Here’s an interesting fact: As of Sunday, $1 buys you 110.14 Japanese yen, less than 0.82 euros and 8.10 Chinese yuan. Meanwhile, one ounce of gold costs $431.90. The reason for this is that the almighty dollar isn’t so almighty anymore.

Chinese economist Fan Gang told the World Economic Forum in January, “The U.S. dollar is no longer seen as a stable currency.”

It doesn’t take a doctorate in economics to know that our currency being perceived as unstable is not a good thing.

As a result of constant badgering from American politicians, the Chinese made a move July 21 that further destabilized our currency: They abandoned the yuan’s peg to the dollar. To do this, they had to sell some of the treasury bills they bought from us, thus creating a decreased demand for dollars, according to Dan Underwood, professor of economics at Washington State’s Peninsula College. As the dollar goes down, says Underwood, prices of and demand for treasury bills will as well, causing interest rates to rise. Less value on the dollar will cause inflation. The result, says Underwood, will be decreased economic activity and high unemployment. Ultimately, the whole reason for this mess is not the yuan; it’s President George W. Bush’s tax cuts, though it appears we would rather blame others for our problems.

With the recent appointment of John Bolton as our ambassador to the United Nations, I have to wonder what, exactly, Bush is trying to accomplish. Is he trying to run this country into the ground?

In an Aug. 2 New York Times column titled “Ambassador Bolton,” the author observed that with Bolton’s absence from the latest round of talks with North Korea, things seem to have improved drastically. Considering that the North Koreans called Bolton “human scum,”

I’m inclined to think the columnist is probably right. In fact, Bolton represents such an extreme neo-conservatism that even some Republicans – notably Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio – don’t want him representing our country to the world.

Bush’s sneaky appointment of a volatile man as U.N. ambassador while Congress was in recess and our pressuring the Chinese to revalue their currency and further weaken our own will only help to do one thing: further erode our country’s credibility in the international arena.

Having spent three years living in another country, I can say from experience that all those stories about people in other countries being angry at us are completely true. Also true are claims that, increasingly, we are becoming the laughing stock of the world.

Pressuring China to take actions that further weaken our currency and appointing “Mr. Moustache” as our U.N. ambassador are decisions our leaders will live to regret. I can’t help but think that the future does not bode well for this country.

Columns reflect the opinions of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.