Falling dollar shifts economy

[UpInArms]

Source: The Associated Press

NEW YORK — During the Great Depression, New York's Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia dubbed the marble lions that frame the steps of the city's main library Patience and Fortitude - a reference to the strengths the city's denizens would need to survive the economic tumult.

Robert Brown, chief investment officer at Genworth Financial Asset Management, contends Americans eventually will need to call on those same attributes if the U.S. dollar continues to fall.

"The forces are so clear cut, so self-reinforcing," he said. "Nobody can figure out the timing."

While the economic shift likely would draw out some winners in the U.S. economy, such as companies that sell goods and services overseas, it also would likely sharply reduce America's purchasing power.

The dollar, which began to weaken broadly in early 2002, has fallen more than 50 percent from its October 2000 trading peak against the euro. It recently has come close to hitting its record low against the 13-nation currency and is near a 26-year low against the British pound.

Read more: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070422/BIZ/704220366/1005/biz

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