Is America Selling Itself Off to Oblivion?

Pat Buchanon has up a very interesting article on the current US financial situation. He makes some good points and gives us a stiff warning that we must strengthen the dollar and our economy soon. It is definitely worth a read whether or not you usually agree with him.

Interest Rate Cut

The Federal Reserve cut the rate by a quarter of a point today, bringing it down to 4.5%. This is great for the home market, which has been having trouble recently, but also has the potential to increase inflation. The dollar now currently sits lower at 1 Canadian Dollar = .94737 U.S. Dollars according to XE.com. The interesting thing is that even though everybody is saying that the housing market slowing will affect other industries, so far it hasn't. I've heard that all of this work by the Feds is just delaying the inevitable. I'm hoping we can fix it, but not sure how much pain it will take to get there.

The Dollar Dips Further

The U.S. Dollar is now worth LESS than a Canadian dollar. See XE.com. To see the dollar against even more currencies, see The Interactive Currency Table.

Apparently the dollar is now at an all time low.

$1 USD = $1 CND

It is worth noting that the eternal joke of how much more the US Dollar is than the Candian dollar has suddenly become obsolete. As of today, one US dollar equals approximately 1 Canadian dollar. This has been long in coming, as the Bush administration has been allowing the decline of the dollar against other currencies to faciltate paying off debt and bringing about more trade equity (a cheaper dollar means more of our goods being bought by foreign currencies). However, I have to admit that this policy has crossed a psychological barrier for me. I could really use one of our economically-minded Mod-Blogger to explain to me why THIS MUCH devaluation is desireable.