Read your dollar bill: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private". You basically have to take dollars.What happens if we wake up tomorrow and collectively decide to barter with a non US dollar system? The dollar is Fiat dollar. What happens when we decide that we have no faith in it any more? What can be done to us (individuals, groups, etc...) If my business tomorrow stopped generally dealing in cash, how would they be taxed beyond property estimations? If they did not pay their employees in cash, how would their employees be taxed?
Of course, you can raise your rates to make up for the fact that said dollars are being "printed" in vast quantities and are worth less than they used to be. Otherwise known as inflation.
On other points:
Have you seen even the slightest indication from any government or party official that they are even considering changing our policies?I feel like chicken little, but I really don't think the collapse is immanent. I just think our corporate and government interests are sleeping together too much in a too short sighted environment. I think that we've moved from mortgaging our future to mortgaging our present and I'm afraid that it will become irreversable if we don't make policy change soon.
Greenspan is out saying "everything is OK" on a daily basis.
Bush says that things are great economically also.
Kerry says "things are bad economically" but his solution is more spending. This is not going to fix our problems.
Granted, if anyone out there said that we were spending way beyond our means, that the economic system is shaky, and that we need to get used to a permanent lowering of our lifestyle they would be laughed at, not elected.
This could take a long time to unfold. People have been saying the same arguments for 20 years. One of these days they're going to be right. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
