US Economy, Debt, Dollar, etc...Destroying the US

[Timmy]

The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush
Joseph E. Stiglitz – Vanity Fair
When we look back someday at the catastrophe that was the Bush administration, we will think of many things: the tragedy of the Iraq war, the shame of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, the erosion of civil liberties. The damage done to the American economy does not make front-page headlines every day, but the repercussions will be felt beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this page … After almost seven years of this president, the United States is less prepared than ever to face the future.

The End is Near
Paul Craig Roberts
The US dollar is still officially the world’s reserve currency, but it cannot purchase the services of Brazilian super model Gisele Bundchen. Gisele required the $30 million she earned during the first half of this year to be paid in euros … The macho super patriots who support the Bush regime still haven’t caught on that US superpower status rests on the dollar being the reserve currency, not on a military unable to occupy Baghdad. If the dollar were not the world currency, the US would have to earn enough foreign currencies to pay for its 737 oversees bases, an impossibility considering America’s $800 billion trade deficit.

US Debt Tops $9 Trillion for the First Time, Says Treasury Dept.
Reuters
The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday publicly held U.S. debt breached nine trillion this week for the first time ever, just five weeks after Congress had raised the statutory borrowing limit. At the end of September, U.S. President George W. Bush signed a measure to increase the debt limit ceiling to $9.815 trillion from $8.965 trillion, allowing the government to keep issuing debt. The increase in the debt limit is the fifth since Bush took office in January 2001. The U.S. debt stood at about $5.6 trillion at the start of his presidency.

Sinking Currency, Sinking Country
Patrick J. Buchanan
… The dollar is plunging because America has been living beyond her means, borrowing $2 billion a day from foreign nations to maintain her standard of living and to sustain the American Imperium. The prime suspect in the death of the dollar is the massive trade deficits America has run up, some $5 trillion in total since the passage of NAFTA and the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994 … A sinking dollar means a poorer nation, and a sinking currency has historically been the mark of a sinking country. And a superpower with a sinking currency is a contradiction in terms … The chickens of free trade are coming home to roost.

The Mystery of the Missing $2.9 Trillion
David R. Francis – The Christian Science Monitor
… At the end of 2006, for instance, the US had a net negative position – by this measurement of international assets and liabilities – of $2.6 trillion. In other words, the country is by far the world's biggest debtor nation. A quarter century ago, the US was the world's largest creditor nation … America 's GDP is currently $13.7 trillion, and the dollar is down 20.6 percent since 2002. So foreigners have – in effect – given the US about $1.3 trillion.

On Track for U.S. Collapse
Michael S. Rozeff
Bush and Cheney are steering the U.S. into a collapse. Only strong public voices by influential people can prevent the coming disaster. We desperately need for men and women who are known to the public and have credibility to speak up in the critical period ahead to avoid catastrophe. A few weeks ago, Israel bombed a alleged nuclear facility in Syria. This is a warm-up for an attack on Iran.

Cost of ‘War on Terror’ Could Rise to $2.4 Trillion
AFP
The total cost, including debt servicing, of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach 2.4 trillion dollars by 2017, a report by the Congressional Budget Office found Wednesday. The report, by the body which provides non-partisan budget analysis for Congress, said higher estimates for spending for the wars could top out at 1.7 trillion dollars by the end of the next ten year period. Under the most intense scenarios of US military activity, a further 705 billion dollars could be added to the cost by interest payments, assuming the wars continue to be largely financed by government borrowing, the report said.

US Economy, Debt, Dollar, etc...Destroying the US

[HipKat]

After almost seven years of this president, the United States is less prepared than ever to face the future.

Hey!! Not true.

We ARE finally taking the neccessary steps to send a manned mission to Mars.......!

The total cost, including debt servicing, of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could reach 2.4 trillion dollars by 2017

So then, does this prove that the attacks were successful??
That the number of people killed was the collateral damage, in the attack that was meant to topple the US economy and our "place in the world?"

But, I'm sure GW would tell me the real reason they attacked us was to kill as many innocent Americans as they could.
Although, with the stats on US Servicemen that are wounded, killed, affected by Post War Stress, and have commited suicide, maybe that was the goal, afterall......

I hate it that I have to live through a piecs of s**t president like this, and even worse that I brought kids into this mess, knowing their lives will be affected by this a**hole for many, many years.....


Actually, what pisses me off the worse, is that nobody is doing anything about it. Just letting it happen.

Clinton got impeached for a BJ, yet Bush get's to get away with illegal wars, ecomomically ruining this country, war profitting by the people in this administration, and taking the Republican paerty on the exact opposite direction that the few progressive thinkers in that party were starting to move toward, like less Government intrusion for one, which Bush has completely ignored by becoming the most intrusive and civil rights limiting President, possibly ever!!

[mikewrona]

Not being an Economist or Economist wanna be, I have to wonder how all the national debt we carry will effect a continuing decline in dollar value.

Does the Euro become the new "World Currency" of choice? And if it does, do all the countries holding debt in U.S. dollars start calling in the loans in order so they can invest in Euros?

[DR_GONZO]

When OPEC dumps the U.S. Dollar, will this country wake up or is it already too late?

[run4it]

Not being an Economist or Economist wanna be, I have to wonder how all the national debt we carry will effect a continuing decline in dollar value.

For one thing, it gives debtor countries incentive to help keep our dollars strong. Would suck for them to invest billions into our economy only to have it collapse, and they know it.

[raoul duke]

When OPEC dumps the U.S. Dollar, will this country wake up or is it already too late?

Before he died, John Kenneth Galbraith warned, in a few essays, articles and inerviews that OPEC dumping the dollar in favor of the Euro and other currencies could signal the real beginning of the end of American economic dominance.

Then there yesterday's article in the Guardian.

On Friday night, during what the participants thought were private talks, Venezuela's oil minister Venezuela Rafael Ramirez and his Iranian counterpart Gholamhossein Nozari, argued that pricing - and selling - oil using the crippled dollar was damaging the cartel.

They said Opec should formally express its concern about the weakness of the dollar when the cartel makes its official declaration at the close of the summit today. But the Saudis, the world's largest oil producers and de facto head of Opec, vetoed the proposal. Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, warned that even the mere mention to journalists of the fact that leaders were discussing the weak dollar would cause the US currency to plummet.

[CSense]

Quote:

On Friday night, during what the participants thought were private talks, Venezuela's oil minister Venezuela Rafael Ramirez and his Iranian counterpart Gholamhossein Nozari, argued that pricing - and selling - oil using the crippled dollar was damaging the cartel.

They said Opec should formally express its concern about the weakness of the dollar when the cartel makes its official declaration at the close of the summit today. But the Saudis, the world's largest oil producers and de facto head of Opec, vetoed the proposal. Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, warned that even the mere mention to journalists of the fact that leaders were discussing the weak dollar would cause the US currency to plummet.

Is this a fear of Saudi's losing money or the US being crippled? My fear is that it's not the latter.

[TheRightView]

Quote:

On Friday night, during what the participants thought were private talks, Venezuela's oil minister Venezuela Rafael Ramirez and his Iranian counterpart Gholamhossein Nozari, argued that pricing - and selling - oil using the crippled dollar was damaging the cartel.

They said Opec should formally express its concern about the weakness of the dollar when the cartel makes its official declaration at the close of the summit today. But the Saudis, the world's largest oil producers and de facto head of Opec, vetoed the proposal. Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, warned that even the mere mention to journalists of the fact that leaders were discussing the weak dollar would cause the US currency to plummet.

Is this a fear of Saudi's losing money or the US being crippled? My fear is that it's not the latter.

Sad but true....what is this world coming too?