Here's an interesting fact: As of 10:35 p.m. on Aug. 1, $1 buys you 111.86 Japanese yen, less than 0.82 euros and 8.10 Chinese yuan. Meanwhile, one ounce of gold costs $431.90. The reason for this is that the almighty dollar isn't so almighty anymore.
According to an article in the July issue of The Atlantic that predicts what life in the United States would be like in the wake of an Argentina-style economic meltdown, Chinese economist Fan Gang told the World Economic Forum in January, "The U.S. dollar is no longer seen as a stable currency."
It doesn't take a doctorate in economics to know that our currency being perceived as unstable is not a good thing.
As a result of constant badgering from American politicians, the Chinese made a move on July 21 that further destabilized our currency: They abandoned the yuan's peg to the dollar. To do this, they had to sell some of the treasury bills they bought from us, thus creating a decreased demand for dollars, according to Dan Underwood, professor of economics at Washington State's Peninsula College. As the dollar goes down, says Underwood, prices of and demand for treasury bills will as well, causing interest rates to rise. Less value on the dollar will cause inflation. The result, says Underwood, will be decreased economic activity and high unemployment. Ultimately, the whole reason for this mess is not the yuan; it's President George W. Bush's tax cuts, though it appears we would rather blame others for our problems.
But the world isn't just losing faith in our paper tiger currency, to paraphrase Mao Zedong. With the recent appointment of John Bolton as our ambassador to the United Nations, I have to wonder what, exactly, Bush is trying to accomplish. Is he trying to run this country into the ground?
Bolton is certainly a character. I've never met the man, but he seems to fit the sort of archetype described in Nirvana's 1989 song "Mr. Moustache." In an Aug. 2 New York Times column titled "Ambassador Bolton," the author observed that with Bolton's absence from the latest round of talks with North Korea, things seem to have improved drastically. Considering that the North Koreans called Bolton "human scum," I'm inclined to think that the columnist is probably right. In fact, Bolton represents such an extreme neo-conservatism that even some Republicans -- notably Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio -- don't want him representing our country to the world.
Bush's sneaky appointment of a volatile man as U.N. ambassador while Congress was in recess and our pressuring the Chinese to revalue their currency and further weaken our own will only help to do one thing: further erode our country's credibility in the international arena.
Having spent three years living in another country and interacting daily with Asians, Australians and New Zealanders, Africans, Europeans and Canadians, I can say from experience that all those stories about people in other countries being angry at us are completely true. Also true are claims that, increasingly, we are becoming the laughing stock of the world, while some Americans abroad might as well paint bull's-eyes on their chests.
Pressuring China to take actions that further weaken our currency and appointing "Mr. Moustache" as our U.N. ambassador are decisions our leaders will live to regret. I can't help but think that the future does not bode well for this country.
Maybe I should start planning to move to Canada after graduation.
Write to Alaric at
ajdearment@bsu.edu
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