Quote from Landis82:
It's ALL Bernanke's fault right?
I mean, he's the one that has been running HUGE Federal Budget Deficits which has lead to a 50% decline in the dollar over the last 7 years, he's the one that failed to enact a comprehensive Energy Policy for the country, he's the one that allowed regulators to be "asleep at the wheel" when it came to ratings agencies and mortgage generation, not too mention the use of leverage in the system ( 33:1 for mortgage positions ), and he's the one that kept rates at dramatically low levels for years ( Alan Greenspan ).
The time to avert moral hazard was a long time ago. Unfortunately, we have had very little "leadership" in Washington the past 7 years for the good of the people.
Yeah..... it's ALL Ben's fault.
The dollar decline hasn't been caused by budget deficits. Read any of my recent posts on the subject. If fiscal policy was the culprit then the Yen would be worthless. The Euro too. U.S. budget deficits are running around 1.5% of GDP. Not exactly
huge.At the end of the day the biggest cause of dollar weakness is the trade deficit. Period. The operative word in FX is
exchange. Dollars leave in exchange for products but too few of
our products are exported in exchange for other currencies. Thus the currency markets are making a revaluation based on the most important fundamental of all. Supply and demand.
With a grossly negative trade balance monetary policy can move in either of two directions .Keep rates high and artificially attempt to keep dollars
rare and hence valuable. Or Fed policy can cut rates and hope that a lower dollar stimulates export activity while in turn making imports less competitive to domestic producers. Since the latter isn't happening-we don't even make enough
worth exporting any longer-an accomodative Fed policy is inflationary and ultimately dangerous.
I can't emphasize enough that the world is finally tired of working on our plantation. On what planet do you all think a barista at Starbucks can continue to earn two gallons of gasoline in an hour of work while a nurse in Malaysia toils a couple of days to buy the same products/commodities? The allocation of global goods and services are not going to keep trending in such an unjust direction.
We enjoyed a great scam for too many years. We make nothing, export nothing yet expect guys in China to manufacture everything under the sun for us- and get paid squat in return. All in exchange for a piece of paper issued by the U.S. Treasury. A welfare recipient in the States makes several times the average working wage in neighboring Mexico. Thank God the Mexicans aren't as smart or enterprising as Asia. We'd already be toast.
I know my fellow Americans hate hearing this. They'd rather blame Bush, blame Bernanke, blame Congress, blame business, blame OPEC, blame whoever. Just as long as we don't blame ourselves.
The blame though is in the mirror. The blame goes to those who sold out American workers for that cheaper suit made in Brazil. Or for that sporty car Detroit just couldn't build to our yuppie scum specifications. We were taught menial work was beneath us so we trade. Or write mortgages. Or whatever. Just as long as our fingers are clean and unbroken. For those who were forced to toil on the assembly line we demanded the wages of kings. Or at least the same wage as the mortgage broker or BMW salesman. How did our fellow consumers react? They told us to F off. They said Asia builds my dreams cheaper. The formally starving Chinaman didn't strike for higher wages and a comprehensive retirement package. He just performed the tedious work of a robot and now our dollars are fueling
his dreams. A dream of a dinner other than rice. Of a ride less laborious than on a bicycle. All good in the moral minefield of global trade and wealth redistribution. Yet with all we STILL have, we whine. And blame. America is filled with bitching, whining, duplicitous losers. A nation literally of cock suckers. A place that cares more about homo marriage, abortion and keeping guns away from young black men who squander and drop out from $15,000 a year worth of education as if they don't need it. Some say we're like Rome. I say that's unfairly disparaging to the Romans.