For a long time our economy has not been backed by gold, but then again, neither are the economies of many other nations. This allows the American government to print as much money as it wants to or needs to.
The United States Dollar has been declining in value for the last few years. It used to be that Canadian money required conversion to USD because of the extreme difference. Folks, that difference is so close most people in Canada do the calculation in their head.
Compared to the Euro the USD is royally fucked. In 2003 they traded evenly. Now the dollar is worth .75 Euros. That means if you could afford a $1,000,000 house in the US, you can only afford a $750,000 house in Europe.
Our dollar is even sliding against the Russian Rouble! Granted the Rouble still ain't worth shit but in 2003 a dollar bought roughly 31.5 roubles, now it is 25.5. That is a decline of 16%.
The only currency we are above is the Japanese Yen because of their own troubles.
Why don't news agencies report this info to you? Because if they did the owners of those agencies would lose a ton of money. Billionaires own the news agencies and if they accurately reported how fucked America is financially right now everyone would stop spending and hoard their money. That would put us into a huge recession and that in turn would devalue the stock market and the dollar further. And thus those billionaires would lose billions.
So they don't you... this spreads the decline over time. They don't go from billionaire to millionaire over night.
So why am I telling you this? I tell you this because other countries are getting fed up... Our gas price is up not because of hurricanes or Middle Eastern tension... it is up because our dollar is worth less so they have to charge us more for the gas. Your gas price will never go down until our economy improves.
Price of gas, set it to 5 years. Notice how it goes up along with the decline of the dollar since 2003.
War didn't drive up your gas price or it would have went down since Saddam was captured and hanged. It went up because your dollar is worth less to a middle easterner. When he goes to Europe on vacation with your dollar he is appalled at how little it pays for. So he charges you more for the oil.
Debt curve
Notice here what Clinton was doing... Making the debt swing back down... And then notice what Bush has been doing... Extreme rise in debt.
IF YOU VOTED FOR BUSH YOU ARE AN IDIOT!
Carry on...