Many factors, including the threat of deeper rate cuts at home and stronger economic performance elsewhere, are piling up against the U.S. dollar

I sure hope that the dollar stops falling against every other currency.  We’re already paying 10% more for our products simply on currency rate changes.  That doesn’t even take into account the increases in raw materials and transportation that are eating into our margins.  I hope that whoever wins the presidential nomination focuses on real economic policies that are going to help everyone, not just special interest groups that happen to be in swing states.  If only Mitt Romney were still in the race, I’d feel a lot more confident.

I just read this article on BusinessWeek and it really sat well with me.  So many politicians have no idea what it means to run a business and keep it on budget.  They’re used to their fancy cars, bodyguards and high-minded ideas that they have lost touch with the lifeblood of America.  Why has the United States sat atop the world scene for so long?  Not because career politicians have dealt with global warming, but because US businesses have kept the economy vibrant and innovative.

We’re in enormous debt, Social Security that eats me and my business alive is going to be worthless to me in the future, and the government just seems to be wasting my money on frivolous earmarks, programs and worthless agencies.  A young business owner like myself should be very interested in how the leadership of our country plans out the rest of my life, but I cynically just can’t believe that any of the presidential candidates is going to make a difference.  The only way to make me believe in politics again would be for someone to actually cut the fat out of the huge bureaucracy and do things for the good of the country, not the good of panderers and lobbyists.

I had hoped that Mitt Romney might be that president, with his background in turning around businesses, the Olympics and Massachusetts.   Sadly, the race didn’t work out that way, but until someone can actually make real changes, I’ll continue to be a cynical political spectator.  Get rid of these career politicians who don’t have an idea what the real world is like, and replace them with people who have lived, fought and worked 100 hour weeks to make payroll and meet investor expectations.