Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "The Day (New London, Connecticut)
Sobering Economic News
The next time anyone tells you the economy is getting stronger, take these facts into account:
The dollar has fallen by 31 percent in value versus the euro since 2002. ...
Some analysts expect the dollar to lose almost another 10 percent versus the euro, so it would take $1.40 dollars to equal a euro. They expect the dollar to fall against the Japanese yen, too.
The U.S. budget deficit is now 3.5 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product and the trade deficit is worse, at 6.3 percent of GDP. Together, the deficits are about to exceed $1 trillion annualized. ,,,
Stocks, measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 2.6 percent in the first quarter of the year, compared with 0.9 percent in the same period last year.
The central banks of Asian countries, notably China and Japan, now hold $1 trillion in dollar-denominated reserves. ...
This is what the great Bush policy of tax cuts and spending increases have visited on the American people: a sputtering economy, huge budget and trade deficits and a dollar worth much less than before."