[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 59 (Thursday, March 30, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S4938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               THE DOLLAR'S DECLINE AS DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, we are receiving regular reminders 
obliquely of the need for a balanced budget amendment.
  In Sunday's Washington Post Jane Bryant Quinn's column ends with the 
words: ``Big cuts in the federal deficit would improve confidence 
abroad. But Congress and the voters aren't there yet.''
  And in a column by Stan Hinden there is reference to Donald P. Gould, 
a California money manager of a mutual fund.
  In the Hinden column, among other things, he says: ``Gould noted that 
the global strength of the dollar has been slipping for 25 years--
except for an upward blip in the early 1980's.''
  It is not sheer coincidence that for 26 years in a row we have been 
operating with a budget deficit.
  Hinden also notes in his column:

       Since 1970, the dollar has lost more than 60 percent of its 
     value in relation to the German mark and has dropped almost 
     75 percent in relation to the Japanese yen. In 1970, it took 
     3.65 German marks to buy one U.S. dollar. As of last week, 
     you could buy a dollar with only 1.40 marks.

  I served in Germany in the Army after World War II, and I remember it 
took a little more than 4 marks to buy a dollar.
  The Washington Post writer also notes:

       Gould, who is president and founder of the Franklin 
     Templeton Global Trust--which used to be called the 
     Huntington Funds--is not optimistic about the dollar's 
     future. He sees little chance that the United States will be 
     able to solve the fiscal and economic problems that have 
     helped the dollar depreciate.

  We are getting that message from people all over the world.
  I cannot understand why we do not listen.
  Finally, Donald Gould is quoted as saying:

       For the first time I am aware of, during a global flight to 
     quality, that quality has been defined as marks and yen and 
     not dollars.

  I hope we start paying attention to this kind of information.
  

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