Singin' this'll be the day that it died

[Tim Benham]

A long, long time agob&

I can still remember

How the dollar used to make me smile.

And I knew if I had my chance

I'd sell the currency of France

And, maybe, I'd be happy for awhile.

 

But all our spending made me shiver

With every T-bill we'd deliver.

Bad news on the doorstep;

I couldn't take one more step.

 

I can't remember if I cried

When I heard our politicians lied

But something touched me deep inside

The day the dollar died.

 

So bye-bye, dollar assets good-bye

Sold my Chevy at the levee

'cause my pension ran dry.

Them good old boys were drinkin' sake to try

Singin' this'll be the day that it died

This'll be the day that it died.

 

Did you write Whitehouse.gov

Or have you a Yen to fall in love

If Japan will tell you so?

Now, do you believe in oil 'n coal

Can China fill our import hole

And can we teach them how to grow real slow?

 

Well I know the country's fit and trim

'Cause the jobs are in the Pacific Rim.

We all knew savers lose

Man, I dug not having to choose.    

 

We were living off the almighty buck

We got their goods and they were stuck

But I knew we were out of luck

The day the dollar died.

 

I started singin'

Bye-bye, dollar assets good-bye

Sold my Chevy at the levee

'cause my pension ran dry.

Them good old boys were drinkin' sake to try

Singin' this'll be the day that it died

This'll be the day that it died.

 

Now for ten years we were sure we owned

All the stocks and bonds and mortgage loans

But that's not how it's gonna be.

When we've spent it all like kings and queens

In clothes we bought from The Philippines

The Asians pick the reserve currency. 

 

Oh, and while the king was looking down,

Their central bankers came to town. 

Our stocks and bonds were spurned 

Those dollars were returned.

And while unions filled their books with Marx

The President said drill in parks

Our thermostats froze in the dark

The day the dollar died.

 

We were singin'

Bye-bye, dollar assets good-bye

Sold my Chevy at the levee

'cause my pension ran dry.

Them good old boys were drinkin' sake to try

Singin' this'll be the day that it died

This'll be the day that it died.

.

Helter skelter in a summer swelter

The equity's gone from your leveraged shelter

Fannie and Freddie are falling fast.

Crash, they landed, but in a new class

Full faith and credit have long since passed

With Congress, in denial, out of gas. 

 

Now the Wal-Mart there has cheap perfume

With imports filling every room.

We all got up to dance

Oh, but we never got the chance.

The consumers tried to take the field

The central banks refused to yield

Do you recall what was revealed

The day the dollar died?

 

We started singin'

Bye-bye, dollar assets good-bye

Sold my Chevy at the levee

'cause my pension ran dry.

Them good old boys were drinkin' sake to try

Singin' this'll be the day that it died

This'll be the day that it died.

 

Oh, and there we were all in one place

Our credit rating in disgrace

With no time left to start again.

So come on: Al be nimble, Al be quick!

Al, cut rates by 50 ticks

'cause credit is the debtor's only friend.

 

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage

My hands were clenched in fists of rage

No congressman in hell

Could buy what he would sell.

And as the rates climbed high into the night

To stem the U.S. asset flight

The IMF said, "Yes, that's right"

The day the dollar died

 

They were singin'

Bye-bye, dollar assets good-bye

Sold my Chevy at the levee

'cause my pension ran dry.

Them good old boys were drinkin' sake to try

Singin' this'll be the day that it died

This'll be the day that it died.

 

I met a girl who sang the blues

And I asked her if we still could choose

But she just smiled and turned away.

I went down to the Medicare store

Where we'd spent our dollars years before

But the man there said those dollars wouldn't pay.

 

And in the streets the children screamed

The seniors cried and the workers steamed

But not a word was spoken

The commitments all were broken.

And the three men I admire most:

Faber, Rogers, and Bill Gross

Were at the forex trading post

The day the dollar died.

 

And they were singin'

Bye-bye, dollar assets good-bye

Sold my Chevy at the levee

'cause my pension ran dry.

Them good old boys were drinkin' sake to try

Singin' this'll be the day that it died

This'll be the day that it died.

 

They were singin'

Bye-bye, dollar assets good-bye

Sold my Chevy at the levee

'cause my pension ran dry.

Them good old boys were drinkin' sake to try

Singin' this'll be the day that it died.
--

Harry Chernoff is an independent economist in Great Falls, VA 

(with apologies to Don McLean)