Sure, right now shopping in the United States is a real bargain in many cases. Clothing especially - only a week ago (when I was still in Columbus) I was able to buy clothes for prices which I wouldn't even get second-hand for the same price here in Germany (though to my surprise, food costs about the same, despite the favorable exchange rate).

But I think that at least the more educated Europeans realize that the United States have a lot of culture to offer. Sure, their history doesn't go as far back as ours. But they have culturally dominated the world for much of the 20th century, and that kind of stuff just doesn't go away overnight.

Though it's true that the world is slowly (but not rapidly) shifting to a post-American stage. Hey, Europe is no longer the center of the world, so it's not surprising that the same is happening to the USA as well, almost a century later. Eventually China will peak as well. It's just the way of the world that no global dominance lasts forever...

Oh, and:

Americans "have spare time on their hands"? How do you manage to pull that off, with only two weeks of vacation? ;)

Your right that it is not that bad, but not because it is cyclical and we are in the waning stages of American economic influence. Much of the decrease in our economy is overblown (we still have not has consecutive decreases in GDP) and people's reaction and perception is clouded by stories such as this one. True, the dollar is weak at the moment, but there is no market more prone to fluctuation then currency. Once we navigate through our housing issues - which are being slowed by initiatives that put off the foreclosure pain - our interest rates, and thus our currency, issues will even themselves out.

Matthew Damone opines: the dollar is weak at the moment, but there is no market more prone to fluctuation then currency. Once we navigate through our housing issues - which are being slowed by initiatives that put off the foreclosure pain - our interest rates, and thus our currency, issues will even themselves out.

LeRoy: The dollar is weak at the moment?!? The dollar has been declining almost continuously for the better part of the last eight years. Not coincidentally, the decline began almost at the moment when George W. Bush became President. The decline is not being caused by temporary problems, but by the overall level of indebtedness, and the lack of national saving, in the United States: by our chronic trade deficits and our growing budget deficits and by the propensity of the American consuming public to put everything on their credit cards. I believe the reasoning in your last sentence is backwards: I do not believe we will 'navigate through our housing issues' until Mr. Bernanke backs up his tough talk on inflation by raising interest rates. Only then will the housing bubble be decisively burst, and the housing market find its true bottom. His policy of slashing the Fed funds rate by 325 basis points over the course of less than a year is what has prevented that price discovery process from completing its course; and perhaps that policy was even intended as a desperate rear-guard attempt to re-inflate the housing bubble.

If the dollar began declining at almost the exact moment GW took office (as you claim) - that would imply that the economic issues are Clinton's fault - not GW's. I don't believe either to be true however. Our economic woes are the result of poor policy stemming all the way back to the Great Depression.

Being a negative nancy like you must be thoroughly depressing at times. If the economy does collapse - it will due to the efforts of people like yourself.

If the dollar began declining at almost the exact moment GW took office (as you claim) - that would imply that the economic issues are Clinton's fault - not GW's.

The dollar actually peaked 12 months into GWBush's first term, and not as Leroy implied, in January, 2001. The strong value of the dollar was justified in the later Clinton years by the very strong performance of the stock market and American tech companies in particular, though some of this was no doubt overstated and euphoric. The market (and the dollar) was bound to correct. But we have witnessed a decline of nearly 40% in the trade weighted value of the dollar since February, 2002--which is much larger than the next largest decline of any post-1971 administration (Nixon's). Nixon only oversaw a decline of about 15% to GWBush's 38%. The reasons for the decline are pretty much as Leroy outlined.

Hope you can deal with it.

The dollar hitting a peak 12 months into Bush would make sense.

Clinton (a raging liberal) was fiscally conservative and was paying down the debt.

By 12 months in, it was clear that Bush (a "conservative") was going to run up a huge credit card bill.

America needs a fiscal conservative. It doesn't matter if they are socially liberal or conservative at this point.

And no- we are not at the end of the world- but 20 years of spendthrift republicans since 1988 have severely overdrawn the bank account.

As a raging liberal, I was never aware that Bill Clinton was a raging liberal.

After all, it was not until about a year of the Bush administration had passed that it became obvious that we were headed back into a period of large budget deficits.

But, by golly, that shoulda been obvious from even before Bush took the oath of office!

I think Maxo is being ironic here, Phil.

Clinton had the reputation among Republicans and the Rightwing pundit machine of being an extreme liberal and baby-killer besides being a fornicator and murderer (e.g., Vince Foster).

That Bill Clinton feller was some kinda Godless Commie! Shoot, he tried to put homos in the Army! He chose hisself a pagan tree-huggin' enviro-Nazi Vice Presidunt! He was a reprobait, a prevert, and a cereal fournicater!

Fer Chrissakes, how much more evedence do you want?