the trend that is frightening and the sense that we are only at the beginning of the dollar fall
It's been bad enough watching the Bush clusterfuck demolish the Constitution and the military (and feel powerless to do anything to stop it), as well as take huge chunks out of the domestic economy, but we've always, deep down underneath, thought that the dollar would survive his attacks. But apparently not.
I'm probably as pessimistic now as I've ever been about the long-term viability of this country. And I'm usually a bit Pollyanna-ish in that regard--despite our collective failings, I've always felt that we could all pull together to overcome adversity.
Stop the world, I want to get off.
You know it, and I know it, and millions of people know it, but just try to get through to the congresscritters who cannot see or hear anything outside the Beltway. It's not just that we have an imperial presidency; we have a disconnected legislature.