..we’re fucked. Seriously, seriously fucked. If you haven’t been paying attention, the dollar is in collapse versus foreign currencies, and all signs point to further collapse this Wednesday when it is widely expected that the fed will again lower interest rates. My favorite quote that sums this up quite nicely, from a recent thread on metafilter.com:

The fundamental problem is that we owe, in every level of the economy, far more than we can pay, and that debt is denominated in dollars. We can either have a deflationary debt collapse, or, eventually, a hyperinflationary collapse. The second approach causes much more total damage over a much longer period, but in any given month, it looks less painful, so that’s what we’ll opt for.

And that’s what we have opted for. Apparently the only remaining variable is when hyperinflation kicks in, and I’ve seen charts that suggest nothing will stop it from coming in the next 12 months, roughly, though I have zero idea how accurate they are. What the consequences are beyond that I cannot say. Collapse in housing prices? Check. Collapse in the credit markets? Check. Apocalyptic collapse of the US economy not seen since the great depression? I have no idea. Some credible folks think it likely, like the head of the IMF and Alan Greenspan, the former head of the fed.

Who was it that said they’d rather not live in interesting times? Lately I’m feeling like I agree with that guy .