What in the world does that have to do with a declining dollar?

I don't know.

But I found this cool online inflation calculator.

$100 dollars in 1913 had the purchasing power of $2,138 dollars in 2008.

CPI Inflation Calculator

__________________
Gary Spicuzza, *SAFE
Copyright 1956.
No Rights Reserved.
*Self Appointed Financial Expert

I thought I was the only one who missed something.

Is it that the dollar is losing its value because the central bank is partially owned by foreigners?

it is my limited understanding that the federal reserve lends money to the US with interest. they also either print fresh money themselves or tell other people when and how much money to print.

there was no inflation in the US until the federal reserve came to be.

The bank is not really owned by foreigners. The U.S. relies on other nations to buy our debts in the form of bonds and such through the Fed. It isn't really owned by anyone although banks may hold stock in the Fed. Stock in the federal reserve bank is different. It doesn't permit ownership qualities.

I learned the textbook definition of the Fed thanks to my econ minor.
The fed is the bank for the USA and therefore it is also the bank of banks. Basically, their job is to prevent financial panics. They regulate and supervise banks. They are supposed to keep things stable such as: interest rates(more specifically long term), high employment, stable prices(like inflation), economic growth through the use of monetary policy.

There is a board of governors who are top notch economists and Ben Bernanke is the chairman.

There are many areas of the fed that needs to be critically examined by those with bigger brains.

Politics and monetary policy is supposed to be separate but I think most of us know that isn't truly possible.

Why are the fed governors appointed by the senate and president?

Secrecy withing the fed.

The Fed doesn't let the free market work itself out by controlling supply and demand.

The perceived worth of the Fed is always being doubted and criticized.

The Fed keeps printing money at an alarming rate without plainly disclosing it to the public.

The Fed is the cause of the business cycle.

There is a lot to cover about this topic and a search would be much more beneficial.

The dollar is basically declining due to the continued growth of the deficit. I think of it as a snowball effect when it comes to currency shifts. Investors ,esp foreigners, pull money out of the U.S. treasury and invest it mainly in Europe and Asia only to have more investors take their business elsewhere as a result of the devaluation. The rest of the world has been experiencing a lot of growth and thats where the money is flowing.

It doesn't help that oil producing nations threaten to accept euros over the dollar either. It's a political and an economic move.

Multinationals based out of the U.S. benefit from the falling dollar since the money converted back into dollars that were earned elsewhere is converted into more dollars. It's just like the treasury investment scenario.

Exports also rise.

This is such a great big topic.

New sales data in the US led to a strong wall street rally indicating a US recession could be shorter and less painful.

And no one is doing anything to stop the dollar from falling any further. What is the motivation by our govt to allow the dollar to go into free fall? I don't get it. Borrowing more and more money to fund the war isn't helping any.

How can the dollar free-fall be stopped when so many new dollars are being printed all the time and interest rates have been slashed? It is the falling rates and excessive dollar printing that cheapen the buck and there is no sign anywhere that I can see this changing. As our rates fall, money (which is incredibly mobile these days) simply moves elsewhere to earn higher interest rates.

Although a gold standard currency is not a panacea, it DID have one redeeming feature: no one in government could wave a pen and create more gold! You either had it or you did not. There was no "creative financing", derivitives, or other fiat money hocus-pocus schemes. In 1870, you could buy a Colt .45 pistol for a $20 US gold piece. Today, you still can. Inflation? Not really. Just the difference between REAL and fiat money being revealed.

Nice post Ed_B! You have taken dead aim!

Especially about the printing of money and purchasing power.

Exactly!

One concept I don't think is ever layed out adequately enough is the amount of work a person had to do in 1870 to earn $20 to buy that Colt .45 pistol is the same amount of work they'd do today except the pistol today costs $427.

This reminds of when the Gubment always wants to raise the minimum wage for political votes. Go ahead, raise the minimum wage to $100 dollars per hour. It doesn't matter economically or mathematically every thing else will go up right along with the increased cost of labor and the hamburger flipper will be in no better financial position at $100 dollars per hour as he was at $7.00 dollars per hour.

My 2 cents which costs 43 cents today!

__________________
Gary Spicuzza, *SAFE
Copyright 1956.
No Rights Reserved.
*Self Appointed Financial Expert

[quote=GarySpicuzza;7502]

This reminds of when the Gubment always wants to raise the minimum wage for political votes. Go ahead, raise the minimum wage to $100 dollars per hour. It doesn't matter economically or mathematically every thing else will go up right along with the increased cost of labor and the hamburger flipper will be in no better financial position at $100 dollars per hour as he was at $7.00 dollars per hour.
/quote]


The minimum wage discussion just brings up a whole bunch of topics in itself. I think it hits up the small business owners to fund social welfare which in turns allows big business to eat up the small business competition or gain further control over the small businesses.

I want to know why the media doesn't have more stories front and center about the dollar's strength in relation to the the price of oil.

Sir, You could not be more correct............Great answer. Regards, Robert

there are alot of factors why dollar is declining..
some of it are, political instability, deficit, bad economic strategy and so on..

The dollar's declining due to several neighborhood kids who get together and cause trouble at the bus stop. They are the mortgage industry implosion, rising national deficit, rising trade imbalance, and Federal Reserve rate cuts.

When the real estate and lending industries stabilize, when we stop financing US acitivities through foreign investments, when we export more than we import, when we stop cutting lending interest rates, when wage increases outpace the rate of inflation, when bigger investors put their money in the US stock markets rather than hedging with commodities, then, maybe, our dollar will begin to level out and increase its exchange rate.

Essentially, that is why gas is $3.40 a gallon.

But, generally, our dollar is declining because we spend more than we take in. The dollars that we print to cover our debts are just not worth as much.