment are exactly what is pushing the value of the dollar down. Just for fun, why doesn’t the Fed raise rates a quarter point and see what happens to the dollar! Be patient people! (P.S. I’m a currency trader).