Could the US be ahead of the pack when in its economic downturn? “America has had its slower growth, weaker currency, massive housing meltdown and lived to tell about it. Now, with Fannie and Freddie taken into Uncle Sam’s bosom, America is ahead in the global game,” says Dan Denning in The Daily Reckoning Australia…

4 reasons why this may be the worst crisis since the 1930s – and 4 projections for what’s going to happen. I identify the foundational forces now driving our economy to establish a basis for the investment recommendations you’ll read in this advisory in the months to come. The role of the U.S. as the world’s dominant economic superpower is now challenged by an out-of-control growth in debt and a deterioration in its reputation as a financial haven.

The US dollar looks set to make a second straight monthly advance against the yen and euro as gains in stocks showed traders are cautiously optimistic the economy may not slide into recession after all.

“The idea that the Fed will continue to cut rates has been completely put to bed and the market is now flirting with the idea of a rate hike. That has given the dollar a boost,” said Alan Ruskin, head of international currency strategy at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets in Connecticut, in Bloomberg. More from that story: