For the past year, it has become fashionable for pundits and so-called political experts to predict the inevitable demise of the US and the end of the dollar as a reserve currency.

They assert the leaders of the global economy will shift to China and some of the other emerging markets.

There's an obvious distinction to be made between exports and corporate earnings when gauging the impact of the dollar's value in relation to other currencies, but this report fails miserably to make that clear.

Yes, a rising dollar will hurt both exports and the ability of U.S.-based multinational corporations that don't hedge currency risk to meet their earnings targets. But those are two entirely different things.

At long last, an economist takes head-on the anti-Keynesian nonsense we've been hearing from both the right and center (or at least from President Obama himself in his State of the Union address) that says the government should treat its budget the same way families do, by tightening its belt during hard times.

Randall Wray of the University of Missouri spells things out pretty clearly here, but let me hit the high points for you.

The dollar fell to a 15-month low on Monday, according to Bloomberg, despite Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's assurances that the central bank wants the currency to be strong.

Bernanke told the Economic Club of New York: "We are attentive to the implications of changes in the value of the dollar and will continue to formulate policy to guard against risks to our dual mandate to foster both maximum employment and price stability. Our commitment to our dual objectives, together with the underlying strengths of the U.S. economy, will help ensure that the dollar is strong and a source of global financial stability."