Value of the dollar (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20041114/ts_latimes/dollarsdeclineisreverberating)

Yeah, I know it's a week old, but whatever, I just now came across it. Now should we stop spending?

Blib, you have touched on something few people give much thought to. The problem is with the amount of spending our government is doing now, and is obligated to in the next 10 or so years, we are in trouble.
Many people do not realize that our debts, even credit card debts, are being financed with money that mostly is borrowed overseas. The trillions of dollars that we are in debt has an interest that is taking much of the national debt.
Social Security and the present medicaid-medicare system cannot continue unless changes are made.
The fact is that with the present obligations of the pork bills of the Democratic and Republican parties the changes are not coming about. Both parties are to blame. This economic problem is not a new thing, it has been approaching for years and bad decisions of those in charge of our country are to blame.
Immediate profits and political obligations have screwed the American people. It will have to be faced in the not-so-distant future. Consessions will have to be made. Belts will have to be tightened. Hard decisions will have to be made.

If I could warn you young people of one thing to consider it would have to be to plan your future economics from an early age. Do not rely on the government in any way for assistance in your older years.
The present school system will not prepare you for this, educate yourself. Another way the school system is failing our young people is not properly educating most students on just how the indepth economics of the Federal Government work so that you can make an educated choice when you vote for candidates. The past candidates have made promises without clear drawn out plans presented to the voters. This is one reason that even in the 04 election young voter turnout was not what it should have been. I am so proud of you young people that are so interested in the elections and politics of our country. The burden is placed on you guys to help stimulate your generation to take a greater interest in the future of America. Hopefully one day candidates will be available that are not mired in the 2 present parties.

The decisions that need to be made are going to be tough. The first thing we need to do is to reverse the unwise tax cuts that were passed through congress in the last four years. In a time of war, to demand tax cuts is unpatriotic.
Next, we must demand a fair valuation of China's currency. This will hurt some American corporations, who manufacture goods in China, but it must be done. If China refuses, it must be made clear to them that there will be economic consequences. While doing this, we must also be mindful that economic conflicts have been known to become military conflicts. I think it would be preferable to handle this diplomatically.
The most important thing we must do is to control spending. I hate to say it, but the biggest weakness of our democracy is that our government officials can buy votes by providing spending that isn't neccessary or wise. The people must demand that their legislators cut spending. I am not optomistic about this. I suspect that the crisis will be upon us before anything is done.