what exactly does the decrease in value of the USD do? im having trouble visualizing the effects.

like as the dollar goes down does my mortgage go up, does my car insurance go up, do i pay more for fruit? what actually happens and how?

also, doesnt this need to be contrasted with other factors? like isnt china's 'booming' economy based on the weakness of their currency?

i used to be on the doom and gloom side, but the more i look into it (which isnt saying much since economics is elaborate as hell) the more i dont see this going too far in that direction.

US is easily the most 'important' country on the planet. it's sad that that's true, but it's true, and it's not like we can crumble while the rest of the world remains unaffected. shit, we would go to war before we gave up too much; that's actually a pretty decent speculation about why iraq was invaded in the first place.