Houston, jeg har haft en drøm

Jeg drømte i nat, at jeg prøvede at forhindre en eller anden VIP i at nedgradere USAs kreditvurdering fra AAA til AA, fordi det ville være dødsstødet til verdensøkonomien.

Måske jeg bruger lidt for meget tid på artikler som denne (via).

The US is helped by the absence of ‘original sin’ – its ability to borrow abroad in securities denominated in its own currency – and the closely related status of the US dollar as the world’s leading reserve currency. But this elastic cannot be stretched indefinitely. While it is hard to be scientifically precise about this, I believe that the anticipated future US Federal deficits and the growing contingent exposure of the US sovereign to its financial system (and to a growing list of other more or less deserving domestic industries and other good causes) will cause the dollar in a couple of years to look more like an emerging market currency than like the US dollar of old. The UK is already closer to that position than the US, because of the minor-league legacy reserve currency status of sterling.

Begge lande har haft en forvokset finanssektor. Så vidt jeg forstår, så konkurrerede London og New York om finansverdenen ved at afregulere så meget som muligt. Well, up yours, mate.