Alright, that addresses one of about 10 other issues. Feel free to ignore the other 9 at your own peril.

__________________
"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end - Liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition - The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. - Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Action

What the Euro has going for it is that it is not the reserve currency of choice.
It's the dollar that is hoarded and used by most countries instead of gold, it's the dollar that is buried in bales by drug lords and crime bosses, and all these dollars can be brought out and rained down on the market, whereas the Euro has none of that baggage. Quite the reverse, as the Euro ascends in importance, it will be sucked up as the currency of choice, boosting it's value and accelerating the transfer of dollars to Euros.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

This is equally true for the Yuan, the Yen and EVERY other currency in the world. So what makes the Euro so special?

So whats your reasoning again for it being that Euro that ascends in importance and for people to transfer from the dollar to the Euro and not to one of the hundreds of other currencies in the world? You do realize it is entirely possible for the euro to fall against the dollar and for the euro to fall against all other currencies at the same time. Just because the dollar is falling does not automatically make the Euro rising agaisnt other currencies - its only rising against the dollar. The same reasons you and others point to for the case of the falling dollar are just as present for the Euro. If you are in fact right that the dollar collapses for the reasons you pointed out it is entirely likely that the euro falls for those exact same reasons.

__________________
"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end - Liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition - The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. - Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Action

The Euro is backed by the largest economy in the world. And the EU is harder on inflation than the US, none of the other currencies have that kind of strength.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Well, as stated earlier the EU has a debt level equal to 70% of that economy.

I have seen some evidence that the EU is harder on Inflation, thats good for them.

__________________
"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end - Liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition - The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. - Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Action

Yeah, because a United Europe is a larger marketplace. Not change in the political tide will erase that fact.

All of this is very nice, but it tap dances around the fact that the real fiscal and economic crisis is the absurd levels of spending currently promised under the law to future recipients of the entitlement programs. In 30 years every penny of taxes collected will be need JUST to fund the entitlements, leaving NO money for anything else. Thank you SOOOO much FDR and LBJ!

__________________
"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

As to the thread title question. No, i don't beleive the rest of the G8 would allow the US to go bankrupt. they will prop us up but in doing so jeopardise the whole Economic system of the world, and will preface a huge worldwide depression. and which, in turn, will change our whole financial system. It is then that the whole country will face individual bankruptcies the likes of which this country has never know. THE HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL

I don't know, but shouldn't we at the least be worried? Lets see, 122 billion for Katrina Aid, 10 billion just to fix the levves in New Orleans. 300 billion for the Iraq war, thus far. A total of a whopping 422 billion, and growing steadily. Of course the way congress and the president give out money, I dunno (maybe I forgot to factor something in?). o.o

Don't forget the social security crises.

Don't worry web, we don't need to plan for the future, money grows on trees! Its also going where its suppose to go (the money), instead of to pet projects and to other stupid stuff. We're practically fine! Nothing to worry about! Congress will save us!

Lads this is all about Oil... At the moment every barrel of oil in the world has to be bought using dollars. This includes Iran and Venezula... Thus every country needs to buy dollars to able to buy Oil. 80% of that money is reinvested in the US.

Saddam was the first arab leader to challange this norm, he sold his Oil in euros towards the end. The US had to convert dollars into Euros to buy Oil... The first thing the US did Euro Oil debts to dollars for 1 to 1. This means Iraq lost 20 cents on the dollar for the debt.

Now Iran wants to set up a Euro Oil exchange... The US hawks will never let this happen at any costs... If the EU, China, Japan, Russia, and Indiacan buy oil for Euros the US economy would be severe trouble...

Thats the conspiracy theory anyway.

__________________
"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end - Liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition - The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. - Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Action

The US probably is already bankrupt. Supposedly our assets outweigh our liabilities, but if we had to start selling all those assets at once to pay our debts, their value would drop so much that they wouldn't cover the debt.

However, we are probably in better shape than many other countries, including China, and I doubt we will see the US "going under" anytime soon. If things get tough, we will almost certainly "inflate" our way out of it. Not the ideal solution, but it is what will happen.

Some of the solutions mentioned are hairbrained. Shifting the tax burden to sales taxes would almost instantly kill the economy, resulting in massive layoffs and unemployment. Cutting Social Security by 2/3 would throw a horde of starving seniors out on the streets. Cutting discretionary spending by 143% would lead to a revolution. No government could do any of those things and survive except as a totalitarian dictatorship.

It's amazing that only a few years ago under a liberal president (whom I personally disliked) we were running a surplus, but under conservatives we are spending like drunken sailors while cutting income (taxes) to make things even worse.

If you want to fight wars they have to be paid for - by raising taxes, not cutting them.

Have to agree with you. One of the rules of running the country 'When going to war raise taxes'. Pay for the war.

Clinton was socially liberal but is more econmical conservative than the present lot. Clinton always considered Education as just as a means of investment, he considered it to give a great return to the economy.

Any cure to the US economic deficit probem which could be become from a crisis if not corrected will come from a number of straegies including raising income taxes especially of the rich ie 150,000+ income and cutting milltary bugdet. This is not a leftie argument but there is nowhere else to find the money, cutting money in Health, Education or social security is not an option they have already been cut.


The US has to get back to being Fiscially Responsible.