| What most Americans don't know is that the US currency is in the | toilet. I run a Canadian company which has 99% of its income in US | dollars. Our revenue is up but when converted to Canadian dollars | it becomes less than years before. I used to get $1.60 Canadian for | every one US dollar, now I only get $1.08 per US dollar and the | experts say that the two currencies will be par by year end.
Actually, most Americans /do/ know it. If you look at it from the outside, then the dollar is in the tank - and when you look at it from the inside, then the cost of everything bought with dollars is skyrocketing. Either way, it's the same inflation.
What most Americans don't seem to recognize is that it's all happening in a completely predictable "cause and effect" sequence, and that the current level of inflation is merely a gentle introduction...
| This means that whatever you bought a couple of years ago that was | imported, now it is going to cost you almost 50% more today because | the other currencies in the world have not dropped as much as the | US dollar.
It's not just imported goods - the cost of doing business in the US is being affected and the cost of domestic goods is on the same track as imported goods. It's just a little further back on the train because a lot of American businesses are dragging their feet on raising prices.
There's not much good anywhere in the picture. As the US dollar drops relative to other currencies, Americans will necessarily cut back on their purchases of imported goods - leaving exporters with excessive inventory, excessive capacity, and excessive employment. Worse, or at least as bad, obligations payable in US dollars will be paid in devalued currency (which you're already experiencing).
| Home Depot, Wal-Mart and many others compensate by buying even | cheaper crap so that the price doesn't go up, that is why the | plywood is now pure junk.
That can only be carried so far. At some point the merchandise becomes so crappy that no one wants to buy it, the prices are forced up anyway to the point where the merchandise becomes unaffordable, and the commercial structure needs to be rebuilt.
About then some damn political cowboy will come along and tell us: "Hey! War is _good_ for business."
-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA
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