U.S. in role of wounded giant at Davos

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U.S. in role of wounded giant at Davos

Submitted by Rob Richards on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 4:52pm.

George Soros, the financier, said Wednesday at Davos that the U.S. downturn would end the status of the dollar as the world's default currency. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News)

DAVOS, Switzerland: The United States has filled various roles at the World Economic Forum over the past decade: dot-com dynamo, benevolent superpower, feared aggressor, and now, wounded giant.

On the first day of this conference, a parade of bankers, economists, and political officials expressed deep fears about the faltering American economy, peppered with blunt criticism of its institutions, chiefly the Federal Reserve, which some accused of sowing the seeds of today's crisis.

George Soros, the financier who made a fortune betting against the pound, went so far Wednesday as to say that the downturn would put an end to the long status of the dollar as the world's default currency.

"The current crisis is not only the bust that follows the housing boom," Soros said. "It's basically the end of a 60-year period of continuing credit expansion based on the dollar as the reserve currency."

Read more at International Herald Tribune

Rob Richards's blog
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We could be witnessing

Submitted by Guglielmo on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 5:11pm.

the beginning of the end of US economic hegegomy. The beginning of the end, that is. We still wield enormous power and influence in world markets, but it is certainly beginning to slip. It's a shame. Looks like we missed our opportunity to even the playing field by encouraging other nations to abide by labor laws and regulatory practices that aree more in line with ours. So it appears we even out-sourced our petard.

We may be better than some, but we're still worse than others.

Submitted by Rob Richards on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 5:35pm.

Read about The Taft-Hartley Act and you'll see how workers have had their hands tied by our government. But this is off topic.

Never meant to imply we are a gold standard

Submitted by Guglielmo on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 5:43pm.

but compared to China, Brazil, etc.

I know, labor is one of my soft spots.

Submitted by Rob Richards on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 6:12pm.

Interesting

Submitted by Rob Richards on Wed, 01/23/2008 - 5:13pm.

I find Soros' remarks interesting, I've heard many political analysts (such as Pat Buchanan) predicting that we're coming up quickly on the end of America's superpower status as we know it. This is the first time I've heard an economist project the same.

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