By Mark Gongloff (WSJ)

Great news: The dollar is still getting shredded.

That is helping companies sell products overseas by making their goods cheaper and thus more competitive. That is bolstering exports, which may keep gross-domestic-product growth barely positive, letting us keep telling ourselves that we aren't really in a recession.

Trouble is, that house, car and schooling now cost a lot more than many factory workers can afford. And the high prices of health care, food and gasoline don't help.

Continuing to devalue the dollar will lead to more of the same.

"If all a country needed to do was debase its currency, then Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe would be examples of a stellar economy," says Michael Pento, senior market strategist at Delta Global Advisors. "You can't print your way into prosperity."

In the short term, market forces should stop the dollar's fall, and recession should cool inflation. But at some point, policy makers may have to get serious about a strong-dollar policy again.

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