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| Emaciated Greenbacks |
KRAKOW, POLAND I'm in a sleeper car on a 10 1/2 hour trip to Budapest. I should have caught this train last night instead of waiting a day in Krakow. Not that there's isn't a lot going on, there is, it's just that moving on is what keeps the juices flowing. Hanging around Krakow for the day, checking out the shops, had my mind pondering the emaciated purchasing power of the greenback. It's sad that the dollar has been pushed to such lows for the US economy to grow and compete, price-wise at least, with other third world countries. What, we can't do better than that? The theories of Paul Krugman - not to single him out, but I do like to pick on him - will contribute to the dollar's woes. Increased government spending increases debt - duh! The profligate Greeks have the Germans to bail them out, but who's going to bail us out? Spending unrelated to increases in productivity emboldens bad habits requiring years to undo. Spending unrelated to inceases in productivity creates uncertainty as the winners and losers are chosen through the political whims of policy makers - and whose rules do they play by? The currency markets have responded accordingly keeping the greenback low and folks on their farms for a long time to come - just like in other third world countries.
