Wishful thinking I believe........ The US dollar is like a house of cards, with nations around the world each contributing a card to this very shaky edifice. Pull a card out and the whole edifice comes crashing down. It serves the present purpose of countries like China, the Oil producing countries and other exportng countries like Japan, Korea and India to prop up the dollar so that they can continue to export their goods to what has been touted as the world's largest market. If these card holding countries lost their primary market, their economies in turn would be in a spiralling tail spin downwards. So for now they will continue to play pretend, and prop up the US dollar. Americans on the other hand are living in a dream world with delusions of grandeur, not accepting the fact that other countries are ascendant, and that their position as the world's only super power has long passed them by. Americans are now addicted to cheap and sometimes shoddy Chinese goods. The acquisition of junk gives them the impression that as long as they acquire stuff, all is well with the world. The USA no longer produces much of value to justify the value of the dollar. Oil and most other natural resources except Coal have been nearly depleted, manufacturing has declined, and the only resource America has to offer is the ubiquitous Services economy which can disappear in a puff of smoke. The American economy is canibalizing itself to the point that it is full of holes like Swiss cheese. Try and buy anything in the USA and the label will say "Made in China, or Bangladesh or Honduras or Sri Lanka'. Whereas at one time "Made in the USA" had the cachet of quality, it is hard to find anything truly American. Food is the one commodity that the USA still produces aplenty, but even that is at the expense of over exploitation of the land, and the slow and insidious poisoning of the soil with artifical fertilizers and insecticides. How long can it last ? As an American myself, I sincerely hope that the US dollar declines to its true value, perhaps at about 50 percent of its current world value. While this may not be good for the rest of the world, it will be good for America. Initially there will be turmoil in the USA, with high inflation leading to social unrest and riots. There will be bankruptcies aplenty, including personal bankruptcies. The entire populace of the USA is addicted to easy credit. The only way out is bankruptcy which will run rampant through the entire country. The large segment of so-called under priveleged, will lose their freebies and the country will erupt like the recent UK riots but multifold. The pain will last awhile. Thre is so much intelligence, capability and etrepeunerial spirit in America that the country will rise again. Albeit slowly, the country will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes and be stronger, but it will have to accept the fact that it will no longer be a world power that the world has gotten used to rely upon to take care of conflicts and famines all over the world. I cannot wait for that day to come. God Bless America, Land that I love.
