LOL @ American Economy

[Duke_Freedom]

If it has no real use when it comes to gathering food - such as gold - it's value within an economic system is no more tangiable than that of paper money.

 

 

 

Gold is scarce, printed money is not. Printed money is essentially not worth anything on itself.

 

 

 

The dollar is bound to drop further anyway. The Fed lowered the interest rate by 0.5% because of panic about Sub-Prime Mortgages and to support the stock market and trust (among banks). Apparently the severe inflation America is bound to face is currently of less worry than the panic to the high chiefs around.

 

 

 

While 'the war' costs some money, people greatly overuse it as argument for America's economic problems. There's a lot more going on - and the war is only a small part of it.

[sk8_tolivv]

This made the front page of our Newspaper today :wink:

 

 

 

GO CANADA!

[highlanders]

 

 

 

Hehe, 0.000454 to go.

[BlueTear]

Gold is scarce, printed money is not. Printed money is essentially not worth anything on itself.

Ah, but gold has little to no value outside of an economic circuit. It may be scarce, but being scarce doesn't help if no one wants to buy it. And considering the non-essential way in which gold is used, most of it's value comes from a demand that is entirely up to people and their mindset. Let's put it this way; If I have bread, I can eat it for my own sustenance, or I can trade it for something else. If I have cloth, I can make clothes to wear or I can trade it for something else. I need food, I need clothing. If I have gold, I can... trade it for something I need. Why does someone else need gold? Why, to trade it for something they need of course. We've just reinvented the coin, and are well on our way to getting back to paper money.

 

 

 

Gold being scarce does not make it valuable. What makes it valuable is the demand coupled with the scarce supply. A demand that is not based on an actual use of said gold, but on the _belief_ that the gold is worth something.

[Duke_Freedom]

Sorry I looked again at what you said, and obviously I agree that gold is essentially not "necessary", although the definition of "necessary" is not really set in stone either.

 

 

 

I just wanted to point out that you can't just compare gold to printed money. Gold is actually scarce and fulfills many requirements that a "currency" should adhere to like printed money (i.e. its purpose is for trade as you pointed out (although it is actually used as jewelry and for high-tech purposes (luxury goods) as well).

 

 

 

But even though gold and printed money both derive a significant portion of their value on the "faith" of being able to trade it for other products at a later time, the latter is only artificially scarce.

 

 

 

The significant difference can easily be observed by the fact that the value of gold has proven to be quite 'tangible' in practice in situations where most normal currencies generally fail (i.e. world war, economic crises, political crises, hyperinflation, etc etc).

[darkmage099]

 

 

 

It's hardly reason to laugh at their economy :-k

 

 

 

It was by far the strongest in the world.

 

fix'd. Yeah, it's important but it's not top-dog anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

People who say war can help the economy are idiots. They don't realize what part of the war affects it. Iraq will certainly not help American economy

You, my friend, are the idiot.

 

 

 

AGREED!

[PastyGangsta]

The Euro is also up against the dollar again. What we need is all the countries of the UN to make 1 Euro = 1 US Dollar = 1 Canadian Dollar = 1 Aussie Dollar = some very large amount of Yen (like 10,000 or something)

 

 

 

This way it would never move, and the world would be financially at peace in about 10-15 years after this happens.

[indy500fan]

This way it would never move, and the world would be financially at peace in about 10-15 years after this happens.

 

 

 

All I can say is lol :lol: .

[scn64]

The Euro is also up against the dollar again. What we need is all the countries of the UN to make 1 Euro = 1 US Dollar = 1 Canadian Dollar = 1 Aussie Dollar = some very large amount of Yen (like 10,000 or something)

 

 

 

This way it would never move, and the world would be financially at peace in about 10-15 years after this happens.

 

 

 

I think that would actually create more problems than it would solve.

[BlueLancer]

Good news especially for europeans :P Now 1ÃÆââââ¬Ã¡Ãâì already buys $1.40 worth of goods online, poker sites, subscriptions, you name it...

 

 

 

.. And bad news for americans :? The dollar is becoming worth less and less... Wouldn't be a bad time to buy foreign currency. Large oil countries like Iran have already switched doing their oil business fully in japanese yens and euros.

[darkmage099]

Good news especially for europeans :P Now 1ÃÆââââ¬Ã¡Ãâì already buys $1.40 worth of goods online, poker sites, subscriptions, you name it...

 

 

 

.. And bad news for americans :? The dollar is becoming worth less and less... Wouldn't be a bad time to buy foreign currency. Large oil countries like Iran have already switched doing their oil business fully in japanese yens and euros.

 

 

 

I bought into Canadian when it was roughly $.70 American for one Canadian.

 

 

 

$$PROFIT!

 

 

 

The thing I don't like right now is the entire foundation of a dollar is based on the faith of the people in that dollar. It doesn't make much sense really.

[BlueTear]

The significant difference can easily be observed by the fact that the value of gold has proven to be quite 'tangible' in practice in situations where most normal currencies generally fail (i.e. world war, economic crises, political crises, hyperinflation, etc etc).

True enough. Unless there's a worlwide economic collapse that outlasts your lifetime, there'll always be a market somewhere else. Gold in this instance is suitable due to a relatively high value, easy storage and transportation. The fact that this value comes from a belief in the value gold - like the value of paper money comes from a different belief - is only really an interesting anecdote unless under some exceptional circumstances (serious worldwide economic collapse, another item being selected as the trading commodity etcetc).

[Master_Smither]

We're now truely a [bleeped] up economy

 

 

 

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[rooneyrules0]

It's almost ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã2 to a dollar now if I remember right :D

[hohto]

Good news especially for europeans :P Now 1ÃÆââââ¬Ã¡Ãâì already buys $1.40 worth of goods online, poker sites, subscriptions, you name it...

 

 

 

 

Don't forget that weaker dollar affects to their international trading too. This might cause problems to those European countries that deal a lot with American companies and thus hurt European economy too.

[xvillexvalox]

I was just checking and...

 

 

 

1.00 CAD = 1.00160 USD

 

 

 

:ohnoes:

[Kill_Thomas9]

wow, the dollar has gone down alot in value. I feel sorry for bill gates.

[Tbfgraphx14]

Lmao, it happend :lol:

 

 

 

for $100 USD you get 30 Cents less CAD :P

[scn64]

I'm not very "up" on economics...how much does the decrease in value of the US dollar affect the day to day life of an average US citizen?

[xvillexvalox]

I'm not very "up" on economics...how much does the decrease in value of the US dollar affect the day to day life of an average person?

 

 

 

The money that you have is becoming worth less.

 

 

 

Say you had millions of dollars before, now you still have millions, but you can't afford as much as before.

 

 

 

The value of items stays the same, but the value of the dollar goes down, meaning you'll be spending more money on less stuff.

 

 

 

Minimum wage doesn't fluncuate with the change of the dollar's worth, so people on minimum wage are getting even less now.

[scn64]

I'm not very "up" on economics...how much does the decrease in value of the US dollar affect the day to day life of an average person?

 

 

 

The money that you have is becoming worth less.

 

 

 

Say you had millions of dollars before, now you still have millions, but you can't afford as much as before.

 

 

 

The value of items stays the same, but the value of the dollar goes down, meaning you'll be spending more money on less stuff.

 

 

 

Minimum wage doesn't fluncuate with the change of the dollar's worth, so people on minimum wage are getting even less now.

 

 

 

So, for example, I may start to notice that when I go to the store to buy a gallon of milk I have to pay more dollars for that same gallon?

[xvillexvalox]

I'm not very "up" on economics...how much does the decrease in value of the US dollar affect the day to day life of an average person?

 

 

 

The money that you have is becoming worth less.

 

 

 

Say you had millions of dollars before, now you still have millions, but you can't afford as much as before.

 

 

 

The value of items stays the same, but the value of the dollar goes down, meaning you'll be spending more money on less stuff.

 

 

 

Minimum wage doesn't fluncuate with the change of the dollar's worth, so people on minimum wage are getting even less now.

 

 

 

So, for example, I may start to notice that when I go to the store to buy a gallon of milk I have to pay more dollars for that same gallon?

 

 

 

Eventually, yes.

[____]

I was just checking and...

 

 

 

1.00 CAD = 1.00160 USD

 

 

 

:ohnoes:

It's floating around the 1:1 mark for a long time - go Canada :lol:

[cryztalwing]

America's ecnomey is collapsing. It has a lot to do with nations droping the dollar for the Eruo. In other word's, they are droping the dollar to pay for oil in Eruo's. Another part of it is that the Federal Reserve is also working to destoy the dollar. It wont be long befor the Fed annouce that the Amero is ready to replace the Dollar.

 

 

 

[hide]Ron Paul has slammed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for deliberately depreciating the value of the dollar to artificially bail out Wall Street while poor and middle class people lose their homes and have their living standards lowered.

 

 

 

During a Banking Committee hearing on Capitol Hill today, the Texas Congressman confronted Bernanke and accused the Fed of trying to solve the problem of inflation with more inflation by creating artificially low interest rates that have no effect because of the dollar's weakness

 

 

 

Paul questioned how it could ever be morally justifiable to deliberately depreciate the dollar and pointed out the fact that the dollar collapse was a deliberate policy on behalf of the Fed

 

 

 

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/septem ... ltdown.htm [/hide]

 

 

 

[hide]Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright. Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.

 

 

 

"This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar," said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas.

 

 

 

"Saudi Arabia has $800bn (ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã400bn) in their future generation fund, and the entire region has $3,500bn under management. They face an inflationary threat and do not want to import an interest rate policy set for the recessionary conditions in the United States," he said.

 

 

 

The Saudi central bank said today that it would take "appropriate measures" to halt huge capital inflows into the country, but analysts say this policy is unsustainable and will inevitably lead to the collapse of the dollar peg. As a close ally of the US, Riyadh has so far tried to stick to the peg, but the link is now destabilising its own economy.

 

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.j ... audi119.xm l&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox [/hide]

 

 

 

[hide]some videos on the the Federal Reserve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[/hide]

[meol]

Sorry, cryztalwing, there will be no Amero for a long time. There's no kind of economic partnership between, let's say, Canada and Panama. We would have to develop some kind of economical unity before going for a common currency.