I wonder under the criteria of joining the Euro Zone if the U.S. could qualify.

And i guess France, Italy and Germany would have too if there was an honest reckoning

Britain could but they obviously have it better off out

"I wonder under the criteria of joining the Euro Zone if the U.S. could qualify."

The criteria was deficit, not debt. And it is not enforced.

A senior Chinese government official is suggesting that the Chinese take their more than trillion dollars in foreign reserves and spread the funds to other stronger currencies. Yikes! Just talking about it sent the dollar to new lows, and contributed in part to the stock market fall today. Things are not going to be any cheaper for us Europe-philes anytime soon.

Gotta fix that trade deficit pretty quick. Can't buy more than you sell nor consume more than you produce for very long.

Fix the trade deficit quickly? We've had one for more than 20 years now.

" People should consume less"
if people consume less, producers will produce less, if less is produced, workers will be let go...
more unemployed means even lower consumption, ergo less production, more jobless etc...
In any case,
consumer are just one part of demand for goods and services, the others are : government and businesses ( machines, raw materials, finished product etc).
Just think of spending on the part of the US government,,, billions..

danon - If Americans were consuming American made goods you would be right.

" If Americans were consuming American made goods you would be right."

sorry, I don't know what you mean.
Americans consume goods from around the world and the rest of the world consumes goods made in America.
It is called international trade.

danon look at the trade deficit. We don't even produce much.

Since I have cancelled three of my four international travel itineraries for the next 12 months due to finances and the poor exchange rate, do you think I should take the cash and buy Euros as an investment? I'm not kidding; the lagging economy has finally crept into my business- income has dropped significantly - and I am feeling the need to stash a bit more away. I am so sad

I love to travel and explore new places in the world. However, I feel blessed to live in the large and beautiful USA. . . there are still places here I haven't seen. I guess I'll be staying close to home for the next couple of years!

<The criteria was deficit, not debt. And it is not enforced>

re: Euro qualification

in that case the U.S. deficit is at record levels so i guess we would not qualify

... I also feel an almost moral obligation to spend my money within my own country right now.

Here's one for the financial whizz kids. What effect has the Iraq war had on the US economy and the greenback in view of the huge amounts spent on that fiasco.

Oh for Pete's sake.

The US trade deficit is not a key factor in much of anything. It will be almost impossible to change the deficit structurally as long as the main outflow of US capital is for <b>foreign oil.</b> In most other arenas, our balance of trade is not that bad. Every Boeing jet sold to China is worth a lot of Chinese t-shirts sold in US K-marts.

If you want to strengthen the US dollar, balance trade, and - incidentally - save the world, support an immediate crash program to develop alternate fuels, preferably ones that don't warm the globe or make us rely on tyrants in various parts of the globe.

Being in manufacturing for decades I thought years ago it was awful catching all the arrows. Turned out it was a great heads-up on what was to come. And that's all about that.

Absolutely, Gardyloo. Raise the CAFE standards. Invest in alternate fuels and good public transportation that people will USE. Improve Amtrak. Reducing American dependence on foreign oil is a win, win, win all the way around.

Go Gardy Go!

(sittin' this one out..)

Sign me up!

I'm far less sold on public transit and improving Amtrak than a lot of green philosophers might be. I think the private car is now in our national genome, and wishing it weren't so is a lot of wasted effort. But even if we keep the auto industry intact (lots of jobs) and keep the same commuting and living patterns as we have now, a big reduction in petroleum fuel consumption would be a huge win-win for the environment and the economy. Keep your SUV, just run it with a fuel cell or an efficient battery, or hydrogen, or something besides $100/bbl Brent Sweet Light.

There's nothing incompatible with investing more in public transit/Amtrak and keeping cars. People need to drive LESS, not just dump their cars. I think I'm a good example. I still drive, but I take the bus and train or just walk sometimes. How many people take public transit once or twice a week at least? If all of the people who never use transit started using it even once a week instead of driving, we'd save a ton of gasoline, CO2 emissions, etc. The resulting drop in demand for gasoline would result in lower prices and less pollution. Win-win.

I think it's absurd that people drive around alone in huge SUVs. That kind of behavior should not be cheap - it's incredibly wasteful. In the future, I think people will own several kinds of vehicles: maybe a little SmartCar for local commutes alone, an SUV of some sort for outings with the family otherwise. Having an SUV isn't bad in itself; driving it everywhere alone is.

Just got back from Italy. SmartCars are everywhere, and the buses and trains are full of average, middle-class people, not just poor people as the cliche goes in the US for riding the bus. There's no reason that can't happen in the United States.