Geithner can say whatever he wants, but he doesnt price the dollar against foreign currencies- the world market does.
Theoretically, if you have infinite borrowing power, you could "support" the dollar when it fell against, say, the euro or the yuan.
We DONT have infinite borrowing power.
So its all a lot of hot air.
The dollar will do what the dollar wants to do.
nobody can stop it.
And it will not be universal, against all other currencies the same percentage, or even ALL up, or ALL down.
Some countries currencies will go up or down differently and at different times.
For instance, I go to Argentina a lot, and, in the last 4 years, the US dollar has been going UP against the Argentine peso. As it has against a few other oddball currencies around the world, while it is simultaneously going down against the euro and the yuan.
People have been complaining for years that the Chinese artificially hold the value of the yuan too LOW against the dollar- now, for the last couple of years, they have been letting it float more, and it has gone up- and the same people are now complaining about the declining value of the dollar.
Its a very complicated world market, and if the dollar goes down against some (but not all) currencies, both good and bad things will happen simultaneously- certain american exports will be cheaper to other countries- and, since we export over $1 Trillion a year, you can expect to see american job growth, at places like Boeing, Cat, John Deere, GM and Ford, Haas, and other big american exporters.
as motion guru mentioned, the costs of some imports will go up- which will make some american companies more competitive here, as well.
some prices will go up, and we will have to pay more- especially for things like oil, I would guess. other prices will go down, and, until it happens, its extremely hard to predict which things will go up, and which down, and how that will affect our economy and job situation.
Anybody who tells you its black and white, simple and obvious, is smoking wacky tobaccy.
And Anyone who tells you we can somehow control it, is also on the weed- we just simply dont have anywhere near enough money to buy dollars and support the price, if the world market decides to devalue it.
and the dollar is worthless.
