[yodawisdom]

J m HofMarN, on 12 November 2009 - 05:13 AM, said:

Your idea of "Americans are dicks, so lets SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE GLOBAL ECONOMY" is flawed. Most of the worlds' capital flows through american institutions at some points. If those institutions were no longer there that capital would get all bunged up. Not to mention the American businesses that own foreign industries, or the foreign industries that sell to American businesses. And a weak dollar doesn't mean that I can pay a dollar for, say, European soda. That soda is priced in Euros, so I pay a buck fifty for it, which makes it one euro. Thats called the international exchange rate. Currency routinely fluxuates as do any stocks or commodities, and every country in the world owns debt from every other country in the world, except for maybe Leosotho or something. So the scenario isn't nearly as apocalyptic as it's being portrayed.

Also, your example seems very much like a "walk into a bar" joke.

Ok you're right. Trillions of dollars in debt and a depriaciating dollar with + 10% unemployment doesn't mean anything. It's all good cause some stocks went up on wall street in the last couple months. Why didn't I see this before! Sorry if you took my example as an international conspiracy to screw America. But the fact is when our currency depriciates, other countries will think twice about lending to us. Its just not a good spot to be in, but our government is full of morons that can't grasp this fact.

[J m HofMarN]

Debt is intrinsic to the national economy at the moment. Do you know how many home owners owe the entire value of their home in a mortgage? What you're suggesting is that because mom and pa government have mortgaged our country, that everyone who owns a chunk of that mortgage is going to come and carve it out. That isnt how things work. Debt is better paid by the debtor, because when you go to collections, to the liquidation of assets, you lose money. And no, actually a weak dollar is GOOD for foreign investors and ENCOURAGES them to invest, because their purchases are worth more. A factory sold here to an American for 1 million would sell for, say, 800 thousand to a European. That's good business for them. The dollar goes through its ups and downs.

Do I think that the dollar can continue indefinately as the dominant international financial mark? No I do not. But I don't think that will bring about the financial apocalypse. The world economy is so interconnected that even if I give you the presumption that the destruction of the dollar and US economic power with it would be good for China or European governments, They would still need to think about the ripple effect of that action on other economies which are connected to them. Chinese business might go up if the US economy suddenly roflsploded, but would their debtors in Africa and South America be adversely effected so as to prevent them from making required payments? If so, the Chinese economy would still suffer, even if it did come out stronger in the long term.