[lbo-talk] "Honey, I shrunk the dollar"

[Colin Brace]

I assume this appeared first in the NYT. Interesting to see concern 
about US financial health and talk of "bursting bubbles" slowly 
percolating into the mainstream consciousness and/or the brain of TLF...


February 24, 2005

Honey, I shrunk the dollar

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

I have just one question about President Bush's trip to Europe: Did he 
and Laura go shopping?

If they did, I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Laura must 
have said to George: "George, do you remember how much these Belgian 
chocolates cost when we were here four years ago? This box of mints was 
$10. Now it's $15? What happened to the dollar, George? Why is the euro 
worth so much more now, honey? Didn't Rummy say Europe was old? If we 
didn't have Air Force One, we never could have afforded this trip on 
your salary!"

The dollar is falling! The dollar is falling! But the Bush team has 
basically told the world that unless the markets make the falling dollar 
into a full-blown New York Stock Exchange crisis and trade war, it is 
not going to raise taxes, cut spending or reduce oil consumption in ways 
that could really shrink our budget and trade deficits and reverse the 
dollar's slide.

This administration is content to let the dollar fall and bet that the 
global markets will glide the greenback lower in an "orderly" manner.

Right. Ever talk to someone who trades currencies? "Orderly" is not 
always in the playbook. I make no predictions, but this could start to 
get very "disorderly."

[...]

Full text: 
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,343449,00.html