12:56 AM - Bottom Dollar
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nike shox,There is been a lot of good news of late about the
U.S. economic climate, so let us begin with that: employment is
expanding (2.4 million new payroll jobs within the last year);
inflation remains low (much less than a 2 percent rate within the
previous quarter); the stock market is higher (up 11 % on the Dow
from its November low), and business investment is impressive
(increasing at a 14 percent rate in late 2004). Indeed, the recent
news continues to be so good--a main exception becoming
$50-a-barrel oil--that we're hearing again with the Goldilocks
economic climate, which grows quick enough to increase jobs and
slow enough to muffle inflation. But beyond all the upbeat
indicators lurks a possibly frightening problem that unsettles even
the wisest and most seasoned economic observers. It's not
government spending budget deficits, a possible housing bubble or
perhaps $2-a-gallon gasoline. It's the dollar.If you've been
following closely, you realize that the dollar has been declining
steadily against many foreign currencies. From recent
highs--reached in mid-2001 or early 2002--the dollar has dropped 38
% against the euro, 23 % against the yen and 25 percent against the
Canadian dollar. And most economists expect the slide to carry on.
By the year-end, the euro may rise to $1.45 from $1.34 and also the
yen to 97 from 104 (that's 97 yen towards the dollar), says
economist Nariman Behravesh of International Insight. But,
obviously, you most likely haven't been following closely. For many
Americans, the topic with the dollar--its value on foreign-exchange
markets--is a yawner. A depreciating dollar makes foreign vacations
more expensive, puts stress around the prices of imported vehicles
and footwear and (the good component) improves the global
competitiveness of U.S. producers. Usually, these matters are not
high on our must know checklist. But now is not normal.The
significance with the dropping dollar is that it's actually a
symptom of a bigger and much more troubling improvement. For 15
many years the American economic climate continues to be the engine
for your globe economic climate through ever-increasing trade and
current-account deficits (the current account includes other
overseas payments like travel and tourism). In 2004, the U.S.
current-account deficit is estimated to have reached $650 billion,
a record five.6 % with the economy (GDP). Other countries'
economies benefit from sending their goods to eager American
buyers, and also the Usa in turn sends huge amounts of dollars
abroad to spend for those goods. The trouble is that there are now
much more dollars than foreigners want to hold. If there is a glut
of anything--apples, computer chips, Beanie Babies--prices go down.
So when surplus dollars are sold for euros, yen or pounds, then the
dollar drops in worth against these currencies.In the event you
sense a contradiction, you are right; and there's the dilemma. The
world economic climate can't get along with out our huge trade
deficits--and perhaps can't get along with them, either. Americans'
consumption binge is propping up international trade and
employment, but it's also threatening a monetary upheaval that
could hurt global trade and employment. With their export earnings,
foreigners have purchased massive amounts of U.S. stocks, bonds and
other investments: at the finish of 2003, $1.eight trillion of
corporate bonds and $1.five trillion of stocks. The doomsday
scenario, regarded as unlikely by most economists but not not
possible, is the fact that a crash of the dollar would trigger a
broader panic. Foreigners would sell their U.S. stocks and bonds,
driving down these markets and bringing massive losses to everyone.
They would sell simply because a dropping dollar would make their
American investments really worth much less in their very own
currencies. Consumer and business self-confidence would drop; a
recession within the Usa and abroad may follow.What's particularly
unnerving is the fact that nobody knows how to disarm the dilemma.
If you believe that some economist--or even Alan Greenspan--has a
realistic answer, believe once more. We've entered an unmapped
forest; no one has been here before. We've never had the top
economic power with [such an international] debt, says financial
historian Barry Eichengreen of the University of California,
Berkeley. The longer our huge trade deficits carry on, the more
powerful the underlying monetary pressures turn out to be.
Foreigners either need to improve their holdings of U.S. stocks,
bonds as well as other assets, or they have to sell their dollars.
However the real problem is the dependence of so many other
countries on the U.S. trade deficits for their very own economic
growth. Their surpluses are the mirror pictures of our deficits. In
2004, current-account surpluses were three.7 percent of GDP in
Japan, two.3 % in China, 2.9 percent in Germany, 6 percent in
Taiwan and 7.8 % in Belgium, estimates Economic climate.com.It
could be healthier for everyone if these big imbalances narrowed.
On paper, this is easy. Americans need to export much more and to
consume much less. We could raise taxes, decrease government
spending and increase interest rates; all those actions would
dampen consumer investing and market saving. Meanwhile, the Asians
could permit their currencies to rise against the dollar--unlike
the euro, China's yuan and also the currencies of numerous other
Asian countries are pegged to the dollar. That will make their
exports to us much more costly and our exports to them much less
costly. Lastly, the Europeans could liberalize their markets and
reduced interest rates. Their economies would grow faster. Taken
together, this package would attain what economists call a
rebalancing of world economic growth. The United states would have
an export-led expansion, not import-led consumption. Europeans and
Asians would create much more for themselves and purchase much more
from us.Unfortunately, this nifty bit of financial engineering has
proved not possible in practice. All these trade deficits and
surpluses aren't just financial figures: additionally they reflect
national tastes and temperaments. Not remarkably, the financial
policies the world requirements have collided with nearby
politics.Led by Japan, Asian nations have practiced export-led
financial strategies for decades. They're loath to change, simply
because they fear that something else won't work. Japan's personal
expertise has only deepened its anxieties. In the late 1980s, the
yen rose and made Japan's exports less competitive; ever since, the
country's economy has languished (from 1994 to 2004, growth has
averaged a meager one.5 %). Not remarkably, China has refused to
revalue the yuan, which continues to be at eight.28 towards the
dollar since 1994. Unless of course the yuan is revalued, other
Asian nations won't raise their currencies simply because they fear
losing competitiveness to China, argues Fred Bergsten, director
with the Institute for International Economics (IIE) in Washington,
D.C.As for Europeans and Americans, they are also stuck. We
Americans prefer to store. And we don't like taxes and do like
government benefits. That is to say: despite ritualistic
denunciations of budget deficits, most Americans discover them
preferable towards the options. In Europe, sluggish financial
growth (2.one % for your euro region from 1994 to 2004) reflects
heavy regulation and substantial taxes. In 2003, all taxes in the
United states totaled 31 % of GDP, reports the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Improvement, in Paris. By contrast, they
were 50 percent of GDP in France, 45 percent in Germany and 46 % in
Italy. These three large continental economies happen to be
specific drags on Europe. Modest efforts to unwind laws and reduce
taxes have been highly controversial and have not yet had a lot
impact. In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder came into office in
1998 promising to cut back unemployment beneath four million; it
lately passed five.2 million, an unemployment rate of 12.6
percent.The result is really a international political stale-mate
that perpetuates a pattern of world financial growth that might 1
day be highly damaging to all of us. It is a reality that [many]
countries possess a vested interest inside a large and chronic U.S.
trade deficit, writes Catherine Mann of the IIE. Similarly, it's
been within the interest of most Americans (though not factory
employees) to be flooded with inexpensive foreign imports that also
maintain down the prices of directly competitive American goods.
But these mutual interests might be dangerously shortsighted. They
exist only so long as foreigners willingly invest their surplus
export earnings in dollars. There is no assure that this may
happen, because foreign exporters and investors aren't necessarily
the same people. A foreign exporter might receive dollars and then
offer them for nearby currency (say, euros); then some other
foreigner, maybe a pension fund, buys the dollars with euros and
invests the dollars in American stocks and bonds.So the crucial
query becomes: can this arrangement survive? On that, economists
split into two polar camps--with numerous straddled in between.One
camp insists that it could survive, since it serves powerful
national interests. Asian nations and particularly China have to
create millions of jobs for political and social stability. China
also desires to attract foreign investment in factories, because
that brings new technologies and confirmed management abilities.
The best way to do this (goes the theory) would be to remain a
large exporter with a cheap currency. To stop their currencies from
rising against the dollar, Asian nations will purchase as many
surplus greenbacks as necessary. From year-end 1997 to year-end
2004, China's foreign-exchange reserves (invested heavily in U.S.
Treasury securities) rose from $143 billion to $578 billion, South
Korea's from $20 billion to $199 billion and Japan's from $220
billion to $834 billion (even though the yen floats, Japan tries to
limit its rise). And Americans also obtain a good deal: we send
foreigners pieces of paper--say, Treasury bonds--and get vehicles,
clothes and pc chips. Because everyone gains, the system can remain
intact for the foreseeable future, conclude economists Michael
Dooley, Peter Garber and David Folkerts-Landau of Deutsche Bank.Not
so, say other economists. The present situation is inherently
unstable. The issue is that too many countries are required to prop
up the United states, says Desmond Lachman of the American
Enterprise Institute. Even if Asians buy dollars, other government
central banks (their equivalent with the Federal Reserve) may
offer. Or they might merely quit buying more dollars. The present
U.S. current-account deficit indicates that foreigners need to
improve their dollar holdings by almost $2 billion a day. A recent
survey by Central Banking Publications of 65 central
banks--apparently not including the Financial institution of Japan
or the People's Bank of China--found that two thirds were moving
away from dollars toward euros. Private investors could also desert
the dollar. Indeed, it is vulnerable to nearly any unpleasant
surprise. Think about what happened in late February once the
Financial institution of Korea stated it might shift
foreign-exchange reserves away in the dollar. Not just did the
dollar fall, but the Dow dropped 174 factors. That is exactly the
sort of chain reaction numerous economists fear. (The Financial
institution of Korea later on said its statements had been
misinterpreted.)Maybe probably the most prominent straddler is Alan
Greenspan. In congressional testimony and speeches, he has
suggested that the present huge trade and current-account deficits
can't carry on indefinitely--but that their reduction may be
orderly. Translation: most normal people won't discover, because
through some messy combination of shifting exchange prices,
investment patterns and government policies--the world economic
climate would gradually move toward more balanced trade patterns
with out a major crisis.This really is certainly plausible. There
are some favorable omens. Japan's moribund economy shows signs of
enhancing. The dollar's steep depreciation against the euro hasn't
yet had any large influence around the U.S. stock and bond markets.
Lastly, Asian nations may naturally create more goods for their own
citizens, as expanding middle classes improve their consumption.
Economist Donald Straszheim reports that a major Chinese shoe
manufacturer plans to have 1,000 retail shops by 2008, up from 350
now. In the event the Chinese and other Asians invest much more at
home, they'll be much less dependent on export-led development and
more open to revaluing their currencies.However the truth is that
nobody knows what will happen. Since World War II, the dollar has
been the major currency for global trade. It's utilized for a large
amount of two-way trade that never touches America. For instance,
about 80 % of Thailand's and South Korea's exports are sold in
dollars, reports a Federal Reserve research. Even in France and
Germany, the dollar share of exports is about a third. What this
implies is the fact that, so long as the dollar plays this
international function, the Usa does not have to get rid of its
trade and current-account deficits. The planet wants and needs
dollars. Modest deficits of maybe one percent to two % of GDP would
provide them.Whether or not we'll get there any time soon is hard
to say. 1 disappointment is that the dollar's current depreciation
hasn't however stopped the trade deficit from expanding. In theory,
it ought to have: a cheaper dollar ought to make our exports much
less expensive and our imports much more expensive. Greenspan has
provided one explanation. Foreign exporters towards the United
states have reduced their profit margins rather than raise prices
and lose U.S. revenue, he stated. Likewise, a cheaper dollar might
have aided U.S. exporters only modestly. Robert Piazza, president
of Cost Pump Co. in Sonoma, Calif. says that the dollar has
assisted in Europe--but European exports represent only about 5
percent of the firm's business.Because the dollar is so important
towards the globe, it is inevitably an instrument of U.S. foreign
policy. This has lengthy been accurate. After Globe War II, Europe
was short of dollars. The Marshall Plan supplied the additional
money that Europeans required to buy meals, fuel and machinery for
reconstruction. In the 1970s the dollar grew to become a bone of
contention, because President Richard M. Nixon abandoned the
Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates--a system that
Europeans liked--and high U.S. inflation brought on the dollar to
depreciate on exchange markets. The Europeans believed that both
events destabilized the planet economic climate and place their
exports at a disadvantage. If today's dollar problem turns ugly,
there would nearly definitely be a backlash from other nations.
Already, the Europeans really feel abused, because--with most Asian
currencies pegged towards the dollar--the euro has absorbed most of
the anti-dollar sentiment. Individuals who want to offer dollars
buy euros; the higher euro weakens Europe's export competitiveness
and threatens even slower economic growth.Even though the
irritation and anger are understandable, they're also misleading.
The actual problem is whether the present pattern of international
financial development is inherently unstable--and whether or not it
could be easily corrected. America's huge and expanding trade
deficits have served like a narcotic for the rest with the globe.
As with all narcotics, resulting highs happen to be artificial and,
to some extent, delusional to each the dealer and the addicts. The
query now is whether or not everyone can go straight, before the
addiction becomes self-destructive. It's whether or not the Asians
can curb their export dependence; whether the Europeans can
revitalize their economies; whether or not the Americans can manage
their overconsumption. The dollar's fluctuations and frailties are
primarily the outward manifestations of this bigger predicament. To
paraphrase former Treasury secretary John Connally: the dollar
might be America's currency, but it's the world's issue.Photo:
Engine of Commerce: A shopper inspects a Hummer H2 in Shanghai. If
foreigners purchased much more American goods, they would assist
ease the imbalances pressuring the dollar. Photo: Got Offers? The
Sterns descended on New York from Johannesburg (their daughter is
from London) to power-shop with some help in the cheap dollar
Graphic: (text/illustrations/photos) FLIGHT PATTERNS: Where to
travel? The dollar's drop may make you want to think about spots
exactly where your cash buys much more. A snapshot of popular (but
now pricey) picks, and some alternatives (graphic omitted) Graphic:
(text/charts/graphs) PASS THE BUCKS: American customers buy much
more foreign nations than foreigners purchase in the Usa, creating
a few of the global trade patterns which have led towards the
dollar's slide. (graphic omitted) Copyright 2005 Newsweek: not for
distribution outdoors of Newsweek Inc.I found
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