America's Superpower Status Coming To An End 559

No -it is preoccupied with existent oil fields in Iraq (the 2nd largest after saudi arabia). If you have seen Condi Rice's reaction on CNN about the Iraq war -she is all smiles on how things have gone and she used to work at Chevron Texaco before joining GWB's cabinet. Its another story that keeping the oil flowing requires huge sums of taxpayer money -and that could bring a wave of economic problems similar to that which Vietnam brought.

If purchasing power could create middle clbutt jobs, then a shooting dollar should have created a lot more jobs instead of shedding them. Since the 1970s when Nixon decoupled the USD from the gold standard -the USD has been appreciating with disastorours consequences, first for the manufacturing sector and then the services sector.

Yeah -but only one (S. Korea) has announced a mbuttive diversification. The rest would do it without announcing to stay ahead of the curve.

doing which will end up as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, they are trying to find ways to put their USD reserves to use. eg;- when Japan had a huge trade surplus in the 1980s -they bought a ton of golf courses in the US. Likewise, China is buying a ton of mortage securities in the US.

Being the reserve currency has nothing to do with any disaster. If there is a disaster, it has to do with the deficit and a lack of comparative advantage. Meaning why would a company invest in creating jobs in the US if it can be done for less elsewhere? The swiss franc is also akin to a reserve currency. They won't be facing the problem the US has -because they do a better job at managing their economy.

and that makes american goods more compebreastive putting more americans to work.

Yeah -the real estate prices in the US are unsustainable.

It is losing its ability to attract FDI because other countries provide investors with more attractive returns.

That is a short term result of globalization.

If anyway americans are willing to work for min wage, why bring in H1Bs?

it sounds the rest kneel for the USD. When a country's economy deteriorates -its currency loses sheen. It means americans will be able to afford fewer imported goods, and their std of living will drop. That might help in attracting employers to hire americans.

The pressure on wages is downward because the cost of living elsewhere is less than the US. It doesn't have anything to do illegals. Meaning illegals wouldn't be in the US in the first place if it weren't for the exchange rate which allows then to save a dime in the US and translate that into tremendous buying power at home.

If imported goods become costlier, it will give rise to more "made cheaper in the USA" products.

If US labour becomes cheaper, more of it will become financially viable in relation to manpower in other countries to be put to work. This author is really a loony economist.

The Iraq war -if it does continue for the next 10 yrs as many american experts have predicted, would suffice to drive the US govt broke.

America's living standards can improve either if it strikes oil it has -but at a prohibitive price in Iraq or if it brings about a drastic increase in productivity.

looks like they have managed to strike a few bargains recently. Geopolitics is about give-and-take. The neocons wanted to take everything and give nothing -which is why they were isolated.

regards -kamal