All you Canadians - please understand that Goldfinger is an American and is responding based on conditions in the U.S.A. - and he is right in that regard, it is going to get worse here before it gets better, and President Andrew Jackson would roll over in his grave right now if he knew we had a "Federal Reserve Bank" and fiat currency that can be printed by governments at will, with no backing by precious metals, but only by the blind faith of citizens in their countries' fiat currencies.  Nevertheless, U.S.A. no longer has a major market share in world trade.  China, India, Germany, and Brazil have export economies greater than ours.  Posters here have posted links to news reports that provide more detailed info than what I am summarizing.  Bottom line is that a tanking of the U.S. economy will not have the major impact it had in the 30's.