Ok, let's talk about your first point, the dollar is weak.

You are correct. The dollar has lost substantial value in the past few decades, but you cannot throw all of your apples in one basket by blaming the occupation of the Middle East as the sole downfall of the American and world markets.

Bush reacted rapidly in a situation where the American public was pushing for action. I will be the first to admit that America did not need a standing army of 120,000 soldiers to topple the Saddam regime. It was an overstatement of American power. We didn't use the lessons of history from the Soviets in Afghanistan and bogged ourselves down in a decade long occupation which caused unnecessary debt and death.

BUT, you have to factor in other aspects as to why the dollar is weak.

For the past fifteen years, China has been on a steady growth. China isn't jumping into world politics and trying to be the life of the party unless it is directly involved in it's own region. They have focused on infrastructure and self growth which has created sustained revenue and enticed more outside investors to begin pouring in money for profit. America has gone away from this (think of where all of your clothes and products are made now?).

We also have to look at the amount of trade countries do import and export wise. America has probably one of the worst ratios due to the fact that we are importing everything from other countries such as oil. The oil explanation I can go into further detail about in another post with the limited amounts the world has left and why we haven't tapped into our own resources to ensure when there is no oil left, we are the last nation in the world that won't be relying on a electrical socket to charge a battery to a 35 ton Abrams tank.

Lastly, our own government and it's policy making has dealt a massive blow to the economy due to certain bills passed. That's all I'm going to say about this point and most of you already know what I'm talking about. I'm not naming names or political parties because the radicals on both sides will come out of the wood works and make this thread a huge pissing match.

Luckily, we've been in this situation before and came out of it alright. There is no world superpower that can challenge our military. Russia tries to say they are back every 10-15 years, invades a country ten feet away then regresses to crap over the next ten years and blames western politics. America isn't what it used to be, but we aren't giving the government total control. The democrats have the house for eight years and we are going to be communists says the right. The republicans take the house for the next eight years and we are going to be Nazis says the lefts.

At the end of the day it all evens out. As long as amendment One and Two are never altered or removed, we as a nation will be fine and bounce back. If that ever does happen though, move to Africa, its gonna be paradise compared to this place.