The safety of Americans has lessened dramatically since Bush took office. This is perhaps reflected most clearly in the numbers of investors dropping the dollar from their portfolio. There is a lot of irony in the fact that the oil barons who are close friends of the President are the ones looking to reduce their risk of association:
Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani said on US TV that the government-backed $50bn Qatari Investment Authority (QIA) now had less than 40 per cent of its investments in dollars, down from a high two years ago of 99 per cent.
The fast-growth emerging markets are also stepping back. That’s a stunning decline. One question worth considering is whether this is good for big business partners in America, the ones who back the Republican campaigners, as they have diverse overseas investments to reduce their own risk. And if so, does the increased risk position these big corporatists into an even more powerful buy strategy while the domestic/smaller populist companies are left vulnerable.
I recall speaking to a guy from Mexico who found his life savings were reduced to nearly worthless when the Peso was devalued. (I think it was the Mexican Peso). Anyway – he said that what made him most bitter is that right before the Peso slid away was that the ruling party made a giant windfall by moving their personal savings from Pesos to Dollars.
We should have a law that says that any appointed official in the US in the Executive branch dealing with fiscal policy, if caught doing something similar, is penalized by up to 5 times profits.