This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," Dec. 31, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.
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JOHN GIBSON, HOST: 2004 was a bad year for the good old American dollar (search). Its value slipped against other world currencies. But the stock market has seen a year end rally. Can we expect a bright financial forecast for 2005?
My guest is Charles Payne, founder and CEO of Wall Street Strategy. He is appearing on a special New Year's Day edition of "Bulls & Bears" at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. So Charles, first of all, are we suppose to feel bad that the dollar is slipping against the euro and the pound sterling and all that? Is this really bad for us?
CHARLES PAYNE, WALL STREET STRATEGY: It really isn't. There is a perception that it's bad because a lot of people think the value of your currency is a proxy on how great the country is economically and also I guess a lot of Europeans think it is an indictment to our policies, if you will. But the irony is the weak dollar has done us so well. All of our large corporations, multinationals who deal overseas are benefiting greatly and I think that's one of the reasons you haven't seen a lot of effort on the Bush administration to bring it back up.
GIBSON: But isn't this also an explanation of why people all over this country particularly I guess in L.A. and New York, find themselves with British and French neighbors? People coming here and buying property because it's so cheap to them?
PAYNE: Well, you know, we live in a so-call global economy and we want foreigners to come here and spend that currency because we produce those goods and we want them to buy them. Obviously, we don't want everyone to take everything over. But we went through this scare before. Remember when Japan was buying up everything and we thought they ultimately they would own all of our real estate. It really didn't happen. This is the course of system. And right now the pluses totally outweigh the cons.
GIBSON: OK. So a weak dollar is good unless you go to Paris.
PAYNE: Absolutely.
GIBSON: You're going to pay through the nose. What about the market? Was the market holding back to see if Bush won?
PAYNE: I think so. 2004 was defined by the election first and foremost. There were a whole lot of other subplots but a lot of folks want to see who was going to be the next president. Wall Street certainly wanted Bush to win and I think a lot of folks out there who have been eager to play the market feel more comfortable because Bush is perceived to be a pro business president.
GIBSON: But why is that? He is running enormous deficits which I know makes Wall Street nervous. Why is it that they love Bush so much?
PAYNE: These deficits to a certain degree, he was dealt a certain hand, Bush, and he had to play the hand the way it was dealt. Iraq, 9/11, the implosion of the stock market. These are certain things that were definitely out of his control. So yeah, we have deficits, trying repair had the nation, try to come out of an economic swoon that was really very horrible and very deep. Wall Street understands this, and they understand also some of the tax work he has done is positive. Some of the other programs that are on the table perhaps Social Security reform could also help the economy. So I think Wall Street looks at that as outweigh the deficits which are a necessary evil at this point.
GIBSON: How evil are they?
PAYNE: You know, I'm not really sure. If I were a Democratic strategist I'd tell you they are going to sink the economy and the nation, but I'm not really sure. We have twin deficits right now but we can work our way through them if the economy rebounds.
GIBSON: Charles Payne, Wall Street Strategies. Happy New Year Charles.
PAYNE: Thank you.
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