If you think we are only twisted in our foreign policy, let me tell you that compared to the economy Iraq and Afghanistan is but a pale innocence. It is only logical to anticipate dollar collapse and that the international reserve currency will cease to be the dollar before long. Harbingers of bad tidings are never popular, but as fellow citizens it is wise to remember that caution is the best protection for wealth.

In economic currency valuation there are only two criterions of comparison, which are viable. All this stuff about the CPI, inflation, and economic indicators are the smoke and mirrors of economic politicians. Which reminds me of a story; seems that a mountaineer became lost on one of his treks, way up on a mountain peak in a thick fog. Looking into the sky above where the fog had cleared he spied a balloon. He yelled up "Where are we?" to which the balloonist replied "8,000 ft up west of the Atlantic". "You must be an economist," retorted the mountaineer "all your information is correct but totally useless".

This I am sure you will agree is not a pretty picture. When considering all factors the dollar has declined an average of 19.35% in comparison to other assets. This indicates that unless your investments exceed 20% in annual returns you are losing value. In this economy I do not know anyone who is earning even half that interest on their principle. Just to make a 5% gain in your investments you must earn 25% interest.

America's foreign policy is destroying our economy and the value of our currency. What factors impinge on this issue? First there is NAFTA. This heinous agreement has lost America three million direct and four million indirect manufacturing jobs, and replaced them with "Service Secretor Jobs". The three million (conservative estimate) jobs have been moved from their American base to Mexico, the indirect are new jobs created in Mexico by European and Pacific Rim producers whose total output is sold in America. Service Sector jobs pay on average 40% less than manufacturing employment. This agreement has lowered blue-collar earnings by about 16% nationally. Next is the Maquiladoro project that encourages American producers to move the high intensity labor portion of their manufacturing processes to Mexico. They can then re-import those items duty and charge free; in fact they are not even counted in import/export statistics by the Department of Commerce. This process accounts for another two million lost manufacturing jobs. The second factor after trade is our completely out of control national debt. Government budgets are now routinely over one trillion dollars out of whack. This cannot be blamed on any one party, as both are equally responsible. The amount of pork in this latest budget is enough to make a pig blush. Every elected official has added more pork to purchase his constituency for the next election. The "System", which includes the Republocrats and their mandarins, are living high on the hog and putting our children and grandchildren in a terrible debt. The third factor is these wars of expansion and empire. Wars we are fighting on behalf other nation. Lets face facts; Iraq never posed any possible threat to us or to any of our allies. The only thing Iraq did was to prevent the Zionist dream of a "Greater Israel" which is what all this Middle East insanity is and has been about all these last 34 years. Another factor is our trade deficit. Consider that this astronomical imbalance has now reached the amount of $ 50 billion per month. Obviously such trade imbalances are not sustainable by any economy. If you continue to purchase more than you make you will eventually break the bank.

So we see that four various items are the prime cause of our collapsing dollar trade, the national debt (overspending by the legislative bodies) wars of empire and our appetite for cheap foreign goods. Obviously there should be no problem in correcting this situation. Cancel NAFTA, eliminate Maquiladoro programs, pass a balanced budget amendment, and bring our military home to guard our borders. Then the personal decision to "Buy American". Then all we need do is to implement a reasonable immigration policy and to deport all illegal immigrants, and if the Mexicans don't approve let them, as we say, suck on an egg. Will this happenÉhell no our politicians long perchance of self indulgence, overpay, gratuitous benefit packages, and purchasing votes through pork, in fact, ensures the dollar collapse that I am writing about.

What can you as an individual, particularly if you have a little nest egg do? While Swiss annuities (in Swiss franks) only pay about 3.5% annualized return it would be a better investment by far than anything you can invest in here. 3.5 + 17.3[dollar loss]= 20.8% return. Silver is a particularly good investment but you must take care. Many companies who sell silver will issue you a warehouse respite that does not indicate any serial numbers or some not even a location. Take actual possession of the silver as they say a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Silver is good because there is an anticipated shortage coming up in the next few years that could drive the price up substantially. If alternatively you had been invested in the stock market in 2004 you would have realized a loss of 19.35% plus average earnings for a net position loss of -12.4%. What I speak of here is purchasing power.

We are all aware of government statistics indicating an inflation rate of fewer than 5%. These lying statistics are produced for the sole purpose of not increasing Social Security benefits, and government employee salaries, in conjunction with (at the rate of) inflation. Any politician who tells you different is a damn liar. Congress has increased their own salaries $3,400 in '02 $3,400 in '03 and $ 4,000 in '04 which they call a cost of living increase. That increase by the way exceeds the total SS payment to about 70% of SS recipients. They know full well that the government issued statistics, which by the way exclude the costs of taxes, housing and fuel, the very economic issues that have shown the largest percentage on increase is a lie.

A. H. Krieg is the author of Our Political Systems available from Amazon.

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