Let us try to face the facts:

1) a false flag operation was committed on Sept 11th. The global currency markets reacted, but only dipped slightly

2) when it became obvious to MOST people on planet earth (that is to say those living OUTSIDE the United States) that the Bush administration used Sep 11th to invade Iraq, the markets reacted. the dollar plunged and never recovered.

3) the current administration has done everything in its power to shove all wealth up to the super-rich and to throw the Federal govt into a morass of endless deficits.

4) the end result is a total freefall of the US currency with no end in sight.

face it: the ONLY way to restore any faith in the US economy is to Impeach, Indict, and Convict the obscene criminals who have seized power in the U.S. and to both reverse their deficit-mad war mongering policies, while at the same time stripping the wealth from monsters who would commit troops to a geopolitical farce.

war with Iran will NOT save the US economy it will completely destroy it. the madmen run amuck in the Bush-Cheney mafia (read Perle, Zakheim, Rumsfeld, Abrams, Feith, Wolfowitz and their whole Halliburton-Carlyle-Bechtel axis of super-evil) have already shifted Trillions of the wealth of this nation. they will shreik with laughter when the house of cards tumbles down.

they have done this on purpose. don't you get it? to starve the beast, they have pumped up the expenditures to astronomical levels. only total collapse, hyperinflation, and pure chaos will manage to awaken the American populace.

And then what? live like Mad Max in an atavistic dark ages of fighting for gas cans?

Can anyone living in America be serious?

We are the laughing-stocks of planet earth! Not the "liberators" or the "superpower."

Get real, or bite dust soon, is what it boils down to.

The falling dollar means higher gas prises and of course higher food prices. And the weaker the dolar becomes the higher one will pay for these things we no longer produce here. Just about everything. Food will paralell fuel costs againts a devalued dollar.
Of course I shouldn't have to explain this.

For every calorie we eat, 10 calories of fossil fuel were burned.
Maybe a diet would be good for BAaaaa.

Well you see, most of it was burned but there was a significant amount used for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers.
The Admirer hasn't caught on to the fact that due to the weakened dollar the Chinese have probably decided to slowly pull the dollar as not to disrupt their very indebted customers ability to be milked. This is about the only thing holding Wall Street up right now despite the attempt to have themselves paid...( wait for it....) Trillions of our money to have their debts forgiven, then transfered to the tax base, us, ( Social Security) as the real wealth who seemed to have pocketed much of it , now well insulated away from that sort of collective team effort, breaths a big sigh of relief .
Did you like the nice charts?

...isn't it a victory for the communosocialists if the Chinese economy beats out the U.S.?

Then we can all follow Chariman mao's plan to prosperity...just follow the trail of skulls....

The residents of Monticito would buy your city, and have it burnt down for suggesting it. I think the Gulf region would suit you better.
What's a matter? Run out of Texas tea?

Particularly when BA finds out his new landlord is a Chinese holding company and needs to hike the rent due to the worthless currency.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!"

it was a simpsons quote.

The effect of a higher cost of living can be mitigated if people can raise their wages (somehow) and readjust their spending to survive. If this cannot happen, then you'll see increases in poverty.

It would be nice if we had more manufacturing in this country, so we could sell more exports. Then there would be increases in wages in manufacturing. Unfortunately, 20 years of offshoring and free trade has shifted us to a largely service economy. It's hard to export services, especially when your most valuable services, like doctors, analysts, engineers, and managers are so well paid.

I think we could tolerate a future where the euro is stronger than the dollar, at least for five or ten years. It would mean less aggression on our part, because we'd have to really think hard about paying for these imperial adventures. The market could reward us with even less demand for dollars, and we'd really start to feel like an manufacturing outpost for Japan and Europe.

We'd have to reassess our long-term strategic plans for re-developing ourselves so as not to be sunk by a booming Europe and a recovering Asia.

There are so many ways for this to play out. The way i'd want to see it is for America to start reinvesting in itself, and prioritize education and local development over military actions. There's still a lot of "edge" to develop, and we used to be the world leader in technology and development. This can be re-established.

Now, today, we're really fucked up. We have a lot of poverty, a lot of expensive illiteracy, a pathetic excuse for an educational system, a president who can't even read, health care services that are the envy of... well... a poor country in the Global South, but a joke in the West.

(The Chinese economy is built up on direct foreign investments. They're bringing in foreign capital investments to bring them up to speed. This can work, but it can also backfire. I think you'll eventually see a collapse -- not a total failure but a "course correction.")

so i just HAD to read more of your prepared comment....i hope people who read this aren't fooled. All we have to do is remember how Mussolini himself defined fascism:

"Fascism should more rightly be called corporatism, for it is truly a merger of state and corporate power."

so now, relate that to your statement:

"If our government would partner with the corporations rather than their enemies (the unions) then this would become a pro-business environment and manufacturing here would start to make sense. "

so you're a fascist, plain and simple. any logical person can see this. unless you and your operatives spend a lot of time trying to make me out to be an idiot.

BA:
The minimum wage in Mexico is $3.40 per day. A high wage for a factory worker in China is $0.35 an hour. There is no way you're going to drop American wages that low. Whatever intoxicant you're consuming, it's going to be real popular if we're faced with low wages like that.

Japan now outsources manufacturing as well. I read that 80% of their goods are offshored, much to China. This means they're in the same boat. Jobs aren't going to shift from Japan to America, because, those jobs don't exist.

Jobs aren't going to shift from Europe to America and Japan if they're on the outs. They have protectionism to the world, and free trade within. They have a cushion that they can remove. (I don't think they're on the outs.)

The strength of China is significant, but I think the use of the euro alongside the dollar as the world's main currency is more signficant.

Also, like I said, China isn't buying our products in any significant quantity. They're just too poor, and even with a billion people, our product will compete with their own domestic products. So, our companies will open factories there, to build products for their domestic market. This does not mean more jobs for Americans.

Even if the government there raised the value of the yuan (pissing off all the Taiwan-resident factory owners) we're still talking about a poor country.

Ultimately, whatever we build here will be sold here, in Canada, some in Mexico, and in Japan and Europe (and not all of Europe). When Europe is doing well, they can buy our goods... but only if we have goods to sell. If "our" goods come from offshore companies -- say, a Motorola phone built in China goes to Denmark, for example... it's great for the stockholders, but, our workers don't get any benefit.

As for raises in wages. The workers sure as hell do cause wages to rise. The most common way they do it is by quitting their jobs and moving to another job. The employers will try to raise the wage at a point where it is not advantageous to quit.

What companies do is try to get wages to drop. Wal-Mart has a clause in their wage rules that drops a worker's wage if they're made to do a less-paid task for two weeks. It's a pay cut that the computer makes, automatically. If that stays in effect for a while, expect to see it at a lot of companies.

The biggest pressure on manufacturers to offshore comes from competition. The second biggest pressure is Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is sending our know-how to China, to open up a factory, and tell them how to run it, to make products for us at low prices. When a company says they want to stay here, perhaps for reasons of nostalgia, religious convictions, or some other warm-fuzzy feeling, or even an isolationist ideology, Wal-Mart will tell them to screw off.

They represent the downtrodden, selfish consumer... or so they say.

The decision to offshore is made. Factories get shut down, boxed up, and exported. First, they did it with the maquilas in northern Mexico. Now, they're doing it in China (and in other places like the Carribean in other places in Asia).

A $10 product, transferred to China, becomes a $6 product. And the profit margins are larger. The motivation is there, and always has been.

(The profit margin goes partly into the corporate coffers, partly into the pockets of the owners, but I suspect most of it goes to enrich the ever expanding service sector.)

In the private manufacturing sector, unions are inconsequential. Even where they operate, you're going to see wages like $7 or $8 an hour. I know this from knowing union people who worked for those wages. All the union can scrape together today is health benefits -- and damn, those do matter!

BA, I really do appreciate your ignorant defense of unregulated capitalism, because it gives me a chance to write about reality, rather than the usual ideological bickering.

Capitalism is a true free market without gobernment assistance in the from of bailouts, sibsidies, favorite insider legislation driven by outright bribery and countless other manipulations upon which wealth holds the reins of public policy. And its purse strings.
This is not politics involving the people but, of course, rule by an oligarchy.
Mr. rational.
unregulated capitalism is bound to consume the life of the world but it is not merely that. It's a criminal enterprise of a few thousand families, by the subversion of political process through fraud, bribery, extortion and murder among numerous other serious offenses, to extract the life from The People.
They are worthless, sick and evil people. A process initiated by The People must develop a cultural forum to attend to this pathological predation of unchecked, even condoned, greed and hubris.
A sort of social disdain, like dealing with a vicious weasel.
It will happen when the scale of informed awakened citizendry tips as it has to with this lastest, greatest cultural instrumentality since the printing press. We have been shown the power of our collective sense of justice and communication.
We must acknowledge unreasonable wealth with it's attendant danger to human society as a sign of mental illness and deal with it thusly.
It will happen one way or the other because it's way too late to stop this process. Despite the resources devoted to control or neutralize the effect.
We are winning despite the loud show to convince us otherwise.

Because, like a cancer it's uncontroled growth endangers the life of its host.
It has good points, it has bad points. We should choose how it functions for the sake of our planet. And our childrens lives.

50 points for using "it's" as a conjunction of " it is" for "its" as a possessive.
Watch it.

Amazing decadent discussion. My doodles on a similar oily subject can be found at http://digitalskunk.blogspot.com/2004/06/meek-shall-inherit-earth.html

enjoy while you can (It is a direct corollary of Jevon's Paradox)

What we have today is a modified capitalism, with social reforms. It's not capitalism as it was 100 years ago.

Capitalism fails to maintain minimum work standards. That's why we have labor laws that prohibit dangerous work conditions, and child labor.

Capitalism fails to prevent monopolies from forming. Trust busting was one of the reforms that preserves markets.

Capitalism fails to prevent cycles of boom and bust. Today, we only have recessions, when the economy stagnates. A hundred years ago, we had cycles of depression, when the economy actually contracted. This has been mitigated by monetary policy.

Capitalism fails to provide for people who cannot work. The classic image of capitalist failure is the blind guy selling pencils from a cup, during the Great Depression. Social Security was invented to help guys in that situation.

The reason why we have these reforms is not because capitalism includes a reform strategy. These reforms were enacted because we're a democratic country, and the people have leverage on the government.

We're also fortunate to have Thom. Jefferson's agrarian ideology as part of the national heritage, because it allows for the idea of a market that's regulated to favor small enterprise over large enterprise. This is mental ammunition for fighting capitalism, which always tends toward cartels and monopolies. So, people can be against pure capitalism, and still feel "patriotic."

Going back to the 19th century, capitalism, a revolution that destroyed feudalism, fails, by itself, to replace the feudal and monarchist power relations with democracy. It *can* *help* in making the transition, but, it can also be used to *preserve* feudal and monarchist oppression. Saudi Arabia is an example. The Philippines is another example.

What we have today is a modified capitalism, with social reforms. It's not capitalism as it was 100 years ago. Precious little of anything is the same was what it was 100 years ago. Capitalism fails to maintain minimum work standards. That's why we have labor laws that prohibit dangerous work conditions, and child labor. No one is arguing that some regulation isn't required. After all, the black market is the most efficient. What is fictional is the belief that it took unions and other socialists to make things bettter, when in fact the newly created wealth is what drove a higher standard of living for all. Capitalism fails to prevent monopolies from forming. Trust busting was one of the reforms that preserves markets. There have been very few real monopolies over the centuries. As recently seen in the Microsoft debacle, those "anti-trust" laws have ended up ore of a tool for politicians to punish those thatt don't pay "alms" to their coffers. Capitalism fails to prevent cycles of boom and bust. Today, we only have recessions, when the economy stagnates. A hundred years ago, we had cycles of depression, when the economy actually contracted. This has been mitigated by monetary policy. This doesn't equal capitalism being a failure, any more than an auto wreck negates the usefulness of the automobile. Capitalism fails to provide for people who cannot work. The classic image of capitalist failure is the blind guy selling pencils from a cup, during the Great Depression. Social Security was invented to help guys in that situation. Capitalism is more flexible than any other system in helping the blind guy find a place where he can be useful. It is socialist "reforms" over the decades, including the minimum wage, that have sidelined many people who are able to work but who don't fit the rigid "standards." The guy in a wheelchair who wants to learn engineering can't work on the construction site for less than minimum wage, so both he and the employer loses. The welfare state encourages people to "sit out" their duty to contribute to the economy, if only for their own satisfaction and survival. Social Security and other programs have geon from "social safety net" to hammock. And that's the way the politicians and "handlers" of the permanent underclass like it. The reason why we have these reforms is not because capitalism includes a reform strategy. These reforms were enacted because we're a democratic country, and the people have leverage on the government. No doubt. But we have laws is to prevent the selfish, sloth-ish whims of any one generation from overruling the protections provided by a government of limited power. That went out the window with the fiendish FDR and his socialist agenda. We're also fortunate to have Thom. Jefferson's agrarian ideology as part of the national heritage, because it allows for the idea of a market that's regulated to favor small enterprise over large enterprise. This is mental ammunition for fighting capitalism, which always tends toward cartels and monopolies. So, people can be against pure capitalism, and still feel "patriotic." An enormous central government is far worse than any cartel or monopoly, because people can't vote with their dollars to eliminate it. Despite its flaws, capitalism has brought the most wealth to the greatest number of people. It also rewards hard work and rational self-interest the fastest. If it were not so, people other than Islamis refugees seeking a free ride would be kicking down the gates to get into socialist crapholes like France, Germany and even Cuba. Going back to the 19th century, capitalism, a revolution that destroyed feudalism, fails, by itself, to replace the feudal and monarchist power relations with democracy. It *can* *help* in making the transition, but, it can also be used to *preserve* feudal and monarchist oppression. Saudi Arabia is an example. The Philippines is another example.

Some thoughts.

-"The welfare state encourages people to "sit out" their duty to contribute to the economy, if only for their own satisfaction and survival."-
* This may be due to the curious way that welfare, unemployment, etc functions. If you find a source of legitimate income it's deducted entirely from your assistance instead of scaled off gradually to provide incentive to seek part time or full time employment or even education. You're cut off from the system as soon as you strive to better your position.

-"But we have laws is to prevent the selfish, sloth-ish whims of any one generation from overruling the protections provided by a government of limited power. That went out the window with the fiendish FDR and his socialist agenda."-

This is a curiously twisted statement apologizing for a corrupted political process at the same time painting the guy who saved the ruling class from the same fate the libertines and ruling class of France suffered, as someone besides their Saviour. FDR pulled youse guys nuts out of the fire. You should erect a shrine to him.

-"An enormous central government is far worse than any cartel or monopoly, because people can't vote with their dollars to eliminate it."-
***Yes, an enormous central government at the leash of a few wealthy families is indeed a sure path to ruin particularly when most of the population is in debt to the above mentioned families.
I could go on but I should say that baffling them with BS is an old game, son.

-"The welfare state encourages people to "sit out" their duty to contribute to the economy, if only for their own satisfaction and survival."-

* This may be due to the curious way that welfare, unemployment, etc functions. If you find a source of legitimate income it's deducted entirely from your assistance instead of scaled off gradually to provide incentive to seek part time or full time employment or even education. You're cut off from the system as soon as you strive to better your position.

Well, isn't that the penalty of making a dea lwith the Devil by having welfare to begin with? No gummint money (which is really OUR money) comes without strings attached, including the G.I. Bill.

-"But we have laws is to prevent the selfish, sloth-ish whims of any one generation from overruling the protections provided by a government of limited power. That went out the window with the fiendish FDR and his socialist agenda."-

This is a curiously twisted statement apologizing for a corrupted political process at the same time painting the guy who saved the ruling class from the same fate the libertines and ruling class of France suffered, as someone besides their Saviour. FDR pulled youse guys nuts out of the fire. You should erect a shrine to him.

Sigh. It should be noted that Alexander Hamilton was the one who said, "Corruption is the grease of democracy." Corruption is nothing new...in fact, there's probably far less corruption today than even a century ago.

FDR's misguided policies not only prolonged the Depression, he sowed the seeds for the nightmarish Big Government Welfare State. Those who FDR "saved" are now dust and soon-to-be-dust, but the evils of government dependency--"programs" in place of people doing those things that people can and should do for themselves--lives on. Yet there are indeed shrines to the Great Socialist (who, for the record, was also a "Rich Bastard," only one who hid it well)

"An enormous central government is far worse than any cartel or monopoly, because people can't vote with their dollars to eliminate it."-

***Yes, an enormous central government at the leash of a few wealthy families is indeed a sure path to ruin particularly when most of the population is in debt to the above mentioned families. I could go on but I should say that baffling them with BS is an old game, son.

I've hears this nonsense about "plutocratic oligarchies" going on two decades now, yet very little Money is "old money" and 99% of millionaires EARNED their wealth withint a generation or less. I notice the evil old oligarchies didn't stop Bill Gates.

Some of you lefties give too much credit to who owns what, when in the Information Age, entrepreneurship and inventiveness can come from any anywhere.