COLLECTIVEWIZDOM.COM
The Dollar Has Become the World’s
Toilet Paper. How Come No One is
Worried?
Steve Greenfield, Contributor to
CollectiveWizdom.com
Okay. I am not the world’s authority on
anything but my 1966 Mustang. But
there are those moments when the
back of my neck tingles, and I know I’m
picking up a bad signal on something.
Sort of like what those wild animals
what have picked up. You know, the
ones that headed for high ground days
before the Tsunami hit and killed, what
250,000 people. The scientists were
tiptoeing among the dead bodies when
it hit them that they hadn’t seen any
dead animals among the muddy
bodies of dead humans. Who knew
how those wild animals knew it. But
whatever they felt, they listened to it.
Hard.
Here’s what I’m feeling now. Today, the
dollar, the US greenback, the piece of
paper I work my backside off for five,
sometimes six or seven days a week, is
in trouble. I read with alarm the
articles reporting for the past six years
that the dollar has slid way way down,
from the day when the “euro” debuted
in [2000] to today, it went from a
starting line of equality with the euro to
today, when one euro gets you $1.40.
So, the greenback has been in a race
with the euro and now, the euro is
worth 40% more. During the week of
October 8, the US dollar fell to 97
cents versus the Canadian dollar. I
traveled to Montreal in June of this
year and the US dollar was worth 1.08
Canadian dollars. Now it’s worth 97
cents. That’s a loss of 13 cents in less
than 4 months.
The “experts” in economics reacted
with a “tut, tut” to all of us ignorant
enough to be concerned. According to
economists quoted in every article I’ve
seen about the decline of the dollar,
none of us should be concerned
because: A. The decline simply means
that the goods produced here at home
are now cheaper to Europeans, about
40% cheaper in fact. That means
European and other foreigners can
now Buy American. That will translate
into our factories and companies
selling more to the overseas crowd.
And that will mean more income for our
employers who will be able to pay us
more because they will have make
more. The only “losers”, the experts
say, will be those Americans who want
to vacation in Europe. Our dollar won’t
go very far, so we won’t be able to buy
as much French wine or German
autos. Sounds good, right?
But then there’s that feeling at the
back of my neck. Something is very
wrong with this picture.
American buying power, which is what
the greenback represents, is shrinking,
unless the Europeans and other
foreigners buy enough of our cheap
goods (what are we China?) to offset
the value of our in currency. If the
factory I work for sells just a few more
cars to Europe, it won’t make enough
to offset the shrinking buck. Who is
keeping track for the working, middle
class families?
I remember not too long ago hearing
politicians say “a strong dollar is
American policy”. So who is letting this
free fall happen? Who’s in charge?
Think of Zimbabwe. Used to be called
Rhodesia. It’s got a currency that is so
devalued, so worthless, that if
someone pays you at 9:00 in the
morning, by noon, you need another
cash injection just to come out even.
Runaway inflation. As a currency
goes into the Toilet, workers don’t want
to be paid in that currency. They want
to be paid in some of the “good stuff”.
Would you rather be paid in a currency
that’s stable. Or want that’s losing
value worldwide. See what I mean.
There’s that nagging feeling at the
back of my neck again.
Toilet Paper. How Come No One is
Worried?
Steve Greenfield, Contributor to
CollectiveWizdom.com
Okay. I am not the world’s authority on
anything but my 1966 Mustang. But
there are those moments when the
back of my neck tingles, and I know I’m
picking up a bad signal on something.
Sort of like what those wild animals
what have picked up. You know, the
ones that headed for high ground days
before the Tsunami hit and killed, what
250,000 people. The scientists were
tiptoeing among the dead bodies when
it hit them that they hadn’t seen any
dead animals among the muddy
bodies of dead humans. Who knew
how those wild animals knew it. But
whatever they felt, they listened to it.
Hard.
Here’s what I’m feeling now. Today, the
dollar, the US greenback, the piece of
paper I work my backside off for five,
sometimes six or seven days a week, is
in trouble. I read with alarm the
articles reporting for the past six years
that the dollar has slid way way down,
from the day when the “euro” debuted
in [2000] to today, it went from a
starting line of equality with the euro to
today, when one euro gets you $1.40.
So, the greenback has been in a race
with the euro and now, the euro is
worth 40% more. During the week of
October 8, the US dollar fell to 97
cents versus the Canadian dollar. I
traveled to Montreal in June of this
year and the US dollar was worth 1.08
Canadian dollars. Now it’s worth 97
cents. That’s a loss of 13 cents in less
than 4 months.
The “experts” in economics reacted
with a “tut, tut” to all of us ignorant
enough to be concerned. According to
economists quoted in every article I’ve
seen about the decline of the dollar,
none of us should be concerned
because: A. The decline simply means
that the goods produced here at home
are now cheaper to Europeans, about
40% cheaper in fact. That means
European and other foreigners can
now Buy American. That will translate
into our factories and companies
selling more to the overseas crowd.
And that will mean more income for our
employers who will be able to pay us
more because they will have make
more. The only “losers”, the experts
say, will be those Americans who want
to vacation in Europe. Our dollar won’t
go very far, so we won’t be able to buy
as much French wine or German
autos. Sounds good, right?
But then there’s that feeling at the
back of my neck. Something is very
wrong with this picture.
American buying power, which is what
the greenback represents, is shrinking,
unless the Europeans and other
foreigners buy enough of our cheap
goods (what are we China?) to offset
the value of our in currency. If the
factory I work for sells just a few more
cars to Europe, it won’t make enough
to offset the shrinking buck. Who is
keeping track for the working, middle
class families?
I remember not too long ago hearing
politicians say “a strong dollar is
American policy”. So who is letting this
free fall happen? Who’s in charge?
Think of Zimbabwe. Used to be called
Rhodesia. It’s got a currency that is so
devalued, so worthless, that if
someone pays you at 9:00 in the
morning, by noon, you need another
cash injection just to come out even.
Runaway inflation. As a currency
goes into the Toilet, workers don’t want
to be paid in that currency. They want
to be paid in some of the “good stuff”.
Would you rather be paid in a currency
that’s stable. Or want that’s losing
value worldwide. See what I mean.
There’s that nagging feeling at the
back of my neck again.
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