Good article, Bill.

Some quotes from it:

"Washington essentially prints the world's money and has since the end of the Second World War. All internationally traded commodities, most importantly oil, are priced in U.S. dollars.

"It gives the U.S. a huge privilege," says Prestowitz. "It means that Americans can buy and borrow in their own currency. So whereas you in Canada, if you want to buy a Toyota, you have to sell something to get U.S. dollars and then you go buy a Toyota. In America all we do is just print dollars and send the paper to Japan and we get the Toyota."

"the weak dollar up to now has had more benefit than it has harmed the U.S. economy."


"So, what should be bad news for America winds up being bad news for just about everybody else instead. The rest of the world's foreign currency reserves, mostly held in U.S. dollars, are suddenly worth less, and foreign manufacturers now have to compete against cheaper U.S. exports.

The combination drives other countries crazy. A frustrated French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Congress last week that if the U.S. government doesn't do something about the falling dollar, it risks "economic war."


This is what I've been saying. It's very rough on Canada having a currency that is now stronger than the US currency. It doesn't help Canadians one bit, unless you are a consumer who is buying goods directly from the USA, and that doesn't help Canada...it impoverishes Canada in the long run, because our money flows out of the country.

Thank God, the Canadian dollar is now coming down some, it seems.