Read the article:
West Wing: A Pearl Harbor without War - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

I know that coming up to Christmas there have been a lot of planes put on as so many Europeans are traveling to New York and the States generally to shop for Christmas. The exchange rate is so good its well worth their while. This is the light hearted side though of what will surely be the downfall of the US economy unless things change.

I know Ireland's economy is still very tied to the US and a lot of the companies who are based here are US companies. So this is not a situation we would relish.

America has taken the status of the dollar for granted for far too long and has treated the introduction of the Euro as something of a joke.

The UK has managed to sustain the pound against the Euro but one has to think it too will start to experience problems as the Euro sustains its growth.

It's just another engineered depression. It accomplishes two goals. It confiscates private wealth, through the inflation tax, and it puts the three North American currencies closer to even, in preperation for the introduction of the Amero as the solution to the self-inflicted, boom-bust business cycle.

If it is engineered it could backfire on them very badly. Conspiracy theories aside the strength of the dollar has always been sustained by the fact that many countries use it to back their economy. If those countries switch to the Euro the US could find itself in a very bad way. Amero or no Amero.

Uhm you dont need the value of the different monies to be the same to create a new currency.. Actually you can set the starting value of the currency at any arbritrary rate.(So at least that argument is bunk.) Also making a new currency would likely also transfer its inflation.
Ok, admittedly there is a psychological side to the number, when the Euro was introduced vendors tended to round to their own benefit. But i dont think that can really be helped, and it is reasonably short lived. (It seems to have been a factor in causing price wars between supermarkets.)

To be honest I don't really understand these economic problems.

How can one imaginary unit of measure have more or less value than another imaginary unit of measure? It's like saying the exchange rate between inches and centimeters is changing. I don't think either frame of reference should change ... and if it does there needs to be a single currency to stop the silliness.

Then again, we move our clocks back and forth rather than just waking up at a different time. I guess if something is simple and makes good sense, that eliminates it as a possibility in the realm of human action

Otherwise, if products are cheaper or more expensive from one country to another, I would think cheaper would be better not worse.

Obviously.

Do you have anything intelligent to add?

You mean like "string pulled" or something along those lines?

I didn't open the link. Interesting issue, something to keep an eye on.

One reason I didn't bother reading the link is the dumb title. Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack by an enemy Imperialist country meant to cripple us. I don't think the purpose of the EU is to attack and cripple the U.S. I also don't think that the EU would be better off with the U.S. devestated financially. So, my guess is the article is written as good news for America-haters, biased, and not worth reading.

So, anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on the issue, maybe read something from a known credible source who doesn't have propaganda or an investment opportunity to sell, and meanwhile I'll be glad people are coming from Europe to spend their money here in the U.S.

The Article is about China possibly dropping the Dollar, not more not less. Europe, the Euro or somthing similar isn't even mentioned.

And about "Der Spiegel" wikipedia says this:

I think the source in genuine.

The title is misleading though. Although the article is credible the title could lead you to think otherwise.

Which it did.

Without hijacking the thread can I just say that headlines are becoming ridiculous. Newspapers are competing to be more and more clever with their headlines and as such they rarely represent the content of the article any more.

I'm no economist, but here's my understanding: since a currency is usually pegged to discrete markets (ie, Canadian currency usually gets used in Canada and Euros in the EU), the value people attach to a particular currency in favor of their own currency depends on what's happening in the area of that currency.

If the US economy suffers a sudden downturn, the demand for legal tender usable in the US market is diminished because fewer people want to get in and it therefore trades for less.

It's much more complex than that.

For example, this effect on the dollar is having the resulting effect that more people world-wide want to come to the U.S. to do business. I read about one small business guy who deals in scrap metal. Since the dollar has been "taking a dive" his business has been picking up, selling more of his product overseas. He's went from 100 employees to 150 to keep up with demand.

I've heard people on this forum brag about wanting to come here to spend their money (Euros converted to dollars) because of things are cheaper for them. Exports are up. All this means more jobs, more business, and more earnings.

There are downsides too. But I think for the long run, the American economy is plenty stable enough to withstand fluctuations like this.

As a background information, the US is the greatest importer in the world, the economy depends on the imports, which became more and more expensive.

When you had to spend 80,000$ for one machine from Germany in 2000, now you would have to spend 145,000% to buy exactly the same machine.

Which also harms Europe btw, when Americans can't buy its producty anymore.
Especially countries like Germany, which is the biggest exporter in the world right now, are economically depended on the exports, and will have to look around for other customers.

About other countries buying currencies, imagine it like stocks exchange, China starts selling dollars as they would lose the money they invested otherwise.

What the US in my opinion should do?

They should stabilise the dollar at max. 1.80€ and start creating more low wage jobs to push exports fast, otherwise the high amount of import articles won't be affordable any more. No, you don't have to worry about your PlayStation. Heavy and pharmaceutical industries would be the ones getting the first blow, using a mayor amount of foreign machines and chemicals.

Low wage jobs are the last thing we need more of, seriously. We have a whole generation of people working at McDonalds or the equivelent. The way things are going there will be no middle class in 10 years.

We need manufacturing jobs, which a weak dollar isn't going to bring back, anyway, as long as we're competing with slave-labor. Thanks NAFTA, CAFTA, and whatever new globalist trade agenda is next in line for rubber stamping.

I doubted this when I read it, thinking China would have to be the biggest by now for sure. But I looked it up and Germany and the USA are still ahead of China according to Googled info. But I would say probably not for much longer with China's economy growing at an incredible rate.

I guess China is more prevalent in consumer goods in particular - I can;t remember the last time I saw anything "Made in Germany", except perhaps a few luxury cars. Perhaps they are big on exporting something I see little of like heavy machinery.

How is the export being measured? By dollar amounts? Who are they exporting to and what is Germany exporting? Making a car and selling halfway around the world is different than selling grain or something to a neighboring country.

wikipedia:

Germany has the largest economy in Europe and the third largest economy in the world, behind the United States and Japan.[49] It is ranked fifth in the world in terms of purchasing power parity.[50] The export of goods is an essential part of the German economy and one of the main factors of its wealth. According to the World Trade Organization, Germany is the world's top exporter with $1.133 trillion exported, from the beginning of 2006 (Germany's exports to other Eurozone countries are included in this total). It has a large trade surplus (165 billion euros in 2006).[51] In the service sector, Germany ranks second behind the United States. Most of the country's exports are in engineering, especially in automobiles, machinery, metals, and chemical goods. In terms of total capacity to generate electricity from wind power, Germany is first in the world and it is also the main exporter of wind turbines


Germany's main exports:

* Machinery
* Vehicles
* Chemicals
* Metals and Manufactures
* Foodstuffs
* Consumer electronics
* Textiles
* Beer ( I lol'd)