My pal John Tamny over at RealClearMarkets has a must-read commentary on the dollar and the U.S. economy. He doesn't think much of gross domestic product numbers that show the U.S. economy is growing if at the same time the dollar is plunging:
GDP growth was high under Presidents Reagan (32%) and Clinton (31%), and just the same it's been mostly strong under President George W. Bush. Still, no one would mistake the booming Reagan (S&P 500 +121%) and Clinton (S&P 500 +208%) economies for the one we've experienced during Bush's (S&P 500 +2%) tenure. GDP measures the total market value of all goods and services produced, and with the dollar impressively weak this decade, it's unsurprising that this might show up in a positive way given the bogus nature of GDP calculations.
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