THE DERVISH DANCE OF THE DOLLAR

Our conservative friend Tony Blankley of the Washington Times has written an opinion piece in which he puts several menacing questions to the candidates currently still in the race for the toughest job in the world—the US presidency. Now we realize that many of our friends perched on the Left want no part of an America that sustains ANY SORT of advantage, temporary or permanent, over anybody else, being all-gracious selfless players in the eternal game of life that they purport to be (at least in their own minds, intellectually that is, because the material requirements of just making it in the USA are just too overwhelming to bypass for far too many of them for us not to notice), but here is one question that does nor presume that the rest of the world automatically confirms to his idea of goodness because he wishes it so, but by hard work, and intelligent design (not to be confused with that theological mess formerly known as creationism):

"...are you for a strong dollar or will you continue Mr. Bush's policy of letting the dollar sink? Some presidents think that a weak dollar helps trade and we should do little to support the dollar. But today, for the first time in living memory there is a risk that the dollar, if it continues to slide, would be replaced by the Euro as the global store of value. The United States benefits from the dollar's unique role in the world. It has permitted us to have influence in many ways, such as disrupting financial flows to adversaries like Iran and North Korea. With international contracts denominated in dollars we gain unfair advantage over all other currencies. Are you prepared to protect the dollar and drive its value up (again, working closely with the Fed chairman) or not?

Fourth, and flowing from the previous question: As noted by Benn Steil (director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations) to protect the dollar's value, we cannot let the Federal Reserve, by itself, try to solve the financial crises by flooding the market with dollars. If we are to strengthen the dollar, then we need the president and Congress to directly fund "on the books," the hundreds of billions of dollars the Fed is creating to help at risk financial institutions.

Of course, if you protect the dollar and fight inflation you won't have money for new spending programs. Mr. and Mrs. presidential candidates, please tell us now—before we vote—what your priority will be in this painfully difficult decision."