Once the world saw that we might elect a communist Islamo thug, all the pillars started to shake. We had Pelosi in the house, Reid in the Senate. Obama was the signal that America was finally done. Freedom was about to die. The keys to the largest nuke arsenal in the history of man kind handed over to a Muslim from Indonesia.
The world had to acknowledge that we are insane, and we held the worlds trading currency, and all countries were invested in us, the beacon of freedom. We told the world that the system would be fundamentally changed. We would now go full blown communist.
The world listened. They know what communism is better than we do. So the economy started to puke in 2008 with just the thought of Obama, a lawless thug spreading the wealth (stealing and squandering).
You are welcome to disagree. That will not change economic fact. The next President, R or D, will preside over a financial graveyard. Wealth is contracting globally, regardless of who is in the White House or what islamic facists are doing.
The only thing that could have pulled us back from the brink was a drastic slashing and 25% reduction in the world's level of debt back in 2010, plus a 25% reduction in it's future liabilities. The pantywaists running the show on both sides would never agree to it. We are now well past the economic tipping point of 77% debt to GDP ratio, we're in the ZIRP trap, and QE is the only way to keep this flagging ship from going under (which only exacerbates the other two problems).
As for dollar being King, it won't be for much longer. China has been pushing for currency dominance, and until it was revealed that they have been cooking their books, too, were gaining traction. Other countries have already started to de-peg from the dollar to avoid exported inflation.
Chairs, deck, ice chunks.