Robert Borosage: A President in Denial

COMMENTARY: A President in Denial
By Robert Borosage 01/28/2008


The economy had to be a major theme of President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address. In the weeks leading up to the speech, the message he’s been repeating, over and over, is while there are “storm clouds” over the economy, “the fundamentals are strong.”

Say what? Bush says the United States has “had strong growth” because “we’re competitive,” have got “flexible workplaces,” and have “kept taxes low.” Let’s take a closer look at America:

World’s largest debtor. Hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs. Dollar sinking. Banks on auction block. Middle class struggling to stay above water. Basic family security – from health care to affordable education – eroding. Vital public infrastructure collapsing, from the bridge in Minneapolis to the levies in New Orleans. No wonder the elites that gathered at Davos last week were bemoaning America’s economic weakness, not celebrating its strength.

Globally, the United States is in a financial hole that is getting deeper. 2008 will be the ninth consecutive year that the U.S. economy has grown at a slower rate than the world. In the first seven years of this century, under the Bush administration, the United States has run up a staggering $4.3 trillion in trade losses—more than $3 trillion in manufacturing alone.

We now run a trade deficit not simply in lead-painted children’s toys but in advanced technology products. The United States has lost the lead it once enjoyed in the green technologies of the future. We’re increasingly dependent on foreign oil, feeding the coffers of the petro states.

America is now the world’s largest debtor. Washington is sending more interest payments to lenders abroad than it is getting from investments abroad. Vaults of foreign central banks are stuffed with dollars. Understandably, the dollar is losing value, and its role as the world’s common currency is eroding, as countries diversify their reserves into euros.

China alone holds $1.5 trillion in foreign currency reserves—much of it in dollars. Foreign sovereign investment funds – led by China, the Asian tigers and the oil exporters – are buying up U.S. companies and banks at firesale prices. For European tourists, America is a cheap date.

more...

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/commentary-a10

If the Chinese hold that much in dollars, then the dollar won't crash overnight? Or will it.......? :shrug:

have wrought upon us.

Edited: context

for the foreign tourists to come and have cheap holidays? I guess I'll practice saying "would you like freedom fries with that monsieur?"

A scrolling list of *'s disasters, with photos of Katrina, Minnesota, the collapsing towers, unemployment graphs, etc., and McCain saying "We should continue the good work that President Bush has started"