Doc Howl

FINANCE - The buck doesn't stop here; it just keeps falling - Top News - Comcast.net


WASHINGTON - Things in the U.S. sure are tough. Brother, can you spare a euro? Signs saying "We accept euros" are cropping up in the windows of some Manhattan retailers. A Belgium company is trying to gobble up St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer and iconic Super Bowl advertiser.


The almighty dollar is mighty no more. It has been declining steadily for six years against other major currencies, undercutting its role as the leading international banking currency. The long slide is fanning inflation at home and playing a major role in the run-up of oil and gasoline prices everywhere.
Vacationing Europeans are finding bargains in the U.S., while Americans in Paris and other world capitals are being clobbered by sky-high tabs for hotels, travel and even sidewalk cafes. Northern border-city Americans who once flocked into Canada for shopping deals are staying home; it's the Canadians flocking here now.


Everything made in America _ from goods to entire companies _ is near dirt cheap to many foreigners. Meanwhile, American consumers, both those who travel and those who stay at home, are seeing big price increases in energy, food and imported goods. The dollar has lost roughly a quarter of its purchasing power against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners from its peak in 2002.



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Now, I was told for the last 6 years that sending our manufacturing overseas wouldn't hurt us; that manufacturing was going the way of "buggy whips".

Now it looks like the people who bought these buggy whips have come back to beat us with them.

Welcome to the dust bin of history, America.

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"Extremism in the defense of extremism is no vice."
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DeeJayH

old news
started in NYC months ago
but it is disconcerning
but not necesarily a bad thing
we do get alot of Euro tourists

__________________
These days it seems that the deadliest place on earth for an American to be is inside the womb. - Joshua P. Allem

Doc Howl

If it was a response to increased tourism, that would be one thing.

If it's a response to a 25% drop in the purchasing power of the USD, that's another thing entirely.

Objective Voice

Doc Howl,

Agreed.

As a Navy veteran, I've travelled overseas on both coasts dating back from the mid-80's to the late 90's and I can tell you that the U.S. dollar use to be strong! Not so much anymore. As a tourist in foreign lands - France, Spain, Singapore, Phillipines, Africa, China, Japan - it use to amaze me how the merchants in these such nations would fall over each other just to get that Ole Mighty Dollar. Haven't been overseas since the Fall of 1999, but from the sound of it (not just the commentary from this thread but from what I've been reading in U.S. financial commentary from various editorials and magazines), the U.S. dollar just isn't that strong anymore and alot of that has to do with how much of our commercial infrustructor has been outsourced overseas. It started out in small manufacturing, i.e., pens, figurines, toys, and then began to move into larger things, i.e., small electronics and appliances. Now, it's cars (parts and accessories), construction materials, and has even spread vastly throughout the service sector. The next time you actually reach a live person on your telephone don't be surprised when you hear that foreign voice on the other end. The 1-800 number may not go to somewhere in Brooklyn, NY anymore...more like India.

RightinNYC

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