Strong Dollar vs. Market Forces

Going back to Steve Clemons (along with Jesse Taylor), I wanted to take note of Bush’s perplexing comments on his policy on the dollar:

"The policy of my government is a strong dollar policy," Bush said. "We believe that the market should make the decisions about the relationship between the dollar and the euro."

Does anyone out there think America is pursuing a strong dollar policy?

It seems to me that America has a weak dollar policy that screws Europe, helps some U.S. exporters, but has China with an equally weak currency able to keep American consumers happy with cheap products -- and has Japan scrambling for currency balance.

If Bush is telling the truth -- then why aren't any journalists or commentators challenging him on the fact that his so-called strong dollar policy is failing? Who is getting fired because we have a weak dollar and the president is not getting what he wants?

Up is down, black is white, lies are truth.

Clemons’ points on this are spot on… our policy as Bush would have it does not match up with reality in the least. As I have said so many times before, this is not surprising as it is one of the MO’s of the administration, but that does not make it any less frustrating nor does it make it any less amazing that the press continues to take what he says at face value.

However, I wanted to add my own note on Bush’s comments: if Bush believes in both a strong dollar and market forces, what does he think about the apparent decision by the market that the dollar is relatively weak? I am not an economist, and so I am not going to get into the pros and cons of a weak or strong dollar policy for our country at this point, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wonder about the gulf between what he says he wants and how he thinks it should happen versus what that same mechanism is actually doing.

Remember, this issue has a long and not-so-distinguished history, ranging from his steel tariffs fiasco to his grotesque farm bill and his administration’s positions ranging from catfish to communications...