IKN

Take physic, pomp

Ignore today’s cart-before-horse debate on the dollar and US jobs

Today’s weaker than expected US BLS jobs report is giving rise to a reprise of the whole dollar and jobs canard, so do yourself the big favour and ignore it all. 
But if you can’t get away, your second best option is to note the name any of these so-called experts who are currently telling us that the strong dollar is causing a slowdown in the US economy. Once you’re done you’ll have yourself a useful list, because it’s full of people you can totally ignore on matters financial in the future, thereby simplifying your working life. To repeat (and bold-typing the bit that matters):

Economies do not get stronger due to currencies. Ever. Economies do not get weaker due to currencies, either. One is a real thing that exists, the other is a medium of exchange and its flow from point A to point B allows us to gauge the relative strength or weakness of the two things at either end. There’s this big mental image we’re sold by the ignorant media show, one that the finance world conjures up of a scales-of-justice type weighing machine: You’re presented with a country’s economy on one side and the country’s unit of currency on the other and told “this up this down”. It’s complete bullshit, because only one of those things is real and tangible, the other is a ghost. For sure the most persistent ghost of modern society, but it’s still a ghost.

If you understand what a currency is, you have the right to expound. Anyone who insists that the movements of a nation’s currency affect its economy is guilty of putting the cart before the horse.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Hello, you are not in a chatroom, you are in my living room. Opposing views and criticisms welcome, insults or urinating on furniture unwelcome. Please refrain from swearing if possible, it is not needed.