Could the Dollar Be On The Way Out?

The dollar has been the world's reserve currency for more than 60 years. What happens if people no longer want to hold dollars? - MT

Beaten down by fears of a U.S. recession, the dollar is falling with new speed -- creating severe challenges not just for the U.S., but also for sugar traders in Brazil, central bankers in the Persian Gulf and a host of others.The greenback's biggest detractors -- a small but growing group -- say the currency is in danger of eventually losing its place as the world's dominant currency. Jim Rogers, a well-known commodity investor and a former partner of famed currency trader George Soros, has a particularly bleak assessment: "The dollar is a terribly flawed currency and its days are numbered," he said in a recent interview. He cited the U.S.'s huge foreign-held debt as the biggest cause.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120423483765800801.html?mod=hps_us_pageone

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120424991252301815.html?mod=hps_us_pageone

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Dollar.html?scp=2&sq=Dollar&st=nyt

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-markets-forex.html?scp=1&sq=Dollar&st=nyt

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/dollar-doldrums/?scp=4-b&sq=Dollar&st=nyt

Is the U.S. already in a recession? Sure looks like it.

Almost daily news is released showing the U.S. economy is slowing. The consensus seems to the we are already in a recession. What are the implications for the War in Iraq? U.S. foreign policy? Unemployment and the economic health of the U.S. moving forward? What would be the implications for you (and the rest of the world) if you were abroad as a foreign correspondent and the world's largest economy heads into a deep downturn? How would you report this story? - MT

(PAGE ONE - WSJ, 2-6-08) Recession worries surged, slamming financial markets, amid signs that service businesses -- from hotels and retailers to banks -- may be stumbling in both the U.S. and Europe.In the U.S., a key barometer of the strength of the service sector dropped to its lowest level since October 2001, and suggested those businesses are now contracting. In Europe, a similar indicator fell to a four-year low.The readings fanned fears on Wall Street that the U.S. is about to tip into recession, if it hasn't already done so, particularly startling analysts who had viewed services as the nation's last bastion of economic growth.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120221986525544121.html?mod=hps_us_pageone

Stocks plummeted on Wall Street on Tuesday after a business survey provided another strong signal that the United States might be in the early stages of a recession. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 370 points as the market experienced its worst day in nearly a year. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/business/06stox-web.html?ex=1360040400&en=9470859e1128992b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lingering hopes that the U.S. economy might avert a recession withered Tuesday after the nation's service sector -- its banks, travel companies, contractors and stores, among others -- shrank for the first time in five years.http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Economy.html?scp=4&sq=Recession&st=nyt

Shift toward thrift could change U.S. economy

Analysts say a shift toward thrift could have huge implications for an economy driven largely by consumer spending. Interested in your thoughts - what is going to be the impact?

In the 1950s and ’60s, as credit cards grew in popularity, many began dining out when the mood struck or buying new television sets on the installment plan rather than waiting for payday. By the 1980s, millions of Americans were entrusting their savings to the booming stock market, using the winnings to spend in excess of their income. Millions more exuberantly borrowed against the value of their homes.

But now the freewheeling days of credit and risk may have run their course — at least for a while and perhaps much longer — as a period of involuntary thrift unfolds in many households. With the number of jobs shrinking, housing prices falling and debt levels swelling, the same nation that pioneered the no-money-down mortgage suddenly confronts an unfamiliar imperative: more Americans must live within their means.

Is U.S. Dollar Slowing Turning Into The Yen?

The U.S. financial crisis is starting to look eerily like Japan's: a real-estate bust after years of speculation, banks saddled with mountains of bad debt, interest rates heading lower as policy makers try to goose a slowing economy. The developments have some currency traders asking the previously unthinkable: Could the U.S. dollar slowly be turning into the Western equivalent of the yen? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120147966674720853.html