Haha US

"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."

Now, just look at history and the last one is the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/8. Now apply the above quotation. The IMF left the Asian countries then no choice but gave them the immediate medicine of the 1st alternative but instead of "a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion" it was a mandatory contraction as a requirement condition of funding support i.e. belt tightening.

Whereas for the US getting into trouble because of too much consumption due to credit expansion is thinking of curing the problem by getting into more debts to stimulate the consumption to support the economy. Anyone with half a brain will know that it will be the 2nd alternative result in the making i.e. "or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved." Note that H. Clinton was in China asking China not to stop buying US treasuries.

Because the USD is the world's reserve currency, the recent strength of the USD is guaranteeing further economic deterioration as an important contributor to the continue down trend.

Going by earnings of S n P 500, the strength of the USD will further pull that down for sure to around 600.

The strength of the USD benefits all other countries except the US and therefore, the rest of the world will recover well before the US which will most probably be further into the lost decade as happened to Japan.

Note that South Korea recovered from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis in about 2 years even after the country's balance sheet was completely wiped out. How? Auterity measures and a depressed currency stimulate the exports economy that quickly repaired the balance sheet. Neither Bernanke nor Geithner seem to understand economics 101 or they think economics 101 does not apply to the US.