This is still on the edge. I can't say if it's a speed bump or not just yet but it's surely a dark time for the USA. Many of Americans don't realize we have power because of the dollar. That is why we have everything for as cheap as we have it including gasoline believe it or not.
The biggest problem with having so much power with the dollar and being in so much debt to China is that we must mass produce our money to stimulate the economy. The value of the dollar is continuing to drop and the Euro is rising. Take a look
HERE as of 5/13/11 1 Euro is equivalent to 1.41 Euro. Of course this vary by going up and down, the point is it's going to continue to climb slowly. With this said imagine if gasoline was being sold by the euro and not the dollar. If gasoline was being sold for 1 euro a barrel we would be paying $1.50 for a barrel of gasoline, and because America isn't self sufficient the price of everything can increase. Now I'm not sure where I heard this so don't quote me on it unless you know the source and can disprove or confirm it but it's been said that China and Russia are no longer trading and buying from each other using the dollar. They are instead using their own currency which means they're basically trying to eliminate it from their economy. This isn't good for America.
The debt we're in is simply too great, you can't just keep printing money to get out of debt. If that's how it worked we wouldn't be in this situation.. America may not be at an end where we will fall and become a poor third world country but obviously the risk always exists. Very doubtful, lifestyles here may change for most as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The middle class is slowly disappearing which is scary. Fortunately we seem to be bouncing back, that's why I said we're on the edge but not yet jumping off. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, or at least where we're headed before we start assuming we're jumping off the edge.
This is one of the biggest bumps that America may face if we continue to go downhill. We should have been bouncing back harder than we are, who cares that we have Osama. We're still in debt, we still have homeless vets, our children are still dying, we spent millions to catch one man and kill him. Guess what is going to change.. Nothing. We may have set an example that we will do everything we can to catch a terrorist but he kills thousands, we spent millions, we started a war and we're losing soldiers. Even with his death Osama Bin Laden was successful, even more so than he may have thought.