Wednesday, Sep 24, 2008
“This may prove to be the dollar’s epochal moment – the moment historians look back at as its major
UK Telegraph: US dollar set to be major casualty of Hank Paulson's bailout
The US taxpayer bail-out of America’s banking sector is an event whose significance will reverberate for many years. What it means for free markets, for the way Western economies are run, for the prosperity of the world economy, must remain to be seen.
But as investors scrambled to make sense of last week’s events, already one conclusion was all but irrefutable – the US dollar will have to take another major fall.
Posted by malct @ 12:15 PM (1444 views) Add Comment
28 Comments
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1. malct said...
is this fair? from comments -
The US is collapsing.. I immigrated to the US ten years ago... but what I have seen there is causing me to now leave... an obese, ignorant, greedy, corrupt and truly dumb and arrogant people.. who know nothing about the rest of the world... the majority of whom couldn't find Canada on a map let alone Afghanistan... a country which is going to show the Americans how to loose yet another war....they are getting what they deserve.. God how I hope gun totin' Palin wins.. as you just know McCaine ain't gonna last eight years.. then the world will see how absolutely stupid Americans are.. with a president who believes the world was created four thousand years ago... God help them.. God help the rest of the world..and God screw the U.S.A !!
2. malct said...
We realize that they have cut out the people that answered correct on all questions but finding enough stupid people to create a 9 minute segment is just terrifying.
http://www.vidly.net/video-the-chasers-war-on-everything-americans.html
film seems to justify, in part, the comment
3. debtfree said...
thats a very fair comment.
especially the obese and truly dumb bit.
4. uncle tom said...
Don't underestimate the resilience of the US, they are much better placed to get over this downturn than we are.
But are the greenback's days as the global reserve currency numbered? I think so.
The country that really has a problem here is China - they have far too many dollar denominated assets, and have been far too hestitant about advancing their own currency as a global bill of exchange.
This will almost certainly change, but not before they lose a huge amount of accumulated wealth through the devaluation of the greenback.
5. cornishman said...
Jeremy Clarkson reckons that kids need to be obese nowadays to minimise the chance of a knife attack hitting a major organ.
6. shipbuilder said...
Malct, I think that pretty much describes the UK as well now.
I have problems with the US establishment, but not its people, almost none of whom (that I know) fit that stereotype. There is no one nation more guilty here than others - we especially in the UK have been happy to reject Europe's work to live ethos and embraced the more US live to work mindset. In addition we imported the materialism, but none of the morals.
7. malct said...
uncle tom said - "Don't underestimate the resilience of the US"
well here's one for you :-
I don't endorse the following video, it is coarse and offensive with bad language but it is one american's anger boiling over
and was sent to me and loads of other people recently. Apollogies in advance. dear oh dear oh dear
he sure is "MAD AS HELL" btw I don't think it's meant to be funny.
A.I.G. Surprise ! - SHOCKING
http://uk.youtube.com:80/watch?v=d060fWLuVio&feature=email
8. malct said...
shipbuilder agreed, but as you might guess, I don't think it's accidental, also
europe legislates
usa sues
we now do both - and that's really stupid!
btw the bloke on the AIG surprise video also has a problem with the US establishment.
9. handle_it said...
Has there been any best guesses (apart from we're all doomed!) what all this might actually result in ? What impact would a massively devalued $ really have long term ?
10. Whostolemyendowment said...
US$ hits new low against Chinese RMB. US imports cost will rise fuelling inflation, China's export market will suffer from lower demand....another perfect storm.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90884/6504478.html
11. beartil2010 said...
The US wouldn't be able to prosecute these ludicrous oil wars - because they only can based on others buying their debt at the moment. They will have to learn a bit more self sufficiency, which can only be good for global improvement, when others see them doing it.
12. beartil2010 said...
Thinking about it some more - if the dollar fails, it is not the world reserve currency, then what else do investors buy? What is better than the dollar as a store of currency value, rather than just currency trading/carry trading? Some might say the euro, but not really. Others will say gold, which I think is correct, people will invest there. But think about it; if you can't invest in the dollar, and there is no other choice, is this not a clear symbol that fiat currency does not work?
The dollar is all about confidence. If you have no confidence in the dollar, you have no confidence in currency, so you have no confidence in paper?
13. mrmickey said...
Don't forget Europe depends on America for military protection from the likes of Russia, If the US withdraws back in on itself expect a Nazi style invasion of Poland by Russia.
14. beartil2010 said...
I think that's a bit paranoid? We still have nuclear offence, as does US.
Although I have heard World War 3 being mentioned coming out of this a few times.
15. mrmickey said...
I don't think the Georgians would agree with you beartil2010
16. george monsoon said...
This global financial confusion will cause panic and animosity. I would assume that some kind of conflict will arise
17. beartil2010 said...
Mrmickey - The Georgian president, aided by american training and weapons, decided to invade the area in question. The russians immediately retaliated and spanked his ar*e. Also, this is an area where the majority of people hold & want russian passports. The Georgian people openly decried their president for causing the warfare, only most of it never made it to our tv screens. All this 'soveriegn nation' cr*p about the russian invasion from the US is ridiculous lies and doubletalk.
Attacking Poland is a somewhat different matter - Poland is a nation and has been for a long time, they are not inviting Russia in, and they are not about to attack Russia.
Not that I'm saying conflict wouldn't happen - it could well do.
anyway that's not what I was originally saying - I was interested in the economic impact on US hegemonmy, the dollar and fiat currency...
18. renting2 said...
beartil @ 14 - We have a nuclear deterrent, not nuclear offence. If we fire, so does everyone else - Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
19. baroo said...
Beartil2010, why would all the South Ossetians have Russian passports?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/georgia/2651836/South-Ossetian-police-tell-Georgians-to-take-a-Russian-passport-or-leave-their-homes.html
And before you say so, I know that this comes from the same western media that is very anti-Russia, but I have read similar (and less exaggerated) reports in the Russian press about passports being dished out very freely in the past few years. I don't have time to dig them up just now. I'm just saying that just because Russia has been unfairly treated by our press does not make them an entirely benevolent party.
20. malct said...
renting2
I think beartil was being a teeny weeny bit synical
so far this millenium, the world's biggest holder of nuclear weapons by a long way has invaded two countries that didn't even have an air force! - and we're supposed to think that's OK?
carrot batman, that's a little bit odd!
21. beartil2010 said...
For the gallery...
I do not think Russians are pacifists, I just doubt they will invade Poland because the dollar weakens!
22. nooneo said...
I have to agree with the comment malct posted @ 1.
"God how I hope gun totin' Palin wins.. as you just know McCaine ain't gonna last eight years.. then the world will see how absolutely stupid Americans are.. with a president who believes the world was created four thousand years ago... God help them.. God help the rest of the world..and God screw the U.S.A !"
The whole of the USA appears to have not only by-passed the 20th century but now they think it's 1860 and they're still at war with themselves.
Creationism.......pro life........anti-thi8s......anti-that.......barking mad preachers.....guns everywhere.........1/5th population in trailers........The list goes on and on.
They've sold their coals to newcastle (sub-prime) and now the dollars going to go south. Soon (rather than latter) the world is going to start dealing in another currency, I suspect the Euro (as do most financiers) and they will start to lose their place as No1 Economy and proabably their ability to bully their way around the world. Soon no-one will be buying anything "made in the USA" other than their own population.
In the long run they aint gonna be pleased with how their status as the worlds "greatest" country is going to have them p!ssing into their own chips and crying over their own (naff) beer.
23. icarus said...
malct @2 - that Australian was talking to the better informed half of the American public, i.e., those who know the name of the US President.
24. malct said...
icarus @ 5.41
hadn't thought of that one, that IS scary!
25. malct said...
22. nooneo said...
I have to agree with the comment malct posted @ 1.
hey steady on mate
next thing - oops = thought police knocking = must go
26. last_days_of_disco said...
@malct and @nooneo
The liberal left dream is collapsing in tatters. It doesn't make every religious person into village idiots. Some of things you have said are really unfair. You guys need a hug and nice warm cup of tea. Same problem after the Berlin wall collapsed. Lots of disillusioned communists running around. Go watch "Goodbye Lenin" (German with sub-titles) have a good cry and get over it.
Religious people are not as stupid as that incredibly rude Richard Dawkins makes out. The problem is not religious people in Britain, its rude pompous atheists who make totally stupid and unfair laws that discriminate against religious people basically because, "if you believe in God you must be mentally deranged". Now the environment is changing and they are completely at a loss when everyone doesn't immediately accept Darwin as the uber authority.
Ranting an roiling is not going to help. I especially love:
"God how I hope gun totin' Palin wins.. as you just know McCaine ain't gonna last eight years.. then the world will see how absolutely stupid Americans are"
Is that sort of an athiest version of prophecy? I mean, on what authority are you making this prediction?
Just because someone is religious or a gun owner does not immediately make them into an idiot, or into a genius for that matter. I have heard this attitude before from my atheist friends who have a similar disdain for religion. "America is stuffed, because they are religious". I think the problems America is now having are because of their abandonment of true religion and their embrace of atheism.
The fact is that rank and file Americans are instinctively returning to what worked for them in the past and the same thing is beginning to happen in the UK. Even Obama has to discover "religion" to try and appeal. I can't imagine that religious Americans will never be fooled by such window dressing. The opinions of religious people do matter in a democracy before you dismiss them out of hand.
The liberal left can't bear that because it gives the lie to their basically materialist philosophy: "If we can just have enough stuff, the people will be happy."
Well we had enough stuff for ten years and it hasn't made Britain better, it has just leached the basic goodness out of the British people and flooded them with people with completely alien ways of looking at life.
But really, if you haven't, watch "Goodbye Lenin", its a great movie.
27. shipbuilder said...
26. last_days_of_disco said...
"@malct and @nooneo
The liberal left dream is collapsing in tatters"
You sound here like the O'Reilly and Limbaugh-a-likes that dominate the US airwaves, yet claim a liberal media bias.
When US pundits talk of nationalising banks and protecting the common man, that's not the liberal left dream in tatters.
Perhaps you've failed to notice who's in power in the US?
As for religion, methinks you protest too much....embracing a fairy tale for comfort is quite the opposite of hard-nosed self-responsible conservatism, I would have thought. Your complaints about people's dismissal of religion could easily be applied to your obvious loathing of socialism or the 'left', a rather broad-brush label that seems to be applied to anyone not in line with your views - there was nothing remotely liberal or left in the sentiments expressed, distasteful as they were.
28. last_days_of_disco said...
@shipbuilder
You say that, but the reality is the people that treat people badly at work, or where ever because of their faith are so obviously what we in the UK call,
"the liberal lefties" . Oh come on, you expect me to actually start applying some kind of complex classical liberal arguments here. I am talking about
the guys at work and your neighbour, and, and, and... Think middle class here.
The guys that are really insulting to religious people are always lefties in my personal experience. Are you going to seriously deny that the Labour government policies have not been dominated by their discourse. I mean I could produce links to Labour think tanks if you like. The conservatives (even the hard nosed ones) are way more respectful. This has resulted in an increasingly hostile environment for Christians in the UK. Just do a quickie media survey of the last 10 years and you will see this Labour government has passed more anti-Christian laws than any British government in history. You have to have been under a rock to not have seen the stuff in the media.
I wouldn't loathe the left, if they ever delivered anything but debt and long term hardship and robbery of my basic human rights. Hey I have had ten years of building up my loathing. I loathe the consequences of their actions.
I would far rather deal with a conservative who is hard nosed and straight than with the sweet lies of the nanny state. Maybe its just me.
"embracing a fairy tale for comfort is quite the opposite of hard-nosed self-responsible conservatism" -> That is just not true, I mean the
people who are the most self reliant and well organized the world over are religious. This is self-evident, do we need to do history? Tough environments develop people with faith, its part of being human. Loads of respected self reliant (hard nosed conservative?) religious communities
spring to mind. Are you going to argue that religion and "true" conservatism are mutually exclusive?
It may be possible to be a godless conservative but it doesn't make it impossible to be a God fearing one.
But anyway, rather than reporting comments as offensive, its better to actually tell people what you think, wouldn't want people to think there was a conspiracy or something. ;-)