Don't Ignore What's Really Going On....

Remember the G-6? Then the G7 and recently the G8? A bunch of severe looking dudes that got together to talk about stuff on a global scale. I always thought it was just another excuse to travel large on the taxpayers money.

I though the G was for: Geeeeeee, we're going out of town, call the mistress!

Well, things changed when China said " hey! " The table is too small, all of us young growing countries are not at the table. "What about us, what about Brazil?" We have way more going on than Italy.

So it became the G 20. Yeah China, you did it! Now they are all headed to Korea.

Well, they may not be so happy with the irony of it now. When the other emerging countries got a seat at the table they realized, "Hey, China, keeping your currency low is messing up our exports too!" It wasn't just the US that was taking a hit.

For some time now Washington has been cajoling, pressuring, encouraging, demanding that China devalue the Yuan. The current situation allows China's exports to be great values and undermines products from other countries. By balancing currencies in the global market , all counties are on a level playing field which seems like the competition will be to make better products, not just the cheapest products.

Our weak dollar does provide some benefits though. "A weaker dollar gives U.S. exporters the opportunity to boost their profit margins or gain market share"., says John Higgins , economist at Capital Economics. Additionally U.S. companies with operations on foreign soil may see a boost in the value of the overseas earnings in terms of the dollar.

The impact is mixed of course, so there is no straight line to a solution or rationale. Ebay reported a rise in the marketplace deals for the first 9 months of the year, helped by foreign exchange gains against the U.S. dollar, but Eli Lilly reported the sales of its main drug Zyprexa, fell 7% in the international market due to the same thing with a different view point. They say,
it fell due to "the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rates and lower prices".

So watch the bigger picture. The story for the economy isn't really depressed housing prices in Stockton, Tracy and Las Vegas. It's what the big money is doing on a global scale. The world is one big retail store now and the power players are changing the rules and the goals.

It's exciting, exhausting and YES, you have to learn a few basic concepts and terms, but then you get it and you can see your little problems are not that big a deal. Relax, enjoy a smaller life, spend time with our kids and loved ones, bake a pie, go pick out a pumpkin, savor the smell of wet leaves. The big stuff? Out of your hands. The little stuff? It makes a huge difference in the quality of your life.

Let's see what goes on in Korea.