Sam Morris wrote: > Web polls mean nothing. You should know that. > > Didn't Bush 41 push the dollar way down to make trade > attractive? Seemed to have work wonders years later > when Clinton was in office. > > It's just hard to say for sure, it's all specualtion. > > Another note Bush is changing his whole economic team > because he's unhappy with the progress. Sounds like > the he's trying to do the right thing. > > > -sm
I'm not too familiar with Bush 41. We did study him in our American Politics class. He was used as the classic sitting President that loses because a) he failed to fully understand the dynamics of approval ratings and b) being at the mercy of the Fed Chairman. I've read reports that Bush still blames Greenspans failure to change interest rates fast enough to improve the economy before the election. Of course the Fed Chairman should not, and did not, change interest rates at the request of the President. But Sam does bring up a good point. The weak dollar, theoretically, should make US trade more competitive. But in reality it does not. Why? Because all the major Asian currencies peg their currency to the US to try to keep exports healthy. This is what Japan did in the 80s, South Korea did in the 90s, and China right now. Japan and Korea control their currencies vs the US by buying US treasuries. China, in addition to buying treasuires, is outright adjusting their currency with the USD. Read an interesting article today that the Euro's enormous gain is partly attributed to this. The US dollar is falling and all the other currencies should be rising. Except the Asian currencies are which leaves the Euro to take on part of the apperciation that the Asian currencies should. The other reason why the weak dollar isn't stimulating trade as much is due to the American consumers not buying American. They will just pay the premium and get the Sony TV instead of getting a US brand. -- 2004 - The year $184M couldn't buy a pennant. Ron Artest: Extremely flawed, very accidental, semi-martyr ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Silver Sponsor - CFDynamics http://www.cfdynamics.com Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:138611 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
