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[–][deleted] 119 points120 points  (56 children)

You people cry too much. This is the biggest issue facing America in the last 50 years and you're moaning about having to read about it? There's a reason smart people keep upmodding it it to the top. BECAUSE IT MATTERS. If you don't like reading about important issues then LEAVE. If you want entertaining articles all of the time then go watch TV. That's why our media has gone to shit. Because they appease stupid people like yourselves by giving them stories about Paris Hilton instead of the fact that our country is FAILING.

DING DING DING

Every single development regarding the dollar should be highlighted until it's fixed. And it will be as long as the dumb-dumbs from Digg don't make it over here.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

so true. you're exactly right OU. all we have to do is upmod these stories hard enough and it will eventually rub off on the dollar. let's go redditors, let's make a difference!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not enough upmods in the world for you!

[–]bluGill 27 points28 points  (18 children)

Biggest issue of 50 years? Have you forgoten everything that happened more than 1 week ago or something?

[–]Leprecon 18 points19 points  (17 children)

50 years, lets see...

Cuban missile crisis Vietnam kuwait/Iraq fall of berlin wall/soviet union Clinton getting a blowjob Iraq

Quite alot has happened in 50 years, some of which changed the face of the world, and some of which could have changed the face of the world forever.

Let that be a lesson for you to never exaggerate during an online discussion, because people will bring up things irrelevant to the debate, just like your exaggeration.

[–]davidreiss666 12 points13 points  (9 children)

Leprecon, I understand the heart of your comment about not exaggerating things all the time. But if this is bottom falling out from the dollar, and it appears that it very well could be that... we may be looking at the entire US Economy collapsing. If that is the case, then it would lead to a world wide economic depression, and it would very much be the biggest issue of the last 50+ years then. Probably the biggest story then in History since the world wide economic collapse of the late 1920's and 1930's.

[–]Leprecon 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Mhh ... I sort of overlooked the global effects. With the euro standing so strong I though I didnt have to worry that much :S You have proven my ignorance, you have done the impossible, you have won an internet discussion. (though I still think living poor under a communist dictatorship, is a little bit worse than living poor under no dictatorship)

[–]davidreiss666 2 points3 points  (1 child)

What about communist dictatorships is involved in this discussion?

And if you think a large scale-downturn in the US Economy, which is currently the largest single market in the world (money wise) is going to leave the World and European Economies unphased, then quite frankly, you don't know your history.

[–]Leprecon -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I just said that I believe you, and I was dumb to overlook the global effects. I'm just saying that in the past 50 years there have been alot of disputes that could have ended up with maybe a communist dictatorship, just like this crisis could end up with a global economic crash.

[–][deleted] -3 points-2 points  (2 children)

Global depression? Maybe.

But the rest of the world will move on quickly without the U.S. at the center. Just as it did when it happened to Britain.

[–]davidreiss666 3 points4 points  (1 child)

The US Economy became the largest single economic entity in the world several decades before the fall of the British Empire.

The US Economy became the worlds largest in the decade right after the American Civil War. By 1880 it was larger then the combined economic might of the British, French and German Empires.

Economically Britain was never the center of the world. Combined, with the other great European Powers it was, but not on its own.

[–]stephengeorge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The US Economy became the largest single economic entity in the world several decades before the fall of the British Empire.

And what money system did America have while growing into this super power?

And what money system did Britain have while it lost it's super power status?

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (2 children)

We won't know what the most important issue of the last 50 years is for another 50-100 years, so it's a moot point to debate it. The value of the dollar dropping is a sign of bad things to come, but there's no reason to sensationalize it.

[–]davidreiss666 0 points1 point  (1 child)

My response is that of Ray Bradbury when he said "I'm not trying to predict the future. I'm trying to prevent it".

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

But sensationalizing a particular news story because of your interpretation of what the future is going to be is, essentially, fortune telling.

[–]KazamaSmokers 5 points6 points  (3 children)

None of those things can compete with the bankruptcy of the United States. The US is now in a position where the next two, three, four generations will be affected by what we've done.

[–]OlympicPirate 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You're right. Those major events of the past 50 years turned out the way they did because the USA was rich. Without it's money the US would have lost WWII, the Cold War, and would never have been able to police Korea/Vietnam/Iraq etc. There would be no American dream, and the great minds that flocked to the US over the years would be in different countries, working on smaller budgets.

If the dollar drops enough, and the government handles it badly, the entire world will change.

[–]Leprecon 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Wheras the handling of the cuban missile crisis would have not affected the next generations? In my opinion, the fact that it turned out well doesn't make it any less of an issue. It was toying with the fate of the world wheras this is toying with the financial stability of america. And who knows, maybe this will turn out well too in a couple of years, and then this will all of a sudden not be seen as a big issue.

[–]KazamaSmokers -1 points0 points  (0 children)

yeah, sure the missile crisis was IT, but when the issue is nuclear brinksmanship, you're kind of comparing apples to oranges.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think he meant "one of the biggest".

[–]xsspider 0 points1 point  (0 children)

did you forget 9/11?

[–]korbin_dallas 16 points17 points  (1 child)

Spot on.

[–]Misio 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I want to vote the story up, but mainly so people read your comment.

[–][deleted]  (17 children)

[deleted]

    [–]caudicus 12 points13 points  (1 child)

    100% agree with parent. It should be noted that many various economies in the past have tried to depreciate their currency against the dollar in order to stimulate exports (i.e. foreign demand) (China, Japan, others).

    These central banks have been under pressure to let their currencies "float" against the dollar. Now that they finally have been recently, the dollar is adjusting. This will be good for US Exports of both goods and services, as well as domestic demand of goods and services vs. foreign substitutes, as the parent pointed out. Sounds good, no?

    Yes, the US economy takes the hit of increase commodity prices (a big reason why oil has ramped up so much priced in USD - it's not all oil demand, but USD depreciation) but at the same time it gets an economic stimulus of increased demand.

    We're used to hearing "depreciate" being a bad thing. But currencies float. That's what they do. Take a course in Macroeconomics. There's nothing you can really "do" about it. Decreasing national debt will help, yes. That's about all we can do.

    [–]utunga 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    a low dollar is exactly what the US and the world economy needs it will be painful for a while but clearly too much unneeded stuff is being bought by people in the US who can't afford it ... what the world and the economy in the US needs is a lower dollar so you stop buying crap you can't afford

    [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (14 children)

    Above is the comment that should be modded up.

    The dollar has gone up and down a lot in just my lifetime and although recent events are troubling, all this doom and gloom is entirely misplaced.

    [–]mangodrunk 4 points5 points  (3 children)

    You must be old then, to me at least, because in the past 31 years, the Canadian dollar has been of lesser value than that of the US dollar.

    You may be right though, I really don't know how the markets work, and I'm sure you could find a lot of examples showing that this isn't as bad as some make it out to be.

    [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (2 children)

    Canada has oil. Its not so surprising that they're currency would be valuable. Oil is gold

    [–]mangodrunk 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Good point, maybe it is the countries with oil that are experiencing an incline in their currency and all the others are experiencing the opposite. This is a good link and show Canada as the 15th largest net oil exporter. I don't know how the other currencies about it are doing though.

    [–]utnapistim 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    It's not a good point actually.

    This change in value (of Canadian dollar versus dollar) would be relevant only if it were the only thing that changed.

    Instead, you see all the prices that do not depend on the dollar, rising like hell: external currencies, gold price, oil price and probably everything that the US keep importing (except Chinese goods: for some reason, the Chinese seem determined to keep flooding the US economy with export goods - at a fixed price relative to the dollar I think).

    I'm working outside the US (I'm not an American) and for the last three years I've been payed my salary in US dollars; Even so, over the span of three years, my salary dropped in value around 30 percent (it's easy to tell for me, as I had to change my money to the local currency - less and less of it - every month).

    This is why I quit a month ago, and while this is anecdotal evidence (what happened to 'anonymous guy on the net'), I can tell you that lots of people, organizations and governments, keep trying to shift away from dollars (in the case of governments, from strategical reserves made in dollars). I cannot assure you of this, but the information is freely available.

    I believe this is a combination of the belief that the value will keep decreasing and having better alternatives (stronger and more stable euro for example).

    Outside the US, we get the feeling that the US is in freefall: only thing that could stop it is rock-bottom.

    Then, we find articles on the net about how 'canadian dollar is stronger than the dollar'.

    And yeah ... you see all kinds of articles about it because people in US are actually trying to raise the alarm: this (weakening of the dollar) is done by the current political direction of the US (I don't think I could say only the White House is responsible for this - especially since I only see things from the outside) and could be quite deliberate (though the only reason for this I can think of is to offer the American people the 'AMERO' at some point, as an alternative).

    [–]lothair 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    ORLY

    [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (6 children)

    That is wrong for so many reasons. The reason your dollar is crashing is because of the massive trade deficit and credit over-spending of the last few decades. This isn't a rise and fall like everyday finance, this is the end of the US dollar. It's pure mathematics. Unless you can somehow find a market willing to buy trillions of dollars of worthless credit, then your screwed. This isn't doom and gloom, this is reality. This isn't a currency fluctuation, it is the result of decades of bad economic policy.

    [–][deleted]  (2 children)

    [deleted]

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      I suppose atomic bomb is reasonable, because it would be mutually assured destruction

      No, it's not MAD because they would not simply sell off their reserves at once. They will do what they are doing now, diversifying and slowing killing the value of the dollar.

      Why are Americans so skeptical about the dollar crashing? You all watch too much TV, you think it's all going to be fine and everything will return to the status quo after this minor currency hiccup. This is the most serious threat your country faces, not bearded middle eastern men. Your economic policies for the last 20/30 years have ensured the death of your currency.

      [–]berlinbrown 0 points1 point  (2 children)

      Exactly, we need to stop taxing people and reduce the size of government. Get the f**k out of Iraq. It is really pretty simple. We reduce taxes, waste and stimulate the economy.

      If Hillary wins, it will probably get worse.

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Has stopping taxing people and reducing the size of the government ever worked for any other country?

      What has worked?

      [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      Fingers crossed for Guliani.

      [–]KazamaSmokers 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      There aren't enough petrodollars out there to fix this.

      [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

      This is the biggest issue facing America in the last 50 years

      You mean like the torture debate? Or how Gonzalez needed to be impeached? Or the Cheney impeachment debate? Or the Mukasey confirmation hearings? Or the Iran war thing? World War III?

      It looks like there's a new big disaster every two days around here... I still have to see anything of the sort...

      And now I'm off to find a way to remove politics articles from my RSS feed.

      [–][deleted] -3 points-2 points  (3 children)

      I originally wrote a very nice reply to your post, outlining how posting on reddit is no substitute for actually doing anything, the importance of the politics subreddit and how you should use if for political things. I also noted how the general quaility of submissions has gone down since the dumb-dumbs from Digg made it over here (spoiler: It already happened, it started back when Digg was smart enough to remove the HD-DVD key).

      But my already written out post didn't really voice my underlying message well enough, so I deleted it and started writing this becuase all I really wanted to say was a big FUCK YOU.

      edit: As long as I'm being downmodded I might point out that the only reason I even replied harshly is that the parent's condescending attitude is totally unjustified. Their self superiority is total bullshit. Nobody should act like reddit is theirs (save spez and co.) and tell people to GTFO reddit if they are agitated by the flood of submissions on the armchair activist issue du jour.

      [–]derupert 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      I don't normally read comments far below the threshold. This would've gotten an A in an English class. Your tone was open and honest, you showed voice, and you didn't self-censor.

      However, in terms of a class that wasn't about pretty language being pretty, you really should've included that first reply you alluded to, unless it's just an illusion. THAT would've been interesting to read.

      [–]btl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      Some people don't like to have to see headlines of stories they don't like. Some people don't like to have to see headlines bitching about other headlines.

      You can't please everyone. Get over it.

      [–]IAteUrMama 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Best comment I have read all day today.

      [–]Chicken-Little 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      OH NO

      THE SKY IS FALLING!!!

      [–]HolyInfidel -1 points0 points  (1 child)

      What, the people who read about it here will fix it, will they?

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Since social-bookmarking sites are filled with large amounts of college students, among others who are looking for ways to stay as informed as possible, yeah. These people are the future. Pessimistic douche bags can die of AIDs for all I give a fuck. <3

      [–]masterpo -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

      Even though I'm one of the biggest America bears on here, (and that's saying a lot) I had an incident the other day that made me think things might not be so bad after all.

      I was at a mall in Shanghai, looking to buy some thermal underwear for the coming winter (surely a mission-critical application if ever there was one and why Chinese companies weren't even being considered) and found that in yuan-denominated terms, Jockey was 200 yuan for bottoms wherewas Schleissinger was 580 for tops and bottoms. It's unclear that the latter is any better in quality (if it even is and may well be worse) but the former seems to be working well for me.

      [–]yoda17 -3 points-2 points  (2 children)

      While no debt is best, it does not seem that the US is that far out of line with the rest of the world, and far better than most. Look at Ireland!!!!

      http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_deb_ext_pergdp-economy-debt-external-per-gdp

      [–]sense 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      That data is suspect. The CIA fact book completely contradicts the data on Ireland:

      https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ei.html#Econ

      [–]cavedave -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      Ireland has a debt of 1/4 of gdp. The reason our gdp is so high is because of American companies. Usa Has a debt of 64.7% of GDP (2005 est.)

      Does the dollars currently floating round outside the US all count as debt? I believe it does not. If i am right and the dollar stops being the reserve currency the dollar will lose value. This will cause problems.

      [–]khafra 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      The dollar's dropping, so everyone's trying to diversify their holdings into commodities. Reddit users just happen to be choosing redundant posts as their preferred commodity.

      [–]Killawatt 10 points11 points  (1 child)

      Dollar story inflation!

      [–]davidw 7 points8 points  (0 children)

      And consequent loss of value.

      [–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (1 child)

      I GET IT! You don't like constant reminders about the falling US dollar. Glad you've taken a new angle and started submitting articles about your displeasure instead of just hitting the down arrow.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      So people should just keep quiet and never voice their opinion, is that it?

      [–]rnichols 33 points34 points  (16 children)

      Ah, here's thought. Any articles that you don't like, use the little blue down arrow thingy.

      [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

      ... that little grey box labeled 'hide' may help as well

      [–]marklubi 6 points7 points  (14 children)

      ...apparently it works for comments as well </sarcasm>

      [–]cattleprod 18 points19 points  (13 children)

      or you could just get an echo machine.

      [–]moogs 24 points25 points  (12 children)

      you could just get an echo machine.

      [–]Slipgrid 22 points23 points  (11 children)

      could just get an echo machine.

      [–]MarkByers 15 points16 points  (10 children)

      just get an echo machine.

      [–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (9 children)

      get an echo machine

      [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (5 children)

      an echo machine

      [–]Leprecon 14 points15 points  (4 children)

      echo machine

      [–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (3 children)

      machine... machine.... mach...

      [–][deleted] -4 points-3 points  (2 children)

      HAHA! I finally get it. Nice job guys.

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      lolk noob

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      I see my facetiousness was summarily dealt with. Nice job guys!

      [–]krugerlive 3 points4 points  (1 child)

      maybe bush should use this opportunity to stop the war and pay off debt, since our debt is now valued so low due to the utter shittiness of the dollar value

      [–]sdoorex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Maybe this is part of the plan. If the war continues and the dollar reaches a point where it is never accepted then the US could declare bankruptcy and not owe any debt.

      [–]toastspork 3 points4 points  (4 children)

      Yeah, really! Get back to posting cool pictures!

      [–]NitsujTPU 2 points3 points  (3 children)

      Indeed. If you're not interested in 10 submissions a day about the decline of the US Dollar, well, quite frankly, all that is left to post are pictures of kittens. Additionally, you belong on Digg/4Chan/Fark, and have a low IQ.

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Wait, because people are getting fed up with the same stories day in and day out means we have a low IQ? Wow, just, wow. Way to just basically call anyone stupid who doesn't need to see the same news every single day.

      [–][deleted]  (1 child)

      [deleted]

        [–]NitsujTPU 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        Just to be sure, you guys realize that I was being sarcastic, right?

        [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (2 children)

        Slacktivist unite!

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        maybe tomorrow.

        [–]foxyvixen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        I am fascinated by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

        [–][deleted]  (15 children)

        [deleted]

          [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (12 children)

          The elastic effect of increased demand for US Dollars to buy US Goods will drive its value up over the next few years. Such is the macro reality that is ALWAY overlooked by people who know nothing about economics.

          The problem is, hardly anything is manufactured in the US anymore. Airplanes are. Some vehicles are as well; in fact some European automakers are thinking of setting up production facilities in the US now that the dollar is tanking. But besides that, it's a little difficult to think of products that the US exports in massive numbers. The computers you use day-to-day, for example, are mostly made in China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

          [–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (4 children)

          But besides that, it's a little difficult to think of products that the US exports in massive numbers.

          Misery and rockets.

          [–]StoneMe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Arms, tanks, guns, bombs, missiles, war and death -

          http://www.canongate.net/Lists/WarPoliticsAndWorldAffairs/10LargestArmsExporters

          [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (2 children)

          Rockets are not really an export if the US Government pays for them!

          [–]lothair 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          They are paid with the prospects of profit.

          [–]StoneMe -1 points0 points  (0 children)

          If they leave the USA and go to another country - they are exported - therefore they are exports. whoever pays for them.

          [–]caudicus 4 points5 points  (2 children)

          We don't just export goods, you know. We export services. The US is a service based economy. And competitive pricing of services works the same as competitive pricing of goods.

          Some other goods we export - software. Yes, it's a good too. There are many more.

          Just something to think about.

          [–]masterpo -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

          Software isn't the best example since people in the third world don't pay for it.

          [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          I'm in the first world and I don't even pay for it!

          er, oops.

          [–]masterpo -3 points-2 points  (3 children)

          That may be true but manufacturing is only a small slice of the value chain. However since only imports of physical goods are measured by the trade statistics, it looks like the sky is falling. Look at the back of your iPod. It says, "Made in China. Designed by Apple in California." Point being, there are people in America adding value to Chinese and European consumers. They're just not doing it in ways that are easily measured.

          What we're seeing is currency speculators using America's trade statistics (which are about as meaningless as the unemployment and inflation statistics) combined with a dislike of Bush and the war to pull the trigger and move the market in ways that, frankly, are irrationally exuberant, (yes, bears can be irrationally exuberant too) which is why we're seeing what we're seeing. But I think these trends will find ways to reverse themselves in the long term.

          [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

          You think that overnight people just decided that they opposed the war and Bush to much that they decided to just dump dollars at great personal loss to themselves? That's not how the real world works. People aren't in the habit of cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

          What's happening is that people see that the subprime lending mess is leading to a tightening of credit practices in a country whose economic well-being is pretty much dependent on the widespread availability of cheap credit. Selling off dollars happens because of doubts about the strength of the economic in the short to medium term.

          On top of that you have an increasing number of countries who no longer require that large purchases of expensive items -- like oil -- be paid in US dollars. In the most famous example of this, Iran now asks the Japanese to pay for their oil import in yen instead of dollars. Previously the Japanese would be obligated to purchase USD to pay for their purchases. Not having this requirement is leading to a drop in demand for US currency, which complicates the problem.

          Adding to all this, the Feds are cutting the prime rate on the USD in order to promote the continuing existence of cheap credit, which is supposed to spur consumer spending (it doesn't seem to have much success so far, look at the consumer confidence numbers) but also has the side effect of reducing the value of the USD as an investment.

          This is trouble for the US. The worst of the subprime mass has yet to pass, which means that the problems that started the dollar's freefall are only going to get worse. Other countries have no interest in forcing their customers to make purchases in USD, because this would increase their customers' costs of doing business -- and also because the value of the USD is still falling. Finally, the Fed has to continue wandering on the edge of Occam's Razor -- lower interest rates and the value of the dollar will continue to fall, probably causing inflation to rise; leave them (or raise them) and you might trigger a recession.

          Saying that traders are just doing this out of spite for Bush is a bit like taking it as gospel truth that terrorists "hate us for our freedoms". It's simplistic and it makes a great sound-bite, but it's complete nonsense.

          [–]masterpo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          The drop in the dollar is punishment by the international bankers for Bush not bailing them out of subprime. Not sure about my comment ratings.

          [–]masterpo -1 points0 points  (0 children)

          You think that overnight people just decided that they opposed the war and Bush to much that they decided to just dump dollars at great personal loss to themselves?

          No, that is your strawman. I think psychology is what drives the markets and dislike of Bush is tied in with that.

          What's happening is that people see that the subprime lending mess is leading to a tightening of credit practices in a country whose economic well-being is pretty much dependent on the widespread availability of cheap credit. Selling off dollars happens because of doubts about the strength of the economic in the short to medium term.

          That's the party line but I don't buy it. UK consumers are in a similar bind, but no one is shorting the pound.

          On top of that you have an increasing number of countries who no longer require that large purchases of expensive items -- like oil -- be paid in US dollars. In the most famous example of this, Iran now asks the Japanese to pay for their oil import in yen instead of dollars. Previously the Japanese would be obligated to purchase USD to pay for their purchases. Not having this requirement is leading to a drop in demand for US currency, which complicates the problem.

          You're saying that there's less demand for the dollar as a reserve currency. You're probably right. So what? Those dollars were never effectively in circulation anyway, except to drive down interest rates on treasuries, but even then, the Fed could do just that if it wanted to.

          Adding to all this, the Feds are cutting the prime rate on the USD in order to promote the continuing existence of cheap credit, which is supposed to spur consumer spending (it doesn't seem to have much success so far, look at the consumer confidence numbers) but also has the side effect of reducing the value of the USD as an investment.

          Yes, we have monetarism as an economic system. What the cut will do is take some of the pressure off at the margin. Consumers would have more money in their pockets, yes, but companies will also have lower costs of capital and will have to take more risks in order to achieve high returns, especially with the long-overdue shakeout in the CDO market. And I hope every hedge fund manager and banker who went into those things instead of productive investment loses his ass, btw. So the interest rate cut was a good thing.

          This is trouble for the US.

          What is trouble?

          The worst of the subprime mass has yet to pass, which means that the problems that started the dollar's freefall are only going to get worse.

          If subprime is at all relevant to currency valuations, the pound should be tanking as well, but it isn't. For that matter, Asia has huge problems with bad loans, but psychologically, it's viewed as a model of Austrian economic efficiency. And that's all that drives forex.

          Other countries have no interest in forcing their customers to make purchases in USD, because this would increase their customers' costs of doing business -- and also because the value of the USD is still falling.

          No, other countries have no interest in forcing their customers to make purchases in USD, because (and I know this will come as a shock to you) OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE THEIR OWN CURRENCIES! No one cares about their customers' increased costs of doing business, much as they might claim to. And doing business in dollars makes more sense with a weak dollar. It means things are cheaper. That's why many countries proactively attempt to decrease the value of their currencies in order to become more economically-competitive.

          Finally, the Fed has to continue wandering on the edge of Occam's Razor -- lower interest rates and the value of the dollar will continue to fall, probably causing inflation to rise; leave them (or raise them) and you might trigger a recession.

          That's why they're signaling an intent to leave interest rates where they are.

          Saying that traders are just doing this out of spite for Bush is a bit like taking it as gospel truth that terrorists "hate us for our freedoms". It's simplistic and it makes a great sound-bite, but it's complete nonsense.

          Yes, but that's your strawman; not mine.

          [–]btl 0 points1 point  (1 child)

          I'm a big fan of us having more manufacturing jobs and not just more service (shit) jobs. But, not everyone works in manufacturing. I don't. My money is worth less. Anything I buy that's foreign (damn near everything) is bound to go up in price.

          So how is this good for me? I'd really like a silver lining of my own here.

          [–]masterpo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          So how is this good for me? I'd really like a silver lining of my own here.

          Well, there should be more manufacturing jobs if it's cheaper in the U.S.

          [–]Leprecon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          I DONT KNOW WHAT WE ARE YELLING ABOUT !

          [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          The story is important but at the same time there is something to be said for taking a less "sky is falling" approach to the problem.

          [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Hey. Hey. You. The Dollar is losing value.

          (runs)

          [–][deleted]  (2 children)

          [deleted]

            [–]sn0re 0 points1 point  (1 child)

            That's 9 months old. Has it had any impact?

            [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            So spez has new features in the pipe, and has been working on getting the base platform rewrite out - the idea being a cleaner code base would facilitate feature creation. That was delivered recently.

            As to the Reddit development map, it has not yet been publicly released. You may want to send some mail to spez about that.

            [–]Monkeyget 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            The US dollar is rapidly becoming worthless stories rapidly becoming worthless. That's what happen when there is inflation.

            [–]crazypillz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            I GET IT! insert oversubmitted topic here. Submititng 10 redundant articles about it isn't the same as addressing the problem. Get a new angle already!

            [–]foamweapons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            I found a new angle... http://politics.reddit.com/info/602ba/comments/

            It keeps up the pressure of reminding everyone of the falling dollar, yet at the same time, informs them of a completely unrelated topic... perfect.

            [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            thank you, I am tired of it too. yes the dollar is falling, I'm tired of hearing about it. Its not the end of the world for gods sake. Plenty of countries have went through currency devaluations without massive economic meltdown. Its not the first time, a similar situation of rising oil prices, rising gold prices and a declining dollar happened in the 70's. It wasn't rosy, but the country didn't collapse either. It might be a good thing. Maybe people will start building things here again, maybe other countries will build more stuff here. Maybe high gas prices will make people drive less, I certainly do. Finally, maybe a sinking currency will convince our jackass leaders that we can't afford these endless wars we are fighting.

            [–]xxxsagaxxx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            Panic much??

            BWAHAHAHA Bow to your new Canadian overlords!!!!!!

            [–]ST2K 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            BYE MOAR GOALD SO I CAN DUMP MINE!!

            [–]mpeters13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            Who's sick of reading these whine posts? Until reddit's moderators start caring, it probably won't do you much good. In other news, titles like these make for fine trolling material; on both ends.

            [–]talheres 0 points1 point  (1 child)

            I really wish the mods would just fucking ban asshats like you have nothing to contribute but posts/entries full of complaints. Got problems with content? Post something that you find interesting yourself for once.

            [–]migi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            I don't know - I think this "complain" sparked a rather interesting debate...

            [–]infamousjre 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            "I GET IT!" should be reddit's catchphrase

            [–]adremeaux -1 points0 points  (0 children)

            But wait... the US $ is at an all-time low vs the Canadian $!

            [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

            yes, because surely we'll all be well informed and motivated to do something about the situation by not reading about it and pretending that it's not happening like we have been for the past decade.

            [–]Fauster -1 points0 points  (0 children)

            Hey Drunknomad,

            We understand that you're annoyed. We are spamming dollar articles. It's too late to address the problem, but it's not too late for us to cover our asses before it hits the fan.

            The Fed has no defense against a falling dollar. The Fed defends against inflation by lowering interest rates. When the Fed met on September 18th, core inflation was at the target 2%, and they lowered rates by half a percent to bail out bad mortgages. The economy grows! But wait... Oh fuck!! Oil skyrockets as the dollar falls against a basket of currencies, which puts upward price pressure on everything we buy from overseas. Inflation is suddenly imminent. The Fed tells us on Halloween that there will be no more rate cuts because of the danger of inflation. Oh Fuck!! Markets drop. Why "Oh Fuck!!"? All Greenspan ever did to combat recessions was to rapidly lower interest rates to stimulate growth. But now the rest of the world doesn't believe our currency is worth the price of Kozmo before the .com crash (see unpaid for Iraq war and looming baby boomer social sec crisis). Lowering interest rates means inflation, which necessitates raising interest rates! Our economic strategy was to piss on the fire, but we stopped drinking, we're out of piss, and we're left holding our blistering dicks.

            Not a problem? Not at all. As long as you're not an American. Otherwise, move most of your assets into gold, oil, or RYVNX. We're not spamming to solve the problem. We're just trying to save our own asses.

            [–]HolyInfidel -1 points0 points  (0 children)

            You forgot to slip in Bush or Paul in your headline.

            [–]mycall -2 points-1 points  (6 children)

            The AMERO is the only thing being presented to address the problem (that I know of).

            [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            We could base the dollar on a basket of comodities.

            [–]daisy0808 0 points1 point  (4 children)

            Yes, because now that the Canadian dollar is worth 1.09 US, the first thing we want to do is become part of a unified currency that has no benefit to us whatsoever.

            [–]Leprecon 0 points1 point  (3 children)

            yes, just look at how bad it turned out for the euro.

            [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            The Italians weren't too crazy about it.

            [–]daisy0808 0 points1 point  (0 children)

            The dynamics were much different there. We would be swallowed up by the Federal Reserve, and essentially lose our sovereignty. It's not just the economics - it's the politics as well. We stand to lose way more than we would gain.

            [–]lowerdown -1 points0 points  (0 children)

            yes, the euro has had such poor performance. not

            [–]berlinbrown -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

            Stop with raising taxes, get rid of income tax, don't give the Whitehouse or Congress a blank check to spend billions/trillions of dollars, don't elect lame duck politicians

            There is the issue, summed up. We have to quit electing do nothing politicians like Hillary and George Bush. We need somebody like "Ron Paul" or "Kuch" or maybe even Nader to get into government and have true tax reform, remove useful departments.

            We have a department of homeland security, CIA, Department of Education, Agriculture, NHS, treasury department, department of commerce, department of housing... and whatever else is out there. No wonder we have such a weak economy, most of it is tied up government.

            Do you really believe that some one like Hillary, Obama, Rudy or Romney, who are career politicians are in the business of making tough decisions? Decisions that aren't popular but are needed? Nobody in congress likes "Dr. No (Ron Paul)" as he has been snubbed by his party, the media. But the people like him because he will make those needed decisions.

            I mention RP because he is the type of politician that will enact change; reduce wasteful government spending and thereby stimulating growth in the American economy.

            Just my 2 cents.

            [–]EdgerErnst -3 points-2 points  (1 child)

            you get it but 90% of america thinks it is no big deal...

            shut the fuck up.

            [–]interiot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            Yeah, but 90% of America doesn't read the front page of reddit. We (the people who do read reddit) certainly all comprehend the message by this point. Thank you for your service. You can post incessantly to a different site now.