When the world's richest man bets against the dollar, it's time to pay attention.

Microsoft's Gates, World's Richest Man, Bets Against the Dollar

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gates, the world's richest person with a net worth of $46.6 billion, is betting against the U.S. dollar.

``I'm short the dollar,'' Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., told Charlie Rose in an interview in front of an audience of about 200 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``The ol' dollar, it's gonna go down.''

Gates's comments reflect the same view as his friend Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has bet against the currency since 2002. Buffett said last week that the country's trade gap will probably further weaken the dollar, which fell 21 percent against a basket of six major currencies between January 2002 and the end of last year.

``It is a bit scary,'' Gates said. ``We're in uncharted territory when the world's reserve currency has so much outstanding debt.''

The U.S. is borrowing to finance record budget and trade deficits. Total U.S. government debt stood at $7.62 trillion as of Jan. 27, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are betting aginst the dollar. As Dubbyuh's ruinous economic polices and reckless foreign policies continue to drive up both the foreign trade and federal budget deficits, the dollar continues to slide. This despite rhetoric from John Snow that the Administration is taking action to strengthen the dollar.

With the US borrowing some $2 billion a day to finance it's debt, one can only wonder when the world markets will be saturated with US debt. Indications are that this is already happening as China has cut its holdings of US debt as well as Russia. European central banks are drawing down their dollar holdings in favor of the euro and many asian central banks are aso drawing down their dollar holdings in favor of the basket of currencies reflecting foreign trade.

Yet our American Nero continues to fiddle. Dubbyuh does nothing...aside from making vague, reassuring noises that fewer and fewer people are willing to pay heed to. How long it takes for the bubble to burst remains to be seen. But when it does, those of us who aren't in that top 5% income bracket will be the one left to foot the bill.

Dubbyuh and his Merry Band: Head in the sand...? Or, up their asses...?

In its report, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2005, the world body said on Tuesday that the twin budget and trade deficits of the United States were throwing the global economy off balance.
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It echoed warnings already issued by the International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions in saying that the United States cannot continue to maintain such huge debts. - The International Herald Tribune

Despite growing alarm in the world-wide economic community, the Bush administration has failed to even begin to address the issues of trade and budget deficits. The warning signs are all around us...A dollar in free-fall...European central banks shifting more of their assets out of US currency and bond markets...Murmurs, increasingly loud, from asian markets that it is becoming increasing difficult to maintain the dollar as their reserve currency...China and Japan muttering darkly about selling their dollars while they still can.

All of these things add up to a financial disaster in the offing, but our American Nero fiddles on. His ideologically driven agenda supercedes any other concerns, which may be of more pressing importance...He can't even take the time to honor the memory of 31 troops killed in a helo crash in Iraq during his press conference to tout the "great progress" in Iraq.

So, how can he be bothered with the possibility that world financial markets may stop buying US debt? He has more important things to do, like make the world safe for democracy. But that sounds like a cliche more fitting to a bad movie than from the POTUS. With the spending of some $2 billion a day to finance the debt his administration has run up, what's going to happen when the world stops buying that debt? And, that time is coming, perhaps sooner than anyone thinks. With outrage growing daily over the Bush administration's hubris and growing isolation, Europe is growing closer collective economic action against the US, and when that day comes, it's not going to be pretty on our shores. We will look back fondly on the Great Depression. But what will he do? Deny everything...Blame it on someone else...That's a pattern more fitting to an alcoholic than to a head of state. But wait, Dubbyuh is an alcoholic. He may be off the sauce, but he has never sought treatment fot the underlying causes of his ETOH and substance abuse. He is a dry-drunk, which entails all of the behavior patterns of a drunk.

If they want to escape being pilloried when it all comes crashing down around their ears, Dubbyuh's handlers need to get him medicated and reign in the reckless, feckless policies he has outlined and is pursuing. Ahhh shit...! They're the ones who formulated those policies to begin with, and they'll never admit that they're wrong. We're well and truly screwed, and I truly hope that I'm wrong.

CONDI CONFIRMED

85 to 13...That was the final vote for Condi-Mima's confirmation to the post of Sectreary of State.

The questions raised about her complicity in lying America into war were ignored. Instead, the Reichpublican leadership chose to focus on her work in academia and her upbringing, neither of which inherently qualify her for the post. They chose to ignore her contradictory testimony before the 9/11 Commission and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Barbara Boxer pointed out the contradiction between her earlier testimony and that which she gave before the Committee. At this, Condi-Mima bridled and accused Senator Boxer of "impugning" her credibility and integrity. Well, it's somewhat difficult to impugn one for characteristics which they entirely lack.

One can only hope that the Senate democrats put up a more spirited opposition to Alberto Gonzales' confirmation to the post of Attorney General. I don't have much hope of that though. It's more likely they'll roll over, spread their legs and squeal, "Do me and do me now, you Republican love monkey!"

Dubbyuh and Hypocrisy...Can't have one without the other.

"We know that a culture that does not protect the most dependent, the handicapped, the elderly, the unloved, or simple inconvenient, becomes increasingly vulnerable." - George W. Bush, 1/24/2005

Hmmmm...Let's see here, First, Medicare benefits get cut, then he wants to "reform" Social Security, cuts to funding for Head Start, cuts in Medicaide funding, falling wages and rising numbers of uninsured...So much for protecting "...the most dependent, the handicapped, the elderly, the unloved, or simply inconvenient...". But wait, they're actually living, breathing and walking around. But they don't count, especially when it costs nothing to deny a woman's right to choose the course of her own life.

And therein lies the great flaw in the "Pro-Life" movements argument. They equate the potential for human life with actual human life. A mass of undifferentiated cells has the same value as a human being born and growing, not. Hell, if they had their way, contraception would be illegal, and some are pushing for that. But the only reason Dubbyuh's behind the issue of banning abortion is that it inflames the irrational, it polarizes debate and it costs him nothing, unlike the social safety net programs he and his handlers are intent on gutting.

There is nothing compassionate about his conservatism. It is as petty and mean-spirited as he is. He and his handlers want power, and if women have to die at the hands of back-alley butchers again just so they achieve it, well, that seems a price they are willing to pay. That is the pattern of Dubbyuh's life, though. Somebody else pays the price for his errors, while he remains securely insulated from the consequences of his actions.

By-the-way, did you notice he couldn't be troubled to cross the street and join the rally? Dubbyuh and hypocrisy...You just can't have one without the other.

Rumsfeld...Grand Poobah of Intel

I don't know which worries me more...That there is a secret organization gathering intel for the Pentagon or that Rummy has control over it.

The fact that the organization has been operating for about two years does nothing to inspire confidence. We need only look back to the days of Rummy's Office of Special Services and their pro-administration spin on the intel prior to the invasion of Iraq to see where this will take us. It will take us into another reckless, feckless round of foregin adventurism which will make Iraq look like a Sunday picnic.

And then there's the issue of the commander of this little group of spies. Colonel George Waldrup, that's "GW" to his friends, has no background in intel.The Army reservist, who worked for INS before his reserve activation, has most recently been responsible for security and transportation for the teams searching for WMD's in Iraq. How this qualifies him for such a sensitive post is beyond me. It seems likely that he's a friend of someone in the administration, and as we've seen, this adminstrition place a higher premium on loyalty than on competence.

The likely end of this little boondoggle will, at a best, be an incident which greatly embarasses the administration. At worst it will mean a loss of life that will shock us all. Either way, the administration has shown little inclination to be moved by such matters, and we're all the worse for it.