Devaluations Are Never Easy.

Unfortunately, The Real Focus In This Country Has Not Been On The Rest Of The World. It's Been On Our Own Issues And Our Own Problems. Fair Enough. But It Means That Our Simple Hopes That Everything Will Just Work Out Abroad Aren't Really Coming To Pass.

It's Not An Accident That The U.s. Ranks Lowest Of All Major Donor Countries In The World - That Is The Share Of Our Income That Goes To Development Aid. Americans Will Ask Whether, Because Were So Generous Privately, That Makes Up The Difference. But It Doesn't. We Still Rank Far Below Other Countries.

Business Often Does A Good Job Supporting Communities: The Arts, Universities, And Scientific Enterprises... But That Philosophy Has Rarely Reached Poor Countries. Even Businesses That Are Enlightened In Their Home Bases See Africa, Latin America, And Parts Of Asia As Places To Exploit Natural Resources Or Use Cheap Labor.

History Is Written By The Rich, And So The Poor Get Blamed For Everything.

If We Did Go Into A Recession, Something That's Always Possible For The U.s. Or Europe, We Could Lower Interest Rates And Expand The Money Supply Without Worrying About The Price Of Gold.