Maybe that is what Mr. Bush wants to bankrupt our nation and bring the population to its knees.

Well perhaps is forcing China into investing more in US economy and that will help with the deficit.

I don't know that much about national economy, but does that mean that other countries could buy more of our goods at a cheaper price?
Pardon me if I sound dumb.

Originally posted by marg6043
Maybe that is what Mr. Bush wants to bankrupt our nation and bring the population to its knees.

That's one reason Marg IMO. Remember they don't care about us anymore. It's all about them.

Here's some further incentive towards the greater goal of awareness regarding this topic.

Thanks for those picture syntaxer. This could seriously destroy the U.S. economy. Of course our economy is already on the verge of a collapse that could make 1929 look like a picnic.

I’m sorry to inform you but there is precious little the U.S. can do to keep the dollar from melting. See that 600 Billion / year trade surplus? That means we have to print 600 billion more dollars each year into circulation. Actually, it’s much worse. I think we actually printed something like 2 trillion last year. We’ll have to print another 37 trillion over the next 10 years to meet our obligations.

Someone has to buy this debt (all US money are really just debt notes…FRN’s are not US Government money..it’s all a private company’s debt holdings…check it out) and China is starting to dump it overboard…they realize it’s just worthless paper or fast becoming so. China and Japan have been working overtime to prevent this so their industries could grow…but the time is fast approaching when the Yeun will not be pegged to the dollar.

There has not been any such thing as a real dollar since Nixon took us off the gold standard, perhaps even before then.

Can’t patch the trade deficit without:

A – Starting a trade war with China, which means a ruined dollar.
B – Re-energizing our native production, again a trade war and again ruined dollar.
C – Allowing our currency to fall, thus equalizing trade flows without any kind of economic / military action.

Bush and company have opted for plan c. BTW: I strongly feel any administration would have no choice but to do the same.

Reason: Fiat money. Fiat money ALWAYS fails. We will have to go through another monetary collapse here in the US before things can get better. (We’ve had a couple of monetary collapses here before…we’ve gone bankrupt back in the early 1800’s and look at Lincoln’s fiat currency after the civil war).

Now, I’m going to let you know something. In the long run, it is much better for us to have a weaker dollar. In the short term we are going to have a major recession or even a shallow depression. Prepare for it.

The reason it is better is that the government will have to do away with fiat money and return to a gold / silver standard (JFK tried to do this…btw). A weaker dollar also means imports are no longer attractive and we’ll have to start making our own things again.

If you are saving dollars right now you are a fool. My wife and I don’t even bother with a savings account. Buy silver / gold and get ready to ride this time out.

I don’t believe you need to prepare for the end of the world or anything, just be ready for some rough times ahead because they are coming.

Originally posted by elaine
I don't know that much about national economy, but does that mean that other countries could buy more of our goods at a cheaper price?
Pardon me if I sound dumb.

Not dumb at all. The Canadian dollar has been climbing through the roof and business here is bent out of shape because the government is doing nothing.

In Canada's case, a lower $ has meant a thriving export business and has been a boon to our economy. The only ones happy about a higher dollar are the snowbirds who spend winters in Florida.

Originally posted by MrNice
Someone has to buy this debt

Well it certainly won't be the countries who are not on good terms with the U.S. right now. I think that makes it that much worse. Although I could be wrong.

MrNice,

I understand what you mean but for the regular families that don't have money to invest, are the ones that are going to feel the brunt of our failing economy, in the cuts that eventually come rolling down the hill and into the tax payer household.

I wish it was something out there, but I am starting to worry specially when my husband and I are not in our younger years anymore we are leaning to the middle age now and what we have invested is like in stand still right now, and we have one child in college and another one soon to start.

Originally posted by marg6043
MrNice,

I understand what you mean but for the regular families that don't have money to invest, are the ones that are going to feel the brunt of our failing economy, in the cuts that eventually come rolling down the hill and into the tax payer household.

I wish it was something out there, but I am starting to worry specially when my husband and I are not in our younger years anymore we are leaning to the middle age now and what we have invested is like in stand still right now, and we have one child in college and another one soon to start.

Buy silver.

It will hold it's value and even climb. There will be plenty of opportunities once the bottom drops out. I expect around 30% unemployment before things start to turn around here. By then you can invest in a small manufacturing business and earn a nice niche living.

Get OUT of any mortgage you have right away! The housing market will collapse spectacularly in the next 24 months; perhaps 1 in 3 homes might foreclose…although 1 in 2 would not surprise me.

Most of the unemployed I predict will be part of the current supply chain. The weaker dollar means more exports and more jobs at home. As soon as enough businesses start up to make up for the import business losses we will be fine.

But there will be 3-5 years of pain while that happens.

Seekerof

Well I tell you what the problem is, with the dollar falling out is that our deficit is so bad that most people like me are putting one and one together and is making our future seem gloom.

I have to said that bill of raising the deficit that was pass this week is making people like me think, (where is our government going to get that money from)?

Something is have to give it away, and who? and from where?

Seekerof, I wish I could agree with you but…..

As a country, we are almost bankrupt. We have 32 TRILLION dollars in obligations in the next 10 years. We have no way to close this gap except to default on the obligations or to print 32 Trillion more dollars.

We have 8 TRILLION in short-term debt (half of which is due early next year…thank you Mr. Clinton) and China / Japan has, as of this month, stopped buying our debt. The Chinese government has gone so far as to direct it’s population to buy gold and silver because it sees hard economic times ahead.

Interest rates are rising because they MUST. Greenspan has made a total ruin of the dollar and now no-one is buying them. He has to increase interest to get anyone at all to buy. Only fools are buying U.S. debt right now, or countries with huge export surpluses with us.

This is only going to get worse. I wonder when the bottom will fall out? My guess is the 2005-2006 time frame.

Believe me, the dollar is done for. I for one am converting all liquid assets into hard assets as fast as I can. You should do the same. Once this plays out I can convert back into whatever new currency replaces it.

Originally posted by MrNice
Get OUT of any mortgage you have right away! The housing market will collapse spectacularly in the next 24 months; perhaps 1 in 3 homes might foreclose…although 1 in 2 would not surprise me.

Most of the unemployed I predict will be part of the current supply chain. The weaker dollar means more exports and more jobs at home. As soon as enough businesses start up to make up for the import business losses we will be fine.

But there will be 3-5 years of pain while that happens.

Thanks for the advised I'm sure going to talk with my husband about this, on the house well we have a good deal and we only have one morgage, and for my husband's job, as long as is a war out there I have to said sadly that he will keep his job and right now is boming, At the expenses of the war on terror.

Well, is this sad or what? That the dollar has fallen so far. From the looks of it, it took Clinton 2 years to get the dollar up from what Bush Sr. had it, and then for the next 6 he made it grow, then it took Bush 4 years to destroy the dollar. Hmmmm, 6 years of growth and 4 years of destruction, go Dumbass in Cheif.

Now one question I will like to ask, with all these trouble times ahead when it comes to our economy, how does the rest of the world is going to react to all this?

Is the european nations to drop the dollar and opt for the euro?

And as a powerful nation are we losing our power the way we are losing our dollar?

The euro is not going to fare much better. All fiat money is a sham. There is no base on which these currencies sit.

Clinton did not raise anything. He altered GAP accounting practices so that they no longer reflect true inflation. Currently, inflation would be around 8-9% per annum but is being reported at 2-3%. Look at the prices around you…what do you see. I’m seeing about 1-2% raise per month or around 10-12% inflation.

Clinton also went on a HUGE printing spree. He was one of the most irresponsible financial presidents in a long time. He was however, very good at manipulating the numbers. He even made it look like he had a deficit surplus by removing social security from the regular accounting numbers. Note to DNC members: Clinton never had a budget surplus, he simply took the amount owed the Social Security system off the ledgers. (It’s called Off Book expenses or some such).

That’s why I state we have 37 Trillion in obligations not just an 8 trillion debt. Clinton ran a debt every year he was in office. Actually, there is very little difference between Clinton’s economic policies and Bush’s.

In any case, the RNC and DNC have both been fiscally irresponsible since Nixon took the dollar off a gold standard. We’re just about to reap the penalty for such a decision now. All the politicians know this is about to happen but are powerless to do anything about it. The only way to really fix this would be to scrap the Federal Reserve and institute a real U.S. Currency (remember the Federal Reserve is neither Federal or a Reserve. It is a private company with a monopoly right to print money or debt notes).

The housing bubble is real. If you have a stable job and a reasonable FIXED mortgage rate then you should be safe. God help you if you have an indexed mortgage rate to prime: Ask yourself what you house payment is going to be if the prime goes to 15% or 20% or even higher.

Watch for Fannie Mae to start to crumble or get a massive bailout in the next 12 months. This is the surest sign that things are going to get bad.