11 October 2009

New Liberal Agenda: Let the Dollar Collapse, All Hail Inflation

It's a bit of a concern when the top blogger from the influential Center for American Progress advocates that a weakened dollar would be a good thing for the country. From Yglesias:

Meanwhile, the interests of American tourists aside, a falling dollar is exactly what the American economy needs. It’s a way of, in effect, driving wage levels down to a level at which increasing employment is economical and getting us out of current sky-high unemployment. Of course for the same reason foreign central banks will want to bolster the value of the dollar in order to prevent unemployment from rising in Europe and Asia. I think the real risk here, however, is that foreigners will go to far in terms of trying to sustain an unsustainable situation and ultimately prompt a bigger breakdown.
I understand that Keynesian economics focuses on massive spending programs to get the country through tough times, but how is turning the dollar into monopoly money going to do anything but lower the standard of living and piss off the Chinese. True, it's a natural market correction that the dollar is dropping into the crapper, but doesn't that have to do with the federal government printing too much money? Maybe, the President and Congress should, you know, stop pissing away the taxpayer's money like the world was going to end.

I don't pretend to understand this crap, but I do know that I made the decision to convert all the surplus dollars I had into Thai Baht, and a lot of other people are buying gold like it was nude pictures of Megan Fox. Yes, I chose a country's currency where a coup could break out at any minute over Uncle Sam's money. Yes, that means I am allied with the Taliban and Hamas, and I'm sorry for that, but I've got to live off this money. Ever since we nixed the gold standard in the 70s, money has been backed by the credibility of the US government, and that credibility isn't looking too promising at the moment.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder how the mortgage company, local bank, and Ford Credit will like it when my employer slashes my pay due to declining value of the dollar, and I decide to start making lower payments?

Wek said...

Monopoly money, no doubt. Maybe a marketing campaign in this: Come to America, it's cheaper than buying Baltic Avenue

Mike said...

Imagine my shock when reading that fucking little puke Yglesias and the rest of the "four legs good two legs better chorus" now think that the hyperinflation and dollar devaluation is a good thing.

Nixon said...

Now Krugman gets in on the action. Yippee!

JuniorAG said...

Yo, Yglesias, Weimar republic & Zimbabwe ring any bells??

The abomination hatched at Jekyll Island early last century known as the Fed was just as bad as ditching the gold standard IMO.