Storm clouds over dollar system

The subprime credit crunch has become a major headache for US President George W. Bush.

The problem has arisen because the United States, which always likes to tell other countries how to handle various crises, has failed time and again to cure its own "malignant tumor" despite heavy doses of "medication". But the best time for surgery slipped away, allowing the "malaise" to worsen and spread throughout the world like a financial "plague".

Worse is the fact that the subprime shockwave is shaking the daylight out of global financial markets, spilling aimless capital everywhere and causing the US dollar to depreciate to a point at which the very foundation of the US dollar system is no longer rock solid.