Have you noticed that prices on traditionally cheap imported stuff have crept up in recent months? A light fixture from China has gone up about 30 percent. Clothing in discount stores is creeping up and foreign cars are often more expensive now than similar American-built vehicles.
This quiet inflation is due to the falling value of the American dollar. To compensate, foreign companies have to raise prices. Not long ago the dollar was about equal to the Euro, but recently has lost about 25 percent of its value. The dollar has also fallen sharply against the yen and lost ground to the Canadian Loonie. This makes foreign goods and travel far more expensive. One big reason is that our interest rates are so low.
The Bush administration does nothing to prop up the American dollar and will probably keep interest rates low for a long time to come. Corporate America loves this policy. It also encourages Americans to give up savings accounts and money market funds that pay next to nothing in favor of stock market speculation or more spending. So, as we export American jobs because of cheap labor, foreign wages cost more in American dollars, but the foreign workers don’t get the raise. We get the loss of American jobs and an unnoticed gradual increase in what we pay for imported goods.
The primary concern of the present administration seems to be corporate profits. So, we can add to the accomplishments of the Bush administration the erosion of the middle class purchasing power along with loss of respect throughout the world, a crushing national deficit that will prevent any talk of social programs, thousands killed or wounded in an unnecessary war and the erosion of civil liberties. I hate it when Americans are made suckers by their own government.
Clinton
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