Weak US Dollar Means Nintendo Favors Europe For Now 588
timeOday writes "The LA Times is reporting that the new Nintendo Wii Fit is hard to find on US shelves, due not only to strong demand but also the United States' declining status in the world economy: '"[Nintendo] is also is shrewdly maximizing its profit by sending four times as many units to Europe, reaping the benefits of the strong euro," says Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. "The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere."'"
Oh the humanity (Score:5, Funny)
how long until US quarters get stuck/rejected by Canadian vending machines and laundermat washing machines
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
I consider myself to be an environmentalist... MOST environmentalist don't say "Don't chop down trees" they say "Chop down what you need and reseed the forest, using technology that limits the impact on the surrounding earth". We can have both strong environmental policy as well as a powerful industry.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Here is a pop quiz that may be of help to you:
1) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing output reach its all-time peak?
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
2) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing revenue reach its all-time peak? (inflation adjusted)
a. 1966 b. 1976 c. 1986 d. 1996 e. 2006
3) In what year did U.S. Manufacturing profits rea
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
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How about gas turbines and jet engines (to name 2 off the top of my head)? Oh, they don't sell those in Walmart, so that does not count...well, I concede, America does not make anything.
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Interesting)
You are correct, the USA should immediately cease producing value added goods and produce iron ore and silicon.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
No..not at all, you miss the point. We should strive as much as possible to be as completely self sufficient as possible, or risk our independence to the rest of the world if for some reason where we get stuff from, decides to withhold resources....
Think about the risk we currently run with oil dependence from foreign sources. Now..extrapolate that to other raw goods.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If they were not in a cold war with us, they would allow their yuan to float against all others
The reason they want to peg the yuan to the dollar is financial. If the value of the dollar suddenly dropped to 1/2 the value of the yuan, then Chinese-made goods suddenly become twice as expensive to their largest market.
In addition, they would be building DEFENSES weapons, not offensive.
You realize that they have a minuscule navy that makes it impossible for them to project military power outside of their region, right? It's going to be a long ass swim from China before you need to worry about Chinese military aggression in this part of the world.
There are plent
Where to begin!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Your post is so reactionary and simple-minded that it certainly seems to have been written by an American, short on rationality as it is. In fact, in the last day or so /. has had several posts like yours modded up because they say absurd things such as the high cost of oil is due in part to the restrictions on domestic drilling.
If you think the US economy is in the shitter because of environmental protections you are an embarrassment to the genetic legacy your ancestors have bequeathed you.
The US economy is in the craphole because of the massive debt that has been leveraged against insolvent debtors. This came in the form of the mortgage crisis and its effects have reverberated and multiplied through the banking system. This has led to a crisis in commercial credit which has taken away the ability of consumers to fuel the economy which further erodes the ability of the banking system to maintain solvency. The causes of the credit crisis caused by the tanking of the mortgage system has not yet finished and we are likely to see much worse before it stops.
Regarding the offshoring of manufacturing and environmentalism, the real impact of environmental legislation in the United States is not to preserve non-human species, but to protect humans themselves. Look at the places where mining companies, steel refineries, chemical manufacturing plants, and pulp mills have operated and what you'll find are poisoned water tables and insanely elevated cancer rates. Additionally, the relative low-production of minerals from mining is due mainly to evisceration of the lands where valuable resources once existed, not due to the governmental restrictions on development.
For you to say something like "the tree huggers over her taking so much power" is laughable. Opening all the protected lands in the US would to natural resource exploitation do virtually nothing to fix the GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS let alone the paltry problem of the US economy stumbling against the stronger European economy. The kind of neanderthal thinking that bad economic times can generate amongst people is amazing and your post is an example of such stupidity.
Environmentalism has not caused the US economic crisis. Bad banking practice has.
Re:Where to begin!? (Score:5, Informative)
The funny thing is that TFA also mentions an interesting tidbit which is preposterous:
"We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere"
Now I've worked for HP for the past twelve years. I assume everyone knows that HP is from Palo Alto originally, and a very, very solid American company. Now since 1996 already the EMEA region has been responsible for 42% or more of the total HP revenue in the world, followed by The Americas and then APJ. Since China and India are ramping up economically, it wouldn't surprise me if the US is now competing for that second spot with the APJ region.
This notion is not just something that lives inside of large corporations like HP, but can easily be verified on Da Innerweb. If you add up the Gross National Product of member-state countries of the EU from numbers you find on CIA World Factbook, or if you simply look at wikis or reports on this, you will see that the EU has a GDP that is 15% higher than the US. Now since the US are ~300 million and the EU are ~400 million people, the GDP per capita is still a bit lower than the US', but this is also due to the fact that the newer member states such as Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia are all former Warsaw Pact members who still have a bit of growing to de economically.
To cut a long story short, in 2006 the EU was already putting more value out there than the US. And the decreasing value of the Dollar might be good for the US' export position, but the bottom line is that the US are no longer the biggest market on the planet. It hasn't been. For years.
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:4, Insightful)
Okay, now this might be kind of hard to understand, but just imagine for a minute that the communist/liberal/homosexual/tree hugger conspiracy doesn't exist. Instead, try and think how people live in other parts of the world, specifically what most people call the 'developing world'. Have you considered how wages and living standards might differ in the 'developing world'? You do realize that the vast majority of labour intensive industrial operations (such as steel) tend to requires very little skill? So why the hell would anyone want to setup a still mill in the US when you can do it for a lot cheaper in some other part of the world.
Let me give you a more concrete example. In Ukraine (its a country in Europe, it has a pretty highly educated workforce and a pretty large industrial base), a salary of $20K is considered pretty damn good, especially if you live outside the capital Kiev. And I am not talking about some shitty job in a steel mill, even a management position with a $20K salary is considered pretty good. Now what do you think an average American still mill worker gets paid per year? is $35K a fair estimate? So why shouldn't business simply setup shop in Ukraine, spend a little bit more on transportation and save the bunchload of cash.
I know that it's easy to make up excuses about the tree huggers ruining everything, but unfortunately sometimes you have to use your brain and think straight. Industrial production is never coming back to the USA! Not unless Americans are going to accept Bangladesh style wages/living standards.
And what power are you talking about? The power to make you sound retarded? You live in America, you have one pro-business party that has a fascists/right wing and another socially liberal/centrist wing.
Right wing armchair economists are such a laugh. Though I guess I shouldn't be laughing, crying would probably be more appropriate.
If you want to look for the real reason behind Nintendo's decision, I suggest you read up on interest rates. You might learn some interesting things that you never knew about, like how the fed essentially bails investors whenever they fuckup which leads to retarded behavior (among other things that contributed to current economic instability).
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree with this argument for a couple of reasons. First, the assumption is that conservation is somehow altruistic. It isn't. Having a healthy environment is a selfish thing. It means that you don't have to worry about the air or the water making your children sick. It means you can hunt deer, catch fish, and grow vegetables in your yard and actually eat them. It means you can eat sushi whenever you want. It means being able to take your family out for a walk and being able to show them something besides a strip mall. Fuck the owls, I want the environment saved for me and my kids.
Second, I disagree with the idea that raping the environment is the way forward. It's a short term solution. Unquestionably, cutting down all the redwoods would create a few jobs and make some money, but once you'd finished, you'd be right back where you started. The way forward is investing in infrastructure, technology, and education. Lay down broadband, improve the quality of our primary and secondary education, make college education affordable for any kid who works hard in high school. Invest in alternatives to oil- you'd simultaneously help reduce our dependency on mideast oil and create a product the rest of the world would want to buy. Build more mass transit, which would create jobs, reduce energy consumption, and provide the infrastructure to help the economy grow. It's not a situation of having a liveable environment or a good economy; we have to try for both.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The American worker needs to become competitive and that means aggressively seeking education and job-specific skills. It is our duty to OURSELVES to be adaptive, multi-skilled, inquisitive, self-teaching, and to hustle for work. Peopl
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Americans AREN'T skilled (says Toyota) (Score:5, Interesting)
Queue sound of music stopping to a screech...
"Toyota has stated it will build a new factory in Canada instead of the US because of concerns US workers are less skilled."
"Toyota President calls American's stupid"
http://forums.motortrend.com/70/38630/the-general-forum/toyota-president-calls-americans-stupid/index.html [motortrend.com]
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
In a post that is riddled with historical inaccuracies and plain daft statements, this stands out:
"Of course, typical Americans; cleaning up after europe shits all over the place. Abolishing slavery."
WTF? That's a party you were particularly late to (just like both World Wars). You might want to check on the dates for European countries abolishing slavery (hint: generally before you). And as for reinstating civil rights, of course you remember what happened about 40 years ago, right?
Congratulations on making yourself look like an ass and giving your fellow Americans a bad name.
which state? (Score:3, Insightful)
Which State is this?
Why do people confuse "England" and "United Kingdom" so much and use the terms interchangeably? (for your own health and safety, please don't make this mistake when visiting Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland)
Curious... thanks in advance...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:which state? (Score:5, Informative)
UK = England + Wales + Scotland + Northern Ireland
GB = Old fashioned term for England + Wales + Scotland
England = England
Commonwealth = lots of former colonies + UK
So you'd generally be safe using the UK where you would normally say 'England'.
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Interesting)
If you read Israeli Kuwaiti security reports about Iraq their assessment was; Iraq is essentially a failed state extremely week from a decade of sanctions and poses no security threat.
Being defenseless is of course a prerequisite for the US to invade as we won't pick on someone that could actually defend themselves (would not be a very productive way to run an empire)
The worst atrocities Saddam committed was while he was SUPPORTED by the US. This is hugely important piece of information that gets downplayed with "the enemy of our enemy is our friend". But the US was supporting both sides of the Iran/Iraq conflict so there is no moral ground to stand on.
The problems of Saddam at his worst was he was being supported by an external all powerful military force with deep vested interests in resources of the area, giving him free hand to commit atrocities in the name of "stability" now Iraq has a government in place that commits atrocities in the name of "democracy" with the same power structure. This is not lost on Iraqis. The victims flesh burning white phosphors [google.com] in Fallujah and the tortured of abu ghraib [google.com] probably don't care much about the semantics.
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
As far as Isreal, I didn't hear the US object to giving them the land and it's the US that defends Isreal these days more than anyone else.
Going after Iraq for 9/11 isn't cleaning up after Europe. It's making an excuse for Jr to do what daddy didn't do. Though Bush senior, in general, while being called a wimp was more sensible and at least was leaned more to being a sensible republican. It was he who helped make businesses accomodate people with disabilities. Just as Nixon made an attempt to help the environment with creating the EPA.
Since the Clinton era, the republican party has really gone to hell. In fact US politics in general have gone to hell. That's what's hurting the US more than anything and it makes me glad I've moved out of there years ago.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd say that Western ideology includes treating women like slaves. For example, my wife is pregnant, and due to give birth in 1 month. She gets 1 year maternity leave, but it's all UNPAID. She, and all other women, are expected to take care of the baby and home generally, for FREE.
Not all western countries are the same of course.
Here in Sweden there is 480 days of paid parenthood. I am not sure how big percentage of the salary that is is.
However, one interesting thing to note is that these 480 days may be distributed in any way between father and mother. This is relativly new, and one of the things implemented to decrease gender discrimination here in Sweden. It is a very good law. Not only does it help women who want to keep working. There are also many new fathers that would like
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem is not the USA, not really. The problem is the culture of entitlement that the automotive cartel fostered in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. They could charge whatever they wanted for cars, since they were about the only game in town (back then, if you wanted an import, it was a Rolls or a Ferrari, and at that point you don't care about price anyway). They made up for this by giving obscene benefits packages for employees, and in the 70s when Japanese imports started to outdo in price and efficiency, they stupidly agreed to even more boneheaded benefits packages for people who got laid off.
If they had the balls to say to the UAW, "You know what? From now on, you're getting fair wages for the work you do for us and only current employees get benefits," they wouldn't be so hard up. But there's too much of a culture of failure among management, and the UAW would throw a hissy-fit strike if they tried it.
It really boils down to the need for nationalized healthcare. If we had that, this whole problem wouldn't exist.
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
Get over it. He was your biggest ally for decades. The fact that you lost control of him is your own stupid fault.
Bullshit. It was the US doing the testing. Saddam merely used what the US gave him.
So? Go and invade Israel if you're so concerned about UN human rights charters and resolutions.
WTF?
That's quite a simplistic view. I forgive you, considering your other way-off statements so far. Communists HAD taken over Vietnam, and had MASSIVE backing from the population. That's no reason to invade and carpet-bomb the place with napalm and chemical weapons ( the same weapons you were just crying about Saddam using ).
Hardly. It's more like MAKING all the shit and expecting everyone else to call it flowers.
Oh fuck off. The US was built on slavery, and the remnants of it are still very much alive today. Abolishing monarchies? What do you call George Dubya, commander in chief? What's the point of abolishing something and replacing it with the same thing, but a different name? Why not try some democracy instead? Huh? And as for cleaning up the mess in the middle east, I believe you're FUCKING up the middle east. You must have a pretty warped idea of what's going on over there. You're American, right
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:4, Informative)
- Social protection, £159bn
- Personal social services, £26bn
- Health, £105bn
- Transport, £20bn
- Education, £78bn
- Defence, £32bn
- Debt interest, £31bn
- Industry, agriculture, employment and training, £21bn
- Public order and safety, £33bn
- Housing and environment, £22bn
- Other, £62bn
What those things mean is defined by the UN [un.org]. For the UK, most of 'Social protection' is social security benefits, i.e. money given to the unemployed, families, retired people etc.
For more detail than you could possibly want, see the HM Treasury Report [hm-treasury.gov.uk].
But I think you might have wanted me to say name other things I notice in daily life, other than healthcare, that I don't have to pay for. I'm not sure, since I haven't lived in the US and don't really know how life works there. If I lose my job, I can ask for "Jobseeker's Allowance", and I'll be given £46.85 a week (so long as I prove I'm looking for another job). Other things like that are listed on Direct.gov.uk [direct.gov.uk] (e.g. benefits, free travel, pensions, student loans,
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Insightful)
Other parts of the world with strong economies have IP laws that are just as strong as in the US and are doing fine.
It is all about unwise fiscal policies that are resulting in the decline of the dollar.
Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Informative)
Yes China's situation is a bit different as a developing nation but it is rapidly becoming normalized with the rest of the world as they are starting to develop their own "imaginary property". They are now a member of WIPO, the Paris convention, the Madrid Agreement and have a State Patent and Trademarks office. While enforcement is spotty the trend is obvious.
Any claim that the US economy isat a disadvantage due to IP laws is hooey.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
No...I didn't mean it was reason it left...but, is an impediment to it returning. We can't seem to even get to drill for our own oil off the coasts of FL or CA....even with great breakthroughs in safely drilling without spills. We can't seem to build any more refineries any longer, nor build Nuke plants...too much NIMBY.
I think it is going to hurt us ev
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Re:Oh the humanity (Score:5, Interesting)
So, does this mean (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Language barriers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Language barriers (Score:5, Informative)
This depends on what country you're in, here in Sweden most people speak english well enough that until recently few games were translated to swedish, to this day many of the big titles (guitar hero, gta series, WoW and lots of others IIRC) are not available in swedish versions, yet we have to wait until the release of the versions of games translated to german and french before they're released, in english, here.
/Mikael
Re:Language barriers (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Language barriers (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Language barriers (Score:5, Insightful)
It's been 15 years since I last came across anyone in mainland Europe that didn't speak any English at all - a very helpful French shop owner in a tiny town in Provence that, when he realized we were talking past each-other with my limited French, stopped a couple of random people who were passing by his shop and got them to translate.
On my last proper visit to Paris a couple of years ago it had been 12 years since last time I'd spent any amount of time there (I'd been on a couple of business trips where I spent 3-4 hours in town and then went back to London) in fact, I find it hard to practice my French as contrary to my last holiday there every French person I came across switched to English the second I had problems finding the right word, or butchered their language too much (my French teacher used to say that the one thing you should always make sure to get right in France is the sounds - if you pronounce things correctly you'll get away with almost anything - so far I think she's been right)
Even weirder (Score:4, Interesting)
Even weirder was buying a US import version of Sega's PSO for the Dreamcast, over half a year IIRC before it got released in Europe. The weird thing is: the US version already had all the language options. I don't mean just that it also had Spanish, but it also had German and French. So someone from the USA could jolly well play the game in German or French, but the people in Germany or France weren't supposed to.
Exactly what they needed that delay for, I don't even know. Certainly not for translations.
Re:Even weirder (Score:5, Interesting)
Marketing. They needed to spread out the marketing effort through time so they could do it with a fixed team.
Bush (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bush (Score:5, Informative)
Well look at it this way.
The government is the only entity that can effectively control the amount of currency in circulation. It is the only entity that can create and destroy money by fiat; it can print currency, it can create funds to lend to central banks, and it can destroy the money it created.
The government takes money from you every year in April. Someone has to repair roads, pick up garbage, provide for the common defense etc. Asphalt, garbage trucks, and missiles cost money. The government prints this money and spends it. It's all OK because it picks your pocket, pulls out dollars, and destroys them to account for it. And you shouldn't complain because you get to drive on nice roads with no garbage or foreigners.
What if they didn't take your money? That's what George W. Bush did. He figured you'd like him more if we skipped the part where the money comes out of your pocket and gets burned up in order to close the books on the services you receive from the government. So the money escaped your pocket (or at least your $300 consolation prize did), and suddenly all this money that had been spent paving the roads and collecting garbage was suddenly appearing at Wal*Mart for its second life, and it got spent a second time to buy more garbage, predominantly imported crap from overseas. Basically the government printed crap dollars, we spent them on imports, giving sellers overseas dollars that they promptly exchange for their own currencies. The currency exchange markets are quickly overwhelmed by dollars. These quickly end up parked in immense T-Bills held by foreign banks, who would like to unload them but cannot risk damaging their value by flooding the dollar markets with their own holdings. But the value of the dollar is deteriorating anyway, much to everyone's dismay- because dollars are the most widely held currency in the world. And we owe them to everybody. You see how awkward this is.
Let's say now you're sitting on a loading dock with 500 Nintendos on pallets. Do you want to turn them into dollars? Heh heh heh heh heh.
But the invisible hand has a way to correct everything. Maybe someday we can make our own Nintendos.
Re:Bush (Score:5, Insightful)
That is a very nice way to say "he doubled the national debt within few years".
Re:Bush (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like a Ponzi scheme(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme), only this one is goverment sanctioned.
Re:Bush (Score:5, Insightful)
ALL money based on an arbitrary valuation is inflationary. Backing it with a shiny metal provides something of a natural cap to inflation, but it's not like there wasn't hyperinflation when our money was "good as gold". In fact, banks were collapsing left and right throughout the 1800's when we were solidly on a gold standard.
> Check out money as debt on google video.
Certainly do so just for edification, but it's eye-rollingly bad stuff. Full of ominous conspiratorial whisperings, and a general emphasis on how evil the whole notion of debt is. How about thinking of it this way: debt is an added valuation on time. And time is about as universal a commodity as it gets.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Wealth isn't money - wealth is money changing hands! Any money that's just sitting around is a net drain on the economy, and makes it harder for the central banks to manage things. Money must be invested to be useful - even a savings account is useful.
Besides, inflation hurts the rich way more than the poor, as long as the minimum
But... Wii Ain't Fit over HERE! (Score:5, Funny)
Bah Humbug (Score:5, Informative)
Rarely do we ever get a title released here first, even titles that were developed here tend to get released in the USA first.
What's more, Nintendo, Sony AND Microsoft have all indicated that they don't care for Europe.
Sony is probably the worst offender, by giving us a stripped down PS3 at nearly twice the price as the US and Japan (There's only so much "tax" and "import costs" can account for).
Rock band is actually cheaper to import from the US than it is to buy in the shops (it's almost twice the price when you buy the set and the game!). This is really nothing new, but it's still infuriating the way we get treated.
Cost of localisation (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Cost of localisation (Score:4, Interesting)
It wouldn't be so bad, but they never bother to translate American English into British English, so really, what's the point in waiting?
Re:Cost of localisation (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Cost of localisation (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Cost of localisation (Score:4, Funny)
It brings back memories of watching porn in Poland dubbed by one male with a thick russian accent. We couldn't understand a word they said, but it was the funniest thing we'd seen in a while.
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Its pretty much for those two re
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Ah, but European developers give better plots! (Score:3, Informative)
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So THAT'S why we're getting ripped off so much, we're actually getting taxed twice as much!
This does not make sense (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This does not make sense (Score:5, Interesting)
Nintendo should just go ahead and silently raise the price a little. Sure, there will be some anger but I don't think it would hurt their brand very much. They could always just say "because of the weakening U.S. dollar..." and I think people would get the point. Heck, even U.S. companies are doing that now.
With the US dollar this weak... (Score:5, Funny)
- RG>
Sorry. US Market no longer leading Europe (Score:5, Informative)
I hate hearing the whining of the article repeated elsewhere: "We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere." That link I just posted says Japan is #1 in sales at $11.5 B USD, Europe is #2 at $11.4 B USD and US only pulled in $10.7 B USD. So companies aren't ignoring their largest market; they're giving the leftovers to the third largest market. Deal.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
TFA talks of the North American market. Tack on the Canadian numbers to those of the US and I'm sure you'll see the total top the Japanese numbers.
Repeat after me... (Score:5, Insightful)
It always amazes me. When the dollar is strong everyone says the U.S. is loosing economic power because of trade imbalances (weak exports). When the dollar is weak and trade exports are much higher, then people claim the U.S. is loosing economic power because of the weak dollar. Obviously neither interpretation is accurate. A strong dollar can be good and bad, a weak dollar can be good and bad. In this case American video game exporters are probably benefiting from less competition from Nintendo.
Such simplistic interpretations remind me of mercantilist theory, which is similairly idiotic. Carry on.
Re:Repeat after me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Repeat after me... (Score:4, Funny)
A Simple Lesson in Global Ecomonic Reality... (Score:5, Interesting)
The US is a war-driven ecomony, which is unfortunate on many fronts, let alone creating weapons and systems that kill innocents en masse -- there's an associated brain drain, and the goods created in most cases have no material use that would enhance wealth -- but rather, these devices are designed to destroy wealth as well as human lives.
China has manufacturing capability up the ying-yang (no pun intended), and as I've stated before, if they were to choose to stop propping up the USD, the US would have far more to loose than they would. Also keep in mind the Euro markets that they could -- and probably are -- transistion to if they're smart.
No, I'm afraid this is a different situation. It might be "ok" for the dollar to have *some* weakness from time to time, but you can't tell me it would be fine if the bottom fell out on the dollar entirely.
Re:Repeat after me... (Score:4, Insightful)
Basically what it all boils down to is who has the economic growth, who has the money to support a large military, who has the money to buy off locals, and who has a compelling alternative government. A century and half ago, the powers were Spain and England. England had everything except cash and economic growth. Mosty people were kind of happy with the english way of life, and england had military power. However, due to england's lack of cash, it had to borrow money from the colonies, which meant that England was no longer a free agent. When you owe someone lots of money, you are no longer your own person.
My main disagreement with the article is that the US has been in a real position of power for 100 years. We had some success in the early 20th century, but we never made it to international status due to the robber barons which put us in a hole that we did not crawl out of until the 50's, but not really until 70's. At this point we have had two solid generations of superpower status. We are not leaders in economic growth, and the middle class which used to defined growth is becoming non existent. The weak dollar is just making the middle class even smaller. Now, the government and the populous has to borrow,and who are we borrowing from, the chinese.
One thing I heard about england is that it was not growing economically, and this what caused the loss of power. While the us is, we do not seem to be growing in such a way to increase spending and consumption. Those with median income and below has seen almost no growth in income over the past 40 years. Those with top 20% of income has seen their income jump 30% or more. Unless the economy is being based on yatchs and butlers, this is not a way to build a broad based economy.
So the way to fix the economy is socialization. Spend 2 trillion a month on a war. Create new redundant departments to spend more money. Pump money into the economy be giving away cash. Don' bother with structural changes, don't worry about money that can't be paid back, just socialize, just like britain.
Of course it is not the weak dollar that is the issue. It is the lack of discretionary income. It is the the fact that we are soon going to owe 40% of debt to foreign agents, who are now free to call us for favors, and we can no longer pressure. These facts put us back a pre-super power standing. What were the issues? Growth? We aren't on top. Debt? We owe everyone. Cash? We have none. Military? The F-22 is our cool jet, but the f-35 is yet to be built, and everything seems to be ineffective against kitchen table IEDs. The weak dollar is not the cause, but it is a symptom. We need to get serious about innovation, and serious about true fiscally conservative values.
Re:Repeat after me... (Score:4, Interesting)
One, lots and lots of countries have, over the past decades, hoarded US$ as reserve currency. They see investments of billions, in some cases trillions, of dollars rapidly deflate.
Two, the world markets have changed. Point #1 is true because for a long time you could buy anything, anywhere in the world, with US$. That's changing. Thus your devalued currency is falling not only in purchasing power, but also in reach.
And this feeds back directly to the strength and status of the US because the US is a huge importing nation. Since there's little it exports, there's little you - as a foreign country with three times your GDP bound up in US$ - can do to get rid of your rapidly declining reserve. You can buy some high-tech, and that's essentially it. The US exports too little to spend your money, and other countries aren't really interested in taking it, because they're also trying to get rid of the crap.
The net effect of that is that the US becomes less and less important as a trading partner, because what they offer - US$ - is becoming worthless slips of fancy paper that you're desperately trying to get rid of, instead of getting even more of them.
That's a lot of loss of strength and status compared to a time where most of the world was trying hard to do business with you.
Market? (Score:3, Insightful)
Just saying.
a sure sign of the decline of the usa: (Score:3, Insightful)
the very existence of this story is a sign of the decline of american society
"where's my blinking flashing noisy shiny drug!?"
you can rest assured any serious society on the move isn't obsessing over video game consoles
now go ahead, mod me a troll. prove me yet more right
Quid pro quo? (Score:3, Interesting)
What a coincidence (Score:5, Interesting)
OPEC is doing this with their oil as well.
Nobody wants dollars any more. That their value hasn't collapsed completely is due to the fact that every foreign national banking system has a vault full of dollars. Unloading them all at once would be the biggest run on the banking system you've ever seen. So oil (and many other commodity) producers 'officially' trade their product in dollars. Unless you happen to have Euros, Yuan, or some other desirable currency. Then you get a discount.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Stupid to announce it. Not so stupid to do it.
Exporters like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela may already be accepting foreign currencies for settlements. They just aren't going to advertise it. Not until they can divest themselves of most of their dollar reserves and are willing to write off the rest.
In fact, the secret discount rate for those who offer to pay in other than USD may already be significant. Its like my Club Card at Safeway. The non-member price is set higher than the club price (advertised). Als
Nothing to worry about. (Score:3, Funny)
More Wiis in Europe -> More gaming options for Europeans -> More gaming hours for Europeans -> Less working hours for Europeans -> Less, and lower quality, European goods -> Less demand for European goods on the US market -> Stronger dollar relative to the Euro.
So what's the problem?
That makes a change for once (Score:3, Interesting)
O RLY? (Score:3, Interesting)
Amazon.de has some, that's all I can find. No English versions anywhere.
I'm sure some 'leet slashdotter knows where there's a secret stash in the UK, and they may even tell me, but that doesn't change the fact that they're effectively unobtainable in the UK too.
Mexico (Score:3, Interesting)
Largest? (Score:4, Insightful)
Wiki indicates that there are approximately 495 million people[1] within the borders of the EU member states.
So America is not really "their largest market". The conversion rate is much more in favor of the EU residents.
We'll get our Wii Fits eventually, but only after people whos dollars are worth more than ours.
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
Re:Heh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heh. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Heh. (Score:5, Interesting)
I mentioned the Wiis as signifier, not as a possible spur to economic recovery, and your attempt to distract from the actual conversation by depicting it as anything else is disingenuous at best.
With that said, a tide of social programs is one possible outcome. It was a possible outcome during the Great Depression, too, but in actuality we never really recovered from that until we began to receive and benefit from economic concessions from Germany and Japan following WWII.
This time it's hard to imagine where the money is going to come from. I'd like to see the public works projects, but they couldn't even bother to go save people's lives in New Orleans. I'm just not seeing it, sorry. Seriously, where does the money come from?
I really meant blood, but I didn't want to seem overly melodramatic. On the other hand, blood is the cost of the way we do business today - do you have any idea of what percentage of the shit we buy from China is produced in government-owned-and-operated forced labor camps filled predominantly with people whose primary crime is that they were the nails sticking up the farthest and they needed laborers? People are literally put into labor camps for being Christians... where they make the plastic shit that we hang on our christmas trees.
Closer to home, though, I really don't see things changing for the better without a major upset. I hope to be wrong.
WTF? (Score:4, Interesting)
I really meant blood, but I didn't want to seem overly melodramatic. On the other hand, blood is the cost of the way we do business today - do you have any idea of what percentage of the shit we buy from China is produced in government-owned-and-operated forced labor camps filled predominantly with people whose primary crime is that they were the nails sticking up the farthest and they needed laborers? People are literally put into labor camps for being Christians... where they make the plastic shit that we hang on our christmas trees.
Excuse me for saying this, but that paragraph makes you look like an ignorant dumbass. China is booming because, surprise, surprise, they embraced capitalism, and Chinese companies work very hard and pay very low wages, and their products sell well because of the resulting low prices. China is not a free country and open your mouth and criticise the government too much and you will get arrested, but they actually have a Chinese branch of the Catholic church (the Vatican and China have resolved a lot of their differences).
The last time China put people into labour camps for being Christian was during the Cultural Revolution, about 40 years ago.
You know, if people like you would actually read the news on occasion, and pay a little attention to what's happening beyond your borders, your economy might profit as a result of that enlightening knowledge.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Here is a question for you - why is that Houston,TX which lacks zoning laws restricting industrial, commercial and residential construction to specific neighborhoods, did not [dallasfed.org] experience the boom/bust in real estate that other major cities did? And this in a city where population growth was among the highest in the nation?
Just because you think something is a good idea does not mean it is. No one person can have enough information to
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Shouldn't that have increased prices in Dallas more than the other places like Phoenix, Florida and California? Why didn't that happen?
But consolidation in the last decade has hurt the abilities of the markets to function the way they are supposed to.
Can you give a few examples of consolidation and what aspect of the workings of markets that it has hur
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The thing is, more and more businesses are actually located in those suburbs you seem to hate so much.
I grew up in a suburb of NYC, and have spent the last year living within biking distance of downtown Boston. The thing isn't that I hate suburbs specifically. I am a huge supporter of the ability to choose family-friendly suburban life over city-living.
I think we need more family-friendly city-living: more ground space saved by building high should be spent on parks and playgrounds.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I couldn't agree more. But like I said, out-of-control real estate prices are a major urban concern. Also, another reader mentioned that cheap housing has a significant impact on local crime. High-crime areas are definitely not good for families.
So in addition to parks, I think urban schools that are hands-down better than suburban options would be a boon for the "family-friendly" cities that you speak of.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It will all end on Jan 20, 2009 (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
On the contrary ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:8 Trillion in debt, it's a no brainer (Score:4, Insightful)
I can't even f#$%ng remember when I last saw gas that cheap in Europe and / or Israel. Think about it. That's roughly a dollar
And if you still think gas prices are too high, I got one word for you: Compact. The rental agency had a "mid-size" for me. A chevvy impala which could house a small indian tribe. Compact in the US is a mid-size family car everywhere else.
Not happy with the gas price? Don't buy a four ton truck that guzzles five gallons to the mile then. If all of y'all would invest less in pick up trucks with "In God we Trust" stickers on the back, you might find your gas prices quite agreeable.
Damn fools.