To: sea_urchin who wrote (22848 ) 4/8/2005 12:44:13 PM From: philv Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 81384 "And it should be clear by now, even to a blind man, that the US is not going to do anything to help its trade or fiscal deficits -- other than print more money, that is. As for jobs ---" I can't let that go without a comment. Maybe they don't care about the numbers, that is debt, and deficits or even the unemployed, but what they do care about are the consequences and the political and public reaction. Proof is in the continuous spin and manipulation of news to mollify and deceive the public. The last thing they want to see is people demonstrating in the streets. But one thing that is very hard to spin is the growing jobless numbers. And they are looking for scapegoats, and have found one. China. "US set to get tough over renminbi"news.ft.com Cheap imports from China, which once did their job of keeping inflation down, are now increasingly seen as undesirable. The perception has changed, and it looks like the rules will change. Roach calls it the drumbeat to protectionism. Its all about jobs.morganstanley.com I guess it is easy to pick on China because of the spectacular industrial rise, but I hear no complaints when Japan interferes in F/X markets. "It's true that the Treasury will give you zilch for the dollar but that doesn't mean the dollar is valueless. One can still get a dollar's worth of goods elsewhere -- even a dollar's worth of gold!" The above statement is correct, but anyone who holds cash, and expects that they can buy anything in the future is really out of touch. Cash is great, as long as you spend it....quick! The value of the dollar depends greatly on fiscal and monetary policy which has always been expansionary and resulted in inevitable dollar debasement. A dollar's worth of gold today is very little gold. Gold bugs believe that in the future you will get even less gold for your dollar.