Sinfest

[E-boy]

Just curious what people here think about this. There are alarmists out there painting less than rosey pictures and it's really hard to pooh pooh them when the government is in so deep.

I'm not sure deep devaluation and loss of it's status as the go to reserve currency is inevitable, but there are those who insist this is the case. I've heard the observation made that we need to move more into a production economy to avoid or minimize this.

I am not really certain what to make of a lot of this because, frankly, our government doesn't play accounting games by the rules most of the rest of us use. I do know that we have, and have been ignoring, a golden opportunity to get back into a more production based economy just by fully endorsing alternative energy products and manufacturing. I also know that buying and guarantying bad debt only adds to our problems.

Many of you really do your homework on stuff like this so I'm very interested in what you have to say.
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"Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid" ~ SGT John Stryker from "Sands of Iwo Jima".

[bitflipper]

[nathan]

I'm looking for Usagi on this one, but off-hand I call bullshit. Our primary problems right now are political. At the same time, Europe is going tits up - the Euro looks infinitely more dangerous than the US dollar. Aside from that, where do you go? China? Nope.

The ten year note is in the upper 2s for god's sake. Post downgrade! If the international community has lost faith in the stability of the US, it has a damn funny way of showing it.
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All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last. - Marky Mark Proust

[Sam]

Viable alternatives to the dollar as the 'go-to' currency

Eurozone's EUR - nope

China's RMB - nope

dollar is fine so far, and this is coming from a person who predicted the S&P downgrade by about a month and agree with the ruling.

[WheelsOfConfusion]

Actually Swiss Francs are hot right now, but that in itself is posing problems for the Swiss economy.

[Mr_Moustache]

Hasnt Switzerland always been a safehaven when economical turmoil arises?
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When life gives you lemons, some people make lemonade. I just eat them and make a sour face.

[E-boy]

Well I'm not a huge fan of economics (Hardest of the social sciences...), but I do know that for all of my picking on them they aren't entirely useless. I just wanted to see what y'all had to offer and I'm glad I asked.
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"Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid" ~ SGT John Stryker from "Sands of Iwo Jima".

[Arc Tempest]

I giggle a little every time someone calls economics a science.
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The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.

[Sam the Eagle]

- US is still the 'single' biggest economy around; if one want to buy large sized bonds no other market compares to it. China is still stuck, EU is neck deep in shit for the next 3 years.

- EU is second best choice as 'globally', it's the biggest economic power around. Pity they can't see eye to eye for the next 20y or so. Maybe sooner if they get their collective heads out of their hindparts. We can wish for a pony too. So while they can collectively replace US $ as reference currency, and I'm not sure they want to reach that part, they lack the collective will to do so.

- China is bugge(re)d by inflation. No way they can replace $ yet.

- JPY, Swiss Franc and gold are vault like currency. Good for safekeeping, but not as active currency. Japan can do; it's still very busy sorting itself out after Tohoku's earthquake.

All in all, $ will loose a bit of shine and will keep N° 1 spot for some time more. Until another single market economy can replace it, it will still remain as reference currency for the time being. Now, will it be replace a reference currency within 10y, yes. Which currency, ask 'late' Paul the octopus.
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Meu aerobarca esta cheoi de enguias

[Samsally]

Anyone else remember that period of time like, two years ago when the Canadian dollar became worth more than the US dollar?

Anybody still haunted with the memories of hordes of Canadians coming down to buy everything in sight and bitch about the price of hotels?

I'm not kidding you, every grocery in town was sold out of baked beans for WEEKS. I can't make this shit up, it was fucking weird. Apparently they really like the baked beans and they aren't sold over the boarder or something.

[Mini J]

The canadian dollar has been above the US dollar for months now, though not by a lot. That'll change again once the US dollar gets itself sorted out.

As to the baked beans, I haven't any clue about that. What kind are they? Maybe I'll have to give them a try...
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Who needs a signature?

[CTrees]

Thing about that is, no one really seems to agree. For example, this has the USD being about the CAD for the past several months (if only be pennies), but other sites, right now, are giving the CAD the nod by a little. *shrug* The mere fact that we're about even is... disheartening.
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“Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation”
yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

[LD!]

[Mini J]

Just checked, looks like the CAD has been consistently a couple pennies higher since the new year (not like back in the day circa 2005-2006, when Americans visiting Canada got 1.60 CAD for every USD; makes today's 0.98 CAD per USD seem disappointing I imagine). I remember when I went to Vegas right at the holidays they were pretty much exactly at parity (thus when exchanging we were getting about 95 cents or so). The most annoying thing to Canadians is that, despite our dollars being equalish, the same thing up here is usually at least 20% more expensive (if not more!).

For example: I was looking up Animaniacs Vol. 1 the other day, and on amazon.ca it is $44.78 CAD, while on amazon.com it is $24.87 USD. Same with Star Trek TNG box set, etc. Heck, even a Big Mac is 10% more up here.

So it isn't really that Canadians feel compelled to rush, en masse, to save a penny or two, it's that the favourable exchange rate makes it very much worth crossing to border to shop. Ask Dogen about Bellis Fair in Bellingham if you want stories about Canadians shopping down south; I think there might be more BC plates than Washington plates on the weekends.

Oh, uh, this is really quite the sidetrack from the fate of the US Dollar, I suppose. To get back on topic, here's a happy-go-lucky article guessing what the next 10 years will be like in the US.
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Who needs a signature?

[Snorri]