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On Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:40:46 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:10:39 -0700, wrote:

Paranoia is obviously your forte.

The value of the dollar fluctuates quite a bit. A strong dollar
doesn't necessarily mean good things for the US economy. It's a
tradeoff when it's strong and when it's weak.

Generally down. In the last few years lost 20% against the Yuan. Lost
against the CAD too -- bad since the CAD value is mush too.

Yes, generally down, but that's great for items we sell elsewhere...
e.g., Caterpillar and such. It's just not cut and dried that it's a
bad thing or a good thing. Ideally, all currencies shouldn't fluctuate
much. That fluctuation certainly gives currency arbitrage some legs
though.

The problem with devaluing the dollar is we buy a lot more than we
sell.

Yes, but as I said, it's not as clear cut as lower=bad, stronger=good.
It's a lot more nuance than that.

The trade imbalance is also an area of concern, but again there's no
short term fix.