All About McCain

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

My point, ISM, is that I don't know why I'm supposed to care about what the Europeans (or whomever) think about us because of the current situation when they are in fact in the same situation. ...
Yes, we're both heroin addicted and pathetic. But I don't care if the other pathetic losers think we're pathetic losers, too.

Except it didn't use to be that way. It used to be that when other markets were faltering, they'd be looking to us for help. I think it IS significant to note that the rest of the world appears to have diminished respect for our economic stature, especially in a world where we are increasingly reliant on world consumer confidence. It's not about whether we're having the same problems as everyone else, it's about whether we are still perceived as the economic leaders of the world. Economics is 100% perception. Money has no value unless people think it has value.

That's not to say that a few individual opinions are absolute proof of anything, but if we want to get back on a path to recovery, you have to look at more than market indexes and exchange rates. The dollar may have gained a bit of strength in recent weeks, but if there's a growing perception of weakness it will not last.