> [So uh, are any economists trying to factor this
> remarkable flight of capital down the bloody rabbit
> hole into their analyses of the American economic
> situation?]
$1 billion a week equals $52 billion a year -- not much in a $10 trillion economy. But enough to bail out the US state governments and fund schools, libraries and hospitals.
The effects on Bananamerica's stocks of political, cultural and symbolic capital, however, have been catastrophic. Fifty years of accumulated Imperial symbolism have burnt away in mere weeks; bond traders openly debate the merits of dumping the dollar. This would have been unimaginable just six months ago.
Mordor has overreached itself on the Pelennor fields.
-- DRR