Where Have All The Yankees Gone?

[Jingthing]

Just under 2 years to go before USA starts to turn the ship around...

Gore/Obama '08

I have 20 million baht,would love to see 20 to the dollar.

Actually, this might be a good defense for Americans. Have alot of baht assets. Then, in the worse case, you could sell the baht assets and go somewhere else with a golden parachute.

[Jingthing]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

Well, the US might do fine with a WEAK dollar, and that is the subject of this thread. The only American people who suffer from a weak dollar are expats, travellers, and import companies (who can just continue to import Chinese goods which are pegged to the artificially weak yuan).

Edited February 2, 2007 by Jingthing

[dog412]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

Well, the US might do fine with a WEAK dollar, and that is the subject of this thread. The only American people who suffer from a weak dollar are expats, travellers, and import companies (who can just continue to import Chinese goods which are pegged to the artificially weak yuan).

short term you may be concerned with, fair enough. long term, i'll stick with the dollar. the present stock market has been very good to my dollars.

[Jingthing]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

Well, the US might do fine with a WEAK dollar, and that is the subject of this thread. The only American people who suffer from a weak dollar are expats, travellers, and import companies (who can just continue to import Chinese goods which are pegged to the artificially weak yuan).

short term you may be concerned with, fair enough. long term, i'll stick with the dollar. the present stock market has been very good to my dollars.

Yes, I agree a good recent runup in the US stock market.

But I really don't get your reasoning in the slightest.

Do you actually think that the US dollar will remain the dominant world reserve currency in the LONG RUN, the long run being for example 10 to 20 years from now? If so, I just don't see it. It appears the world is gradually shifting away from the dollar as the world reserve currency.

This isn't a matter of patriotism or anything rah rah, its about looking at the future of the world economy with clear vision. If trashing the dollar was unpatriotic, I guess that would make the Bush a traitor, for he has been a champion of the weak dollar policy.

Edited February 2, 2007 by Jingthing

[dog412]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

Well, the US might do fine with a WEAK dollar, and that is the subject of this thread. The only American people who suffer from a weak dollar are expats, travellers, and import companies (who can just continue to import Chinese goods which are pegged to the artificially weak yuan).

short term you may be concerned with, fair enough. long term, i'll stick with the dollar. the present stock market has been very good to my dollars.

Yes, I agree a good recent runup in the US stock market.

But I really don't get your reasoning in the slightest.

Do you actually think that the US dollar will remain the dominant world reserve currency in the LONG RUN, the long run being for example 10 to 20 years from now? If so, I just don't see it. It appears the world is gradually shifting away from the dollar as the world reserve currency.

This isn't a matter of patriotism or anything rah rah, its about looking at the future of the world economy with clear vision. If trashing the dollar was unpatriotic, I guess that would make the Bush a traitor, for he has been a champion of the weak dollar policy.

i believe the country will continue to out perform most others. china and india will have mass problems with their infrastructure and population concerns. the mid east is on it's way out, eventually, and europe and america will have a bettering of relations.also, the u.s. and australia will be in a position to be feeding a large number of the world's population.

[altman]

GWB has had at least three treasury sect'y trying to prop up the dollar. this is an indicator of his 'strong dollar' policy announced so frequently and fervently throughout his tenure. (and the backbone of free trade)

i support our president in his oft stated goals of a 'strong dollar' and 'democracy in the middle east'.

that he has been unable to achieve both is not an indicator of his failure as a man or as a president.

that he has been unable to achieve either would be an indicator of both.

[LaoPo]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

The USA is -still- by far the worlds largest pollutor...

Of all the industrial nations, the US was the only one who didn't ratify* (nor withdrew from....) the Kyoto Protocol !

*edit: and Australia as far as I know.

LaoPo

Edited February 2, 2007 by LaoPo

[dog412]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

The USA is -still- by far the worlds largest pollutor...

Of all the industrial nations, the US was the only one who didn't ratify* (nor withdrew from....) the Kyoto Protocol !

*edit: and Australia as far as I know.

LaoPo

i also disagree with kyoto protocol. why give china and india, the two most populous and fastest growing economies, a "break" when they are exactly the one's who should be investing their new found wealth in new technology.

[Jingthing]

GWB has had at least three treasury sect'y trying to prop up the dollar. this is an indicator of his 'strong dollar' policy announced so frequently and fervently throughout his tenure. (and the backbone of free trade)

i support our president in his oft stated goals of a 'strong dollar' and 'democracy in the middle east'.

that he has been unable to achieve both is not an indicator of his failure as a man or as a president.

that he has been unable to achieve either would be an indicator of both.

I guess it was inevitable that this become a political discussion.

Bush does not have a strong dollar policy. He has a weak dollar policy:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...24034_mz007.htm

Most Americans know that what comes out the current administrations mouth is the opposite of the truth. He might have said the words "strong dollar" but that has nothing to do with his actual policies. A weak dollar is the only way Bush has had to have any control of the federal deficit. How else? Stop the war, raise taxes, cut entitlements? Fat chance.

I guess 20 percent of Americans agree with you that Bush's middle east MISadventure was a good idea. Good luck with that, because your man has basically trashed his party for a generation (and thats the good news ).

Edited February 2, 2007 by Jingthing

[LaoPo]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

The USA is -still- by far the worlds largest pollutor...

Of all the industrial nations, the US was the only one who didn't ratify* (nor withdrew from....) the Kyoto Protocol !

*edit: and Australia as far as I know.

LaoPo

i also disagree with kyoto protocol. why give china and india, the two most populous and fastest growing economies, a "break" when they are exactly the one's who should be investing their new found wealth in new technology.

So you agree with GWB ? and therefore......

Apart from Japan, China and India as well as the rest of Asia are still emerging markets and need time to adjust their environmental problems which they will.

But the USA is the leading developed industrialized country in the world as well as one of the richest. They should give an example, instead they don't.

Remember that almost 60% of the worlds population live in Asia, mostly still poor countries and people...

Give them time.

LaoPo

[Jingthing]

Time to switch the talk to musings about Americans posing as monks to beg for rice if the dollar crashes; otherwise this thread is likely to get closed ...

Edited February 2, 2007 by Jingthing

[gummy]

GWB has had at least three treasury sect'y trying to prop up the dollar. this is an indicator of his 'strong dollar' policy announced so frequently and fervently throughout his tenure. (and the backbone of free trade)

i support our president in his oft stated goals of a 'strong dollar' and 'democracy in the middle east'.

that he has been unable to achieve both is not an indicator of his failure as a man or as a president.

that he has been unable to achieve either would be an indicator of both.

I guess it was inevitable that this become a political discussion.

Bush does not have a strong dollar policy. He has a weak dollar policy:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...24034_mz007.htm

Most Americans know that what comes out the current administrations mouth is the opposite of the truth. He might have said the words "strong dollar" but that has nothing to do with his actual policies. A weak dollar is the only way Bush has had to have any control of the federal deficit. How else? Stop the war, raise taxes, cut entitlements? Fat chance.

I guess 20 percent of Americans agree with you that Bush's middle east adventure was a good idea. Good luck with that, because your man has basically trashed his party for a generation (and thats the good news ).

And trashed the confidance in US foreign policy for ever, well with help of Daddy as well of course.

So I don't think it will be the weak or strong dollar that will be the driver for US folk to leave, it will be the blunt facts that they as a Nation have lost the confidance of so many nations that this will result in an "alternative to" American business dealings and hence the demise of the current strong business ties. Most probably after China becomes the strongest economic nation, predicted around 2018, it's proximity and close cultural ties to this region will further accelerate that process. Perhaps this process would have commenced even sooner had it not been for the greatest American in USA's short history, Bill Gates,who hasbeen so influential in allowing access to the worlds knowledge bank through the development of the PC and of course the Cambridge English Professor ( whose name currently escapes me ) in perceiving and developing the internet.

[Jingthing]

Bill Gates? A great businessman and now a great man for all the money he is giving away to charity. But nothing really that special about the Windows OS except for its business success.

Edited February 2, 2007 by Jingthing

[dog412]

i am not only bullish on the american future, but also on australia and europe. the sheer volumes of people in china and india, and the ensuing ecological disaster pending to occur will leave them almost uninhabitable. look at the current state of chinese cities at this early state of their development.

The USA is -still- by far the worlds largest pollutor...

Of all the industrial nations, the US was the only one who didn't ratify* (nor withdrew from....) the Kyoto Protocol !

*edit: and Australia as far as I know.

LaoPo

i also disagree with kyoto protocol. why give china and india, the two most populous and fastest growing economies, a "break" when they are exactly the one's who should be investing their new found wealth in new technology.

So you agree with GWB ? and therefore......

Apart from Japan, China and India as well as the rest of Asia are still emerging markets and need time to adjust their environmental problems which they will.

But the USA is the leading developed industrialized country in the world as well as one of the richest. They should give an example, instead they don't.

Remember that almost 60% of the worlds population live in Asia, mostly still poor countries and people...

Give them time.

LaoPo

the chinese have plenty of surplus money that they prefer to invest in "safe" u.s. treasury bills, instead of "risking" in R&D. much easier for them to let the west to do that. compare the productivity of the u.s., particularity in the sciences and high tech industry's, and maybe the u.s. would be looked at in a more favorable light. we do not have a billion people struggling to emerge. take a look at the present offshore environment of china, and just maybe the consequences of a billion people will show through.

[Sakeopete]

This may be a dumb question, but if the worlds largest economy currency were to crash where would Asia find a market to sell there goods? What would happen to their currencies?

They have enough people to sell in their own market I suppose.

There are lots of markets with 300 million overspending consumers out there to take up the slack. Barely a blip on the radar

Correct me if I'm wrong but the US is Asia's biggest export market if they lose that who in Asia will take up the slack when they have no jobs because of their factories closures. Also consider that China and India have huge populations but only a small domestic market. The vast majority of their populations live in poverty. Europe would certainly go in recesion as they also depend on the US economy for trade. I'm not an economist so plz bear with my speculations I could be wrong.

[dog412]

GWB has had at least three treasury sect'y trying to prop up the dollar. this is an indicator of his 'strong dollar' policy announced so frequently and fervently throughout his tenure. (and the backbone of free trade)

i support our president in his oft stated goals of a 'strong dollar' and 'democracy in the middle east'.

that he has been unable to achieve both is not an indicator of his failure as a man or as a president.

that he has been unable to achieve either would be an indicator of both.

I guess it was inevitable that this become a political discussion.

Bush does not have a strong dollar policy. He has a weak dollar policy:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...24034_mz007.htm

Most Americans know that what comes out the current administrations mouth is the opposite of the truth. He might have said the words "strong dollar" but that has nothing to do with his actual policies. A weak dollar is the only way Bush has had to have any control of the federal deficit. How else? Stop the war, raise taxes, cut entitlements? Fat chance.

I guess 20 percent of Americans agree with you that Bush's middle east adventure was a good idea. Good luck with that, because your man has basically trashed his party for a generation (and thats the good news ).

And trashed the confidance in US foreign policy for ever, well with help of Daddy as well of course.

So I don't think it will be the weak or strong dollar that will be the driver for US folk to leave, it will be the blunt facts that they as a Nation have lost the confidance of so many nations that this will result in an "alternative to" American business dealings and hence the demise of the current strong business ties. Most probably after China becomes the strongest economic nation, predicted around 2018, it's proximity and close cultural ties to this region will further accelerate that process. Perhaps this process would have commenced even sooner had it not been for the greatest American in USA's short history, Bill Gates,who hasbeen so influential in allowing access to the worlds knowledge bank through the development of the PC and of course the Cambridge English Professor ( whose name currently escapes me ) in perceiving and developing the internet.

i can only hope your profound respect of the chinese exceeding your disgust with the americans proves true for you. i,however, have no doubts that you're ancestor's will eventually be singing a different tune. my opinion only.

[britmaveric]

This may be a dumb question, but if the worlds largest economy currency were to crash where would Asia find a market to sell there goods? What would happen to their currencies?

They have enough people to sell in their own market I suppose.

There are lots of markets with 300 million overspending consumers out there to take up the slack. Barely a blip on the radar

Correct me if I'm wrong but the US is Asia's biggest export market if they lose that who in Asia will take up the slack when they have no jobs because of their factories closures. Also consider that China and India have huge populations but only a small domestic market. The vast majority of their populations live in poverty. Europe would certainly go in recesion as they also depend on the US economy for trade. I'm not an economist so plz bear with my speculations I could be wrong.

Spot on!!!

[LaoPo]

This may be a dumb question, but if the worlds largest economy currency were to crash where would Asia find a market to sell there goods? What would happen to their currencies?

They have enough people to sell in their own market I suppose.

There are lots of markets with 300 million overspending consumers out there to take up the slack. Barely a blip on the radar

Correct me if I'm wrong but the US is Asia's biggest export market if they lose that who in Asia will take up the slack when they have no jobs because of their factories closures. Also consider that China and India have huge populations but only a small domestic market. The vast majority of their populations live in poverty. Europe would certainly go in recesion as they also depend on the US economy for trade. I'm not an economist so plz bear with my speculations I could be wrong.

Spot on!!!

If it only was that simple...

If you need real figures (2005) about Major Importers - Major Exporters and Major Trader Partners, study this:

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006...adoc_122529.pdf

The world is no longer about the USA, Europe or Asia....it's a Global world. I wish more people start understanding that.

There is no country anymore able to survive on its own without the other -trade/business with rest of the world- and that includes the US, Europe and Asia with almost 60% of the worlds population.

A lot of people in the world are 'afraid' of the unknown (China, India etc.) but.....if you can't beat them, join them.

A lot of US/EU/Canadian/Australian companies do....

If the demand of the Western countries wasn't so high, the Asian countries wouldn't produce so much.

Remember it is not the Asian countries selling so much...it's the Western world buying/demanding so much.

Believe me, the vast majority of Asian companies -staff- do not even speak proper English or not at all; in December I visited 10-15 factories/producers in China; only 2 (!) had 1 girl speaking reasonable English....

It's the consumers/buyers creating the demand not the producers, but of course they're more than happy to fulfill the demand.

And why would we, the rich westerners, not agree with a better lifestyle of the poor in Asia...?

LaoPo

[NovaBlue05]

This may be a dumb question, but if the worlds largest economy currency were to crash where would Asia find a market to sell there goods? What would happen to their currencies?

They have enough people to sell in their own market I suppose.

There are lots of markets with 300 million overspending consumers out there to take up the slack. Barely a blip on the radar

Correct me if I'm wrong but the US is Asia's biggest export market if they lose that who in Asia will take up the slack when they have no jobs because of their factories closures. Also consider that China and India have huge populations but only a small domestic market. The vast majority of their populations live in poverty. Europe would certainly go in recesion as they also depend on the US economy for trade. I'm not an economist so plz bear with my speculations I could be wrong.

Spot on!!!

Yes, Im not a global economics genius like many on the forum but that would essentially be my take on it as well.

[gummy]

This may be a dumb question, but if the worlds largest economy currency were to crash where would Asia find a market to sell there goods? What would happen to their currencies?

They have enough people to sell in their own market I suppose.

There are lots of markets with 300 million overspending consumers out there to take up the slack. Barely a blip on the radar

Correct me if I'm wrong but the US is Asia's biggest export market if they lose that who in Asia will take up the slack when they have no jobs because of their factories closures. Also consider that China and India have huge populations but only a small domestic market. The vast majority of their populations live in poverty. Europe would certainly go in recesion as they also depend on the US economy for trade. I'm not an economist so plz bear with my speculations I could be wrong.

Spot on!!!

If it only was that simple...

If you need real figures (2005) about Major Importers - Major Exporters and Major Trader Partners, study this:

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006...adoc_122529.pdf

The world is no longer about the USA, Europe or Asia....it's a Global world. I wish more people start understanding that.

There is no country anymore able to survive on its own without the other -trade/business with rest of the world- and that includes the US, Europe and Asia with almost 60% of the worlds population.

A lot of people in the world are 'afraid' of the unknown (China, India etc.) but.....if you can't beat them, join them.

A lot of US/EU/Canadian/Australian companies do....

If the demand of the Western countries wasn't so high, the Asian countries wouldn't produce so much.

Remember it is not the Asian countries selling so much...it's the Western world buying/demanding so much.

Believe me, the vast majority of Asian companies -staff- do not even speak proper English or not at all; in December I visited 10-15 factories/producers in China; only 2 (!) had 1 girl speaking reasonable English....

It's the consumers/buyers creating the demand not the producers, but of course they're more than happy to fulfill the demand.

And why would we, the rich westerners, not agree with a better lifestyle of the poor in Asia...?

LaoPo

What the devil has speaking good English got to do with it - The French still can't !!!

[britmaveric]

Problem with China and India - population is out of control and in the end this will be their economic downfall.

[Khun ?]

Asia's complexities are so vast hard to tell what is just more than a boom, bust cycle in the works.

About the only noteable countries in the region that has ethics worth putting long term trust in

is those not in emerging economies. The rest relie much on greed, corruption and unethical

practices that will catch up with them in time, with the boom bust moving between emerging economies.

If you can try to keep about a years worth of local currency and top it up when you think the rates

look good and let your money managers back home take care of keeping up with what is safe

investments. Easy to hedge against a weak dollar and using good or regulated brokerages back

home should keep you in pace with the world movements.

Many bigger companies are doing well in foreign markets and more and more of their earnings are diviserfied from the dollars drop. I can tell you my investments in the last 5 years are up well over

100% and being well diversified the world over. Nothing wrong with just staying ahead of inflation

and growing things safe and slow.

I would advise staying away from these wild eyed know the world and the dollars a ticking time bomb

promoters that have been saying the same thing over and over for years. They may be right some day

just not most days.

Those that get their income from a U.S. dollar source probably get 10 x the locals anyways so use a little common sense. If you can put up with the crime, corruption and creme of the crop foreigners Thailand attracts you will do fine with the currency fluctuations also.

Just my 2 satang worthless unprofessional advise

[LaoPo]

Problem with China and India - population is out of control and in the end this will be their economic downfall.

...and ours.

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

What the devil has speaking good English got to do with it - The French still can't !!!

I don't know about the devil but English is the world -business- language.

If the Chinese -business- people start to learn English, and the vast majority still don't.....beware, because than they will start selling not just producing. Lenovo is a good example (former IBM PC's) they will conquer the world; watch them !

It's funny because I see a parallel here.

3, 4 decades ago the whole world, including the US/Europe was screaming the same nonsense about the Japanese.

They were just copying, producing too cheap and so forth but they learned fast, very fast.

I hear nobody anymore about Japan.....but they took a very large piece of the pie in the US, Europe as well as Asia; cars, audio, video you name it. They bought important US/EU companies and buildings, Film companies, Music companies, Real estate companies; I could go on.

I hear nobody on this forum about Japan....

It's China/India 'bashing' now and yes they are much larger but we have to live with them, one way or another.

You better prepare; you can't win from the Asian giants, no way.

If there will be an economical downfall, whether in the US, Europe, Asia or combined, the whole world will suffer tremendously, including you and me.

Better safe some money.....the Chinese -families- belong to the world largest safers, just for your info.

LaoPo

Edited February 2, 2007 by LaoPo

[TRIPxCORE]

What the devil has speaking good English got to do with it - The French still can't !!!

I don't know about the devil but English is the world -business- language.

If the Chinese -business- people start to learn English, and the vast majority still don't.....beware, because than they will start selling not just producing. Lenovo is a good example (former IBM PC's) they will conquer the world; watch them !

It's funny because I see a parallel here.

3, 4 decades ago the whole world, including the US/Europe was screaming the same nonsense about the Japanese.

They were just copying, producing too cheap and so forth but they learned fast, very fast.

I hear nobody anymore about Japan.....but they took a very large piece of the pie in the US, Europe as well as Asia; cars, audio, video you name it. They bought important US/EU companies and buildings, Film companies, Music companies, Real estate companies; I could go on.

I hear nobody on this forum about Japan....

It's China/India 'bashing' now and yes they are much larger but we have to live with them, one way or another.

You better prepare; you can't win from the Asian giants, no way.

If there will be an economical downfall, whether in the US, Europe, Asia or combined, the whole world will suffer tremendously, including you and me.

Better safe some money.....the Chinese -families- belong to the world largest safers, just for your info.

LaoPo

By golly, I concur.

[LaoPo]

By golly, I concur.

Can't tel if that's ironic or sarcastic...

I see a lot of 'fear' with many people about China/India because these countries are so big with so many people but I think that fear comes from non-know-how. I don't know anything about India but China so much better and left many footsteps there in some 30 years but also, businesswise, in Thailand. The differences between the latter two are enormous.

I saw and witnessed the enormous changes in both countries but have sadly to say that LOS missed the boat in my opinion. Why ? that's a complete other story.

But the Chinese work so unbelievable hard that it is unheard of in the Western world. Phoning/mailing/Skype-ing your contacts late in the evening -local time-, on Saturday or Sunday is normal and accepted. They are so eager to do their best to deliver a good product that they will go till the limit.

That's not just my experience but also from business relations from Germany, UK, USA and Sweden. Nevertheless they still make mistakes and sometimes a lot, also due to language barriers, but, they're willing to learn and improve.

I witnessed not so long ago a VIP/CEO from a German company arranging a meeting at 9.00 AM in the morning......on Sunday.... Everybody was there.

Where is that done in the Western world ?

On the other hand: a Thai top-businessman once told me: "You Westerners don't know how to live"....(he plays Golf 3 or 4 times per week, and I don't...)

Maybe he's right.

Moral of the story? We, Westerners, should learn to accept that we are not always right...

LaoPo

[1Lucky]

I appreciate that this may not apply to the poster individually but frankly the American population voted for george bush, they they unbelievably re-elected him (apparently, inter alia, on the basis of 'moral values'). They know his approach to economics and penchant for spending huge amounts of dollars on wars opposed by most of the world's population. Americans are now reaping the benefits of who they chose as their president and the person they should be complaining about is (a) him and ( them for reelecting him. If American's suffer for their choices (rather than just Iraqi's, Afghanis, etc.) then I for one am not going to lose a great deal of sleep over it.

Lucky

Edited February 3, 2007 by 1Lucky

[Ulysses G.]

Now where is that "Yawn" emoticon?

[pampal]

As India and China grow, so do their domestic markets.

Why are American and European firms trying so hard to have a presence in China?

As the domestic Chinese and Indian markets grow, the demand of the US for Chinese exports will be replaced by a massive market in China and India. The US market will pale in comparison, so yes a large amount of Chinese exports go to the US but it's the Chinese that are financing this by  their acquisition of US treasury bills. If the Chineses stop buying these Treasury bills, the US will be severely affected.

[Jingthing]

I appreciate that this may not apply to the poster individually but frankly the American population voted for george bush, they they unbelievably re-elected him (apparently, inter alia, on the basis of 'moral values'). They know his approach to economics and penchant for spending huge amounts of dollars on wars opposed by most of the world's population. Americans are now reaping the benefits of who they chose as their president and the person they should be complaining about is (a) him and ( them for reelecting him. If American's suffer for their choices (rather than just Iraqi's, Afghanis, etc.) then I for one am not going to lose a great deal of sleep over it.

Lucky

1Lucky, well, a good portion of Bush's opposition party will always believe that his first election was stolen. And Al Gore did receive a majority of the votes. Also consider, Bush first ran on a fiscally conservative anti-nation building agenda (he lied).

As far as the second election, I agree there is no excuse except for the Twinkie defense (too many Americans eat chemically foods and their brains are damaged). However, slow as the American people can be, they now have caught on big time, and Bush enjoys some of the lowest approval ratings in American history. But we are still stuck with him? Why? Because, the US system has no "no confidence" option to unseat a disastrous leader. I don't think Americans, pro Bush or not, really expect sympathy from other countries for the fruits of their follies. So sweet dreams!

Twinkies, popular American mal-food, shelf life over 1000 years

Edited February 3, 2007 by Jingthing