America's Superpower Status Coming to an End

Newsmax.com ^ | 3/1/05 | Paul Craig Roberts

[beyond the sea]

The U.S. economy is headed toward crisis, and the political leadership of the country – if it can be called leadership – is preoccupied with nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

The U.S. economy is failing. The afflictions are serious. They could be fatal even if diagnosed and treated. America is losing the purchasing power of its currency and its ability to create middle-class jobs. Story Continues Below

The dollar's sharp decline and projections of continuing trade and budgetary red ink are undermining the dollar's role as reserve currency. A number of central banks have announced that they will be diversifying their currency holdings and will not be buying dollars at the same rate as in the past. This will put more pressure on the dollar. At some point, the flight will begin. Instead of buying fewer dollars, central banks will sell dollars, hoping to get out before the dollar hits bottom.

Suddenly, the advantage of being the reserve currency becomes a nightmare, as the world's accumulations of dollars are brought to market. An enormous supply and weak demand mean a very low exchange rate for the once almighty U.S. dollar.

Overnight, those cheap goods in Wal-Mart, which are the no-think economist's facile justification for Wal-Mart's decimation of communities, small businesses and employment, shoot up in price.

[beyond the sea]

I hope its better than his foreign policy punt. [shrug]

Agreed...

[nopardons]

Oh noooooooooooooooooo...not this garbage again! The world bankers? Don't you mean the Jooooooooos? Or are the fillings in your teeth murmering trilats,trilats/buildyourownburgers/the Masons/the Illuminatti...........................................

[nopardons]

The tinfoil cut off the blood supply to his brain a very long time ago.

[Pro-Bush]

A weak dollar has its benefits from export/import perspective, as well advantage for domestically produced products vs. imports.

[beyond the sea]

But he's in bed with the Bush-hating left. There's no avoiding it.

I didn't know that. Call me innocent or distracted or both.

However, I just care about the economic angle of this article, I prefer to leave the personalities out of it for now.

:-)

[Petronski]

This thread is turning into a train wreck . . . which is odd, because it started out as a . . . no. Nevermind. It started out as a train wreck too.

[beyond the sea]

re: Reagan turned it around overnight simply by cutting taxes. Suddenly we were productive and upbeat again. People worked harder than ever because the government allowed them to keep more of their own money. It will happen again. -----

Hope you are correct.

[Petronski]

Well, friend, he is quoted lovingly by truthout.org.


;O)

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The greatest threat to our country is the sad state of public education. Our young people are becoming functionally illiterate. Bill Gates has discussed this recently and he should know. Microsoft's future depends on the young people they can hire and Gates is not impressed with the current crop.

I believe the nation is in danger for this reason.

[Petronski]

I'm going to bed. I have a feeling the embers here will still be glowing in the morning.

[Mo1]

The tinfoil cut off the blood supply to his brain a very long time ago.

I don't remember reading his stuff before .. but I will say, the boy is out there

[Liberty Wins]

Roberts forgot to mention the polar ice cap melting, causing the rising oceans to wipe out our coastal cities, plus the volcanoes in the Cascade range coming to life, followed by undersea earthquakes which will make great huge tidal waves, and don't forget all those bird flu pandemics, and somewhere out there a meteor has our name on it, and, and, (gasp for air) . . .

[risk]

Yeah, you don't have to question our defense policy just because you wonder about the domestic economic policies. They are tied hand in hand, according to the Cox report. And the MFN status given to China was a Clinton era decision.

[ARCADIA]

The dollar lost about 27 percent last year, but since seems to have stabilized.

Did it stabalize on its own; or did we stay the dollar's decline by rasing the targeted interest rate. The problem with doing the latter is that we will untimately have to pay for the additional cost of carrying our national debt. Your tax burden just went up some more and that is nothing to cheer about.

Our free traders/traitors have really done a job on this country. This article is pretty much on the money. Tune down some of those oversensative nerve cells and read through it again. No matter how much you support our president; that should not put him above all criticism. Whatever happens in Iraq, Iran, Korea, Syria, and Taiwan will prove a false victory if our domestic economy fails to generate the hoursepower needed to sustain us.

[beyond the sea]

We are already eclipsing the missiles of others through our defense shield preparations.

I really think that our government has a plethora of secret defense technologies that we could not even dream of! Or maybe I've been listening to 'Coast to Coast' too much.

[maine-iac7]

What is this garbage from Newsmax?

My reaction exactly.

Went to NewsMax page and fired editor of an email -

good gravy...

[carl in alaska]

"Most of our airframes are twice as old as their pilots and the dies have been destroyed. What will replace them? A hundred F22s? China will not be impressed.

Have you heard of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, made in American by Lockheed Martin? Our weapons systems have actually become much more powerful in the last 20 years because of precision guidance of bombs, artillery shells, tank shells, etc., and because of new weapons such as electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) bombs, which can disable all the electronic components in the enemy's weapons and infrastructure. It might help you to do some more reading here at FR and elsewhere on the web. News releases from defense contractors have a lot of good information about the capabilities of our weapons systems.

[nopardons]

Some of his tinfoil has been posted to FR before and the boy is a nutter!

The old doom&gloomers,most of whom have been banned,used to post his pieces from the Lewrockwell site,which usually got pulled.

[beyond the sea]

We should also have more faith in the free enterprise system. It always comes through, survives through wars, depressions and national crises of all kinds. It even outlasts the morons we put in office.

I'd like to be "faithful", but have you given it a thought that there just may be a "bigger" more powerful "system" than ours? Have you considered that it may be part of a plan to bring America down a notch or two?

[GeronL]

Paul needs to stick to politics, his economics are off.

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http://www.brookesnews.com/052802ft.html

well, he's wrong. read the linked article