Is the Left Neglecting the Big Story? Euro versus the Dollar

[Postman]

http://web.ask.com/redir?bpg=http%3a%2f%2fweb.ask.com%2fweb%3fq%3dthe%2bEuro%2bversus%2bthe%2bDollar%26o%3d0%26page%3d10&q=the+Euro+versus+the+Dollar&u=http%3a%2f%2ftm.wc.ask.com%2fr%3ft%3dan%26s%3da%26uid%3d00C0A230436AC0FF3%26sid%3d10AB0330436AC0FF3%26qid%3d85EB79EF9E8AF14BAB899462A27C46C5%26io%3d9%26sv%3dza5cb0dbf%26o%3d0%26ask%3dthe%2bEuro%2bversus%2bthe%2bDollar%26uip%3d442de9b3%26en%3dte%26eo%3d-100%26pt%3dIs%2bthe%2bLeft%2bNeglecting%2bthe%2bBig%2bStory%253f%2b%2bEuro%2bversus%2bthe%2bDollar!%2b%2b%26ac%3d24%26qs%3d0%26pg%3d10%26ep%3d1%26te_par%3d195%26te_id%3d%26u%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.aamovement.net%2fviewpoints%2feuro_vs_dollar.html&s=a&bu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.aamovement.net%2fviewpoints%2feuro_vs_dollar.html&qte=0&o=0

[HereSince1628]

1. Big story based on the size of its link, hahahahahah

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. It's not the size of the link

it's the depth of the think.

BTW, this is a helpful site: http://makeashorterlink.com/index.php

[HereSince1628]

5. sorry it just struck me as very funny....lmao...

[camero]

26. heck, at least somebody likes a short link.

lol

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. What is amazing to me

is when you try to explain anybody about this, eyes glaze, and
people just turn off

[SadEagle]

6. I would appreciate an explanation.

I have a sense of only some of the effects (i.e. increase in costs for imported items, reduced foreign investment), and it's not a pretty pretty picture, but I imagine the whole thing is a lot more serious...

[Postman]

9. let me try this...

imagine a loaf of bread costing $100.00

all the dollars in circulation outside of the US would come back to our shores causing hyperinflation if an alternate currency such as the Euro replaced the US Dollar as settlement for international transaction.

The US can't be defeated militarily. The achilles heel is the currency. Destroy the currency and you destroy the country.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. It is not only that

but the public debt owned by foreign investors is sold, and
replace by other currencies, leading to a cycle that is hard to
break

About 40% of our debt is held by China and Japan

Imagine them CASHING those oh in the next two weeks.

[Postman]

11. maybe that's why Japan, has for the first time since WW II, sent troops..

overseas, particularly to Iraq. They see it as being in their interest to prop-up the dollar?

[Nederland]

24. Not how it works

About 40% of our debt is held by China and Japan

Imagine them CASHING those oh in the next two weeks.


You obviously have no clue how the debt system works. You can't "cash in" your bonds until they are due without going through the bond market. If the Chinese and Japanese dumped all their bonds at once the price would plummet and the US government would happily buy them back at pennies on the dollar.

[DUreader]

13. Another way to look at it

Let's say you are an investor.

On average you did well this year. Yet if the value of your investments

increased 20% in your investment dollars, the value of those dollars

went down 20%.

So you broke even.

[DLCfromGA]

4. A lot of Democrats...

Would seem to support a falling dollar, as it is good for imports.

But under Clinton, we supported a strong dollar.

If you bought Euros a few years ago when they were dirt cheap, things are looking damn good right now

[Minstrel Boy]

7. Read "Behind the Invasion of Iraq"

a slim book published early in the year, authored by India's Research Unit for Political Economy. It makes a powerful case for the influence of the rise of the Euro upon US military policy.

An online version available here:

http://www.rupe-india.org/34/contents.html

The dollar/Euro conflict looms large in the section "The Real Reasons for the Invasion of Iraq—and Beyond."

[Postman]

8. already have it, thanks.

nt

[YNGW]

12. Central Bankers...

...have a target exchange value they wish to maintain in order sustain global solvency. The US dollar is still, and will remain for the foreseeable future, the standard by which all other currency is valued. Should it appear to shift in a manner that would upset the balance, the Central Bankers will make the proper adjustments.

Bottom line is this: the US dollar collapses and so does the whole stack of cards. This "cashing in" that was mentioned by someone in an earlier posting is not a viable option. A strong US dollar must be maintained above all other considerations in the current global economy. It really is that simple; the world economy cannot afford to allow the US dollar to collaspe.

[Postman]

15. explain more. It's not a collapse but a shift from the dollar to the euro.

by other countries. Particularly OPEC countries.

Isn't this why Hugo Chavez was a target for removal earlier in the year? Didn't he consider switching from the dollar to the euro regarding oil transactions?

Saddam Hussein did switch from the dollar to the euro in November of 2000, I believe. It went virtually unreported in the mainstream press.

[YNGW]

19. If anyone wants to buy in euros...

... that is certainly their option. However, the world economy simply cannot allow the US dollar to play second fiddle to the Euro. The USA is far more productive in GDP than Europe and a US dollar allowed to become too weak will have residual effects on the Euro.

Before I got into mortgage lending, I worked for the FDIC and for the Federal Reserve. While I don't expect you to take my word for it, I can say without hesitation that the main Cental Banks (US, England, Germany, and Japan) have determined a target exchange value they wish to maintain between the US dollar, the British pound, the Euro, and the Yen. Consider this; the families who control the money worldwide are in no mood to see what is in reality an untested and untried currency (Euro) become the standard by which all other currencys are given value. And besides as I mentioned, because of the USA's dominant GDP in the world market, the dollar must be given prominance and given consideration above the value of all other currencys. The US currency ceases to become dominant, the whole sack of cards fall.

[Postman]

21. Thanks for clearing that up. Let me ask you a question....

Putting all the other rhetoric about how Saddam Hussein was a threat and yada yada yada...

Did he actually become a threat in the eyes of the "world" when he switched to Euros from the Dollar as payment for oil?

Did the US fear a "domino effect" in regards to other OPEC countries switching thus threatening the dollar?

[YNGW]

23. I was under the impression...

... that the US wanted Europe, the Middle East, and developing African nations to use the Euro. It's been a while since I had to really consider these matters since it's not my job anymore.

As I recall the economic models, The Western hemisphere would use the US dollar, those I mentioned would use the Euro, and Asia would use the Yen as their basis of economy. It was and probably still is hoped that Russia will become more involved in the European market by tapping into their oil reserves and other raw materials. It is also the hope that an emerging China will find the allure of a global economy desirable so that they can play a stronger influence in stabalizing rouge nations in the far-East and thereby comforting potential investors.

I know that's really very general, but like I said, keeping up with it hasn't been the top of my priority list in the last few years. What I have said I feel good is still in place for the most part. I really don't feel comfortable guessing about these things beyond that and taking a chance at providing you with inaccurate info.

[JailForBush]

14. Thoughts, Suggestions

Wow, that's a good article. I've read most of those ideas before, but the author did a pretty good job of making it all easier to understand - I'm really quite ignorant of economics.

I wonder why the Ask Jeeves link ws provided? The actual URL is http://www.aamovement.net/viewpoints/euro_vs_dollar.html

The idea that true global equality is incompatible with Western affluence is nothing new, nor is the idea that the West might inevitably crash and burn in the face of various powerful forces.

It's easy to see how this could scare the Hell out of people, but problems aren't helped by ignoring them. We have no choice but look this one square in the eye.

Also, I suspect it's actually possible to carve a happy ending out of this mess - though it would probably be extraordinarily difficult, and we can't even begin to make headway as long as that Awful Asshole is our pResident.

Here are two partial solutions:

1. Americans can simply dispense with the crap and learn to live a more intelligent and "economically just" lifestyle. Anyone ever heard of ENERGY CONSERVATION? Do we really need all those big cars? Do we need all the gadgetry and styrofoam? Is it time to seek out new ways to share resources, the rent and living space?

2. There's another vast reservoir of wealth. It's called Corporate America. Bill Gates, Paul McCaw, and other corporate officials possess fabulous wealth, as do their army of "gatekeepers," including media executives, public school officials and on and on.

If we were to declare a sort of jihad against these sick bastards and TAKE THEIR WEALTH - which, for the most part, is really OUR wealth... well, just imagine the possibilities.

Now don't misquote me. I'm not arguing for armed revolution or physical attacks against America's Greatest Scum. There are legal, or quasi-legal, ways of doing it.

But as long as Americans don't have the guts to hold our oppressors accountable, we truly deserve what we get.

By the way, if my last two paragraphs conjure up images of "socialism," then you can guess why that word is so reviled by conservatives. They know that the great labor wars of yesteryear were fought - and largely won - by Socialists, which were far more ethical, powerful and effective than today's Democrats. They also know that "socialism" - in the broadest sense of the term - doesn't necessarily equate with Godless communism.

Even something as innocent (and necessary) as government regulation equates with socialism in the conservatives' lexicon. But if the general public learned to equate socialism with "social justice," I suspect alarm bells would go off in Microsoft headquarters and the White House alike.

[JailForBush]

16. Another Thought...

It would be interesting to know what steps corporate pariahs like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Bill Gates have taken to cope with an economic tidal change. In other words, if the Euro replaced the dollar as the standard currency, or China and Japan lowered the economic boom on the U.S., and our personal wealth plummeted overnight, does Bill Gates have investments or a strategy that would maintain his wealth, or most of it?

[Postman]

17. Like most unethical capitalist oligarchs, they probably play both sides...

wouldn't surprise me if they have bundles tied up in Euro's, Gold, Real Estate, who knows what else....

[JailForBush]

18. Of course, if worse came to worse, and Bill Gates was reduced to actually

working for a living, he could always trade on his great knowledge of software.

Just joking! Can you imagine China or India giving a rat's ass about Bill Gates' overpriced security flaws?!

[NewJeffCT]

20. won't happen

Right now, China's currency is tied to the US dollar, so as the dollar goes, so goes the Chinese RMB. So, we're not only making our exports cheaper, we're also making Chinese exports cheaper for the world.

[MrPrax]

22. Re-edit dude with this link

http://tinyurl.com/2lvnj

Ah much better
so what has been posted here...
"BUT much of the radical Left seems, from my observations, to be sleepin' with regards to basic economics."
"As a whole, I have observed that the anti-capitalist Left has been reluctant to embrace a thorough understanding of economics, even if it is acknowledged that such "understanding" of the mechanisms and institutions that propel today's capitalist system is through the eyes and perspective of our enemies."
Ca-Pittel-ism has no enemies, dear boy, it's science works as well in Mombassa as well as the trading rooms of the Exchequer...it's
etc etc...

[NavajoRug]

25. I don't think it's much of a story after all . . .

Especially when you consider that the recent "weakness" of the dollar against the Euro is really just a case of the dollar trading slightly weaker than it was when the Euro was first introduced.

A lot of people acted as if the world was coming to an end once the Euro "passed" the dollar and began trading higher than $1.00 -- what they forget is that when the Euro was first introduced it was worth about $1.20 and steadily declined to below $0.90 (if I remember correctly) in the first few years of its existence.