Well, the economy is poor through the fault of GWB (and yes, I'm a conservative, and yes, I voted for him.)
The drop of the dollar by 40% against the socialist economy-derived Euro is largely attribultable to the fact the market thinks "we're living beyond our means"-- in other words, we're going into too much debt.
It happens on a personal level. We shouldn't be suprised when it happens a national level, when we adopt a fiscally liberal spending policy as GWB has.
Good point.
Too much debt = "RISK"
Investing in US Dollars, as the market is reflecting, is risky.
The War on Terror is worth taking on some temporary debt, but I do wonder how much of this spending is to keep the economy afloat and how much is making us more secure.
NAFTA is changing our economy and it hasn't really sunk in with the masses and possibly the administration yet. I fear that day when they realize that the manufacturing jobs that have left aren't coming back and wonder what they are going to do to subsist besides get another home equity line of credit. Retired baby boomer spending is helping a lot right now also, but that will only last so long when the deflated dollar is used to buy higher priced imports.