There are lots of reasons for the dollar’s decline. No. 1 is chronic deficit spending by the federal government. And No. 2 is chronic trade deficits that have flooded…
July 22nd, 2008 | Kate Incontrera | 0 comments | ContinuedCurrencies
Commentary on worldwide currencies by your Daily Reckoning editors in Melbourne, Australia. Still haven’t subscribed to the Daily Reckoning? What are you waiting for… sign up here, it’s free!
A chronological listing of articles is below.
Vietnam Stock Exchange Plunges, Investors Trading in What Little Dongs They Have
Vietnam had recently become the world’s largest importer of gold bullion. Investors and householders bought the yellow metal for the same reason people always have - as a way to protect themselves from paper. The paper at issue is called the “dong,” the official currency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. With the Vietnam stock exchange in shambles, the dong has lost value.
June 30th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 5 comments | Continued
Admonishment from China and the Decline of U.S. Credibility
U.S. credibility and the credibility of U.S. financial markets is zero everywhere in the world,” says Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia University.
June 19th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
A Paralyzing Rise in Money Supply
Adam Hamilton of ZealLLC.com reminds us that “Inflation is purely and exclusively a monetary phenomenon”, which doesn’t mean all that much by itself, but becomes much more horrifying when he adds that Money of Zero Maturity has been zooming. In case you were wondering, Money of Zero Maturity (MZM) is considered to be a reasonable proxy for watching the movement of M3…
June 3rd, 2008 | Mogambo Guru | 4 comments | Continued
How the U.S. Dollar Came to be the World’s Reserve Currency
The BRIC nations held an historic meeting in Yekaterinburg, Russia, last week. They’re growing very fast…with rising markets, rising incomes, rising currencies, and rising GDPs. Together, their percentage of total global growth grew 50% between 2000 and 2008.
May 30th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 2 comments | Continued
The U.S. Dollar vs Inflation, Americans Vote for the Dollar
With inflation creeping into the American economy in the form of rising food and fuel prices, the real consequences of weak dollar are coming home to roost. And it seems to be bothering Americans psychologically as well as economically. “It’s not just the economic impact,” Paul Burt, the head of Westlake Financial Group, tells Bloomberg. “The perception of the decline in the dollar is as important as the decline itself. The dollar needs to be respected in the world, and the government needs to realize that.”
May 15th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
When Elected Officials Run Out of Money – Trouble Follows
Yesterday was a big day in Italy - 63 years ago. That was the day that Mussolini was shot, along with his mistress. They were hung upside down in Milan. What went wrong with Benito? “What always seemed to go wrong,” said our guide on Sunday, “was that they ran out of money.”
April 30th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
Three Scenarios That Could Cause a Sudden Drop in the U.S. Dollar’s Value
1. Foreign countries drop their U.S. dollar reserves. We depend on foreign investment in our currency to bolster its value or, at least, to slow down its fall. When that thinly held balance changes, our dollar loses its spending power. At a November 2007 meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s 13-member cartel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…
April 23rd, 2008 | Addison Wiggin | 5 comments | Continued
An International Currency Not Just on Paper
Once it was clear that Britain’s global position was fatally compromised by its poor finances, it took all of five years for the dollar to become the preferred international currency. It can happen fast when people have a real alternative.
April 14th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Angry Mortgagees Protesting Bear Stearns Favouritism
Last Wednesday, a bunch of peeved mortgagees protesting government favoritism in the Bear Stearns case entered the lobby of the company’s (soon-to-be-former) headquarters building in midtown Manhattan. While it might not seem like much, I view the symbolic “penetration” of this corporate stronghold as the very first sign of a much broader citizen revolt against the extraordinary protections being shown to crapped-out investment banker boyz…
April 10th, 2008 | James Howard Kunstler | 7 comments | Continued