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Topic: That poor poor dollar...
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| chucho | Posted – 9/17/2007 8:52:13 AM | show profile The US is the No. 3 tourist destination in the world, which is dominated by tourists from Europe. I think the European consumer is generally more into buying local or EU-made products, so, yeah, I think your German buddy is hanging out with the down-with-America set. (I empathize as I am pretty down with America these days, too). Earlier this year I spent an afternoon watching hundreds and hundreds of Parisians cycling in and out of the McDonald's by the Pompidou Museum. Even filmed some of it. As Robert Crumb said explaining his move to France: "Talk to my wife if you wanna know why. France is only slightly less evil than the United States." PS: Kuwait earlier this year broke from pegging its dinar to the dollar. America's never had a default. But it could happen in our lifetime very easily. (Mexico's Cetes Bonds default -- the one where Clinton averted a larger "Tequila Crisis" meltdown with an emergency loan, which Mexico paid back in a timely manner -- caused credit cards APRs in Mexico to break 100% Imagine an Uncle Sam Crisis. There would be a global shit-storm.) |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 9/18/2007 11:43:05 PM | show profile Well that poor poor dollar continues to fall. Now the Canadian dollar is worth 99 cents! Helicopter Ben Bernanke decided to cut interest rates, which will lead to greater inflation, the further fall of the dollar, and an increase in the cost of oil (and other imports). Who benefits? |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 9/20/2007 9:35:25 AM | show profile Another day, another new record dollar low. Meanwhile... ***** Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East. "This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar," said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas. ...As a close ally of the US, Riyadh has so far tried to stick to the peg, but the link is now destabilising its own economy. ..."This is nothing like the situation in 1998 when the crisis was in Asia, but the US was booming. This time the US itself is the problem," he said. ...Jim Rogers, the commodity king and former partner of George Soros, said the Federal Reserve was playing with fire by cutting rates so aggressively at a time when the dollar was already under pressure. ..."If Ben Bernanke starts running those printing presses even faster than he's already doing, we are going to have a serious recession. The dollar's going to collapse, the bond market's going to collapse. There's going to be a lot of problems," he said. ...For Saudi Arabia, the dollar peg has clearly become a liability. Inflation has risen to 4pc and the M3 broad money supply is surging at 22pc. The pressures are even worse in other parts of the Gulf. The United Arab Emirates now faces inflation of 9.3pc, a 20-year high. In Qatar it has reached 13pc. Kuwait became the first of the oil sheikhdoms to break its dollar peg in May, a move that has begun to rein in rampant money supply growth. UK Telegraph |
| chucho | Posted – 9/20/2007 9:48:26 AM | show profile I read that Telegraph story, too. Saudi Arabia hold 850 billion in US debt and the entire Gulf region has $3.5 BILLION "in management". Looks to me like the US has it's testicles in a vice, and China and those scary Ay-Rabs have their hands on vice. Funny thing is, they only keeping them from turning the screw is their (decreasing) dependence on fat Americans driving their gas guzzlers to Wal Mart (China's seventh-largest trading partner) to buy cheap plastic lawn furniture made by slaves who have less freedom than any Iraqi ever did) in a corrupt communist country. Lovely. |
| chucho | Posted – 9/20/2007 10:44:56 AM | show profile Er, make that 3.5 TRILLION |
| chucho | Posted – 9/20/2007 10:49:54 AM | show profile Oh, and that includes assets and investments, not just Tresury bonds. It seems Bin Waleed owns most of Manhattan (Kingdom Holding Co.) alone. American is a great investment right now because the dollar is so cheap and Americans will whore themselves off to anyone with money because capital gains IS a values system in and of itself in the eyes of many Americans, neo conservative, neoliberal, or any other "neo". Essentailly, it's yer God given right to shit on the environment and abuse labor rights as far as you can go without insisting the worker to acts of violence. Welcome to the Gilded Age Redux. Except now, we're not the only O.G. on tha' block. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 9/20/2007 10:02:28 PM | show profile Here's the problem, chucho, everyone is looking out for the short-term. Short-term profits in particular. Or short-term economic results to prepare for the next election in 2, 4, or 6 years. Who is really saying what we need to do now, to improve our lot for the long-term? |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 9/28/2007 2:29:04 PM | show profile Stanley, I've been thinking of you. From bad to horrible. The dollar (as you no doubt know) has reached record lows against the Euro for seven straight days! Looks like your salary is now down almost six percent just in the last few weeks! Or if you started five or so years ago, down 32 percent. I hope you're getting big fat annual raises to compensate. |
| Newzaroo | Posted – 9/28/2007 5:01:04 PM | show profile Don't care, I'm filthy rich... _____________________ |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 10/19/2007 1:13:17 AM | show profile How low can she go? With the Canadian dollar at almost 1.03 to one US dollar, even the Daily Show and Colbert Report are asking for money to be sent in Canadian dollars please. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 10/26/2007 12:41:47 PM | show profile I heard today about some Canadians buying up some major US energy utilities. Since we're so cheap now, all the foreign investors can come on in an buy us up! Yee haw! |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 10/30/2007 9:08:57 AM | show profile Meanwhile, back at the ranch, UGoGirl learns that the Canadian loonie has reached a 47 year high against the ever falling dollar, with more and more of America being sold off to the wealthy (oil exporting) foreign companies and governments. America quickly becoming a land of serfs supporting its foreign masters. But will Helicopter Ben Bernanke have the guts NOT to further decrease interest rates and put a stopper in the bathtub, or will he cave in again to "investors" and reduce interest rates and let the dollar continue bleeding? Stay tuned .... |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 11/6/2007 10:08:20 PM | show profile In free fall.... Jesus, it's falling fast. Now the Canadian dollar is worth almost $1.10 to the US dollar. This may be getting out of the fed's hand. Oil is rising quickly, certainly partially in response to the pitifully weak dollar, since oil is traded in dollars. Hmmm.... |
| Stanley_Milgram | Posted – 11/7/2007 10:38:23 AM | show profile More bad news. Chicks no longer dig the dollar. To wit: Gisele Bundchen wants to remain the world's richest model and is insisting that she be paid in almost any currency but the U.S. dollar. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid =aCs.keWwNdiY&refer=home |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 11/7/2007 10:50:44 AM | show profile Canadians are flying across the border in droves to take advantage of our strong dollar.... as the Christmas season nears it is only going to get worse, businesses will have to lay off more employees or close their business down as Canadians rush to the US for every shopping need. Andwho can blame them a deal is a deal... Retailers are scrambling to adjust the US/CDN discrepancy to try to stave off a complete retail breakdown but they still cannot compete...so it is not necessarily good for our economy. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 11/7/2007 9:35:46 PM | show profile It's a really fine line. A weaker dollar can be good for US businesses that produce most of their stuff within the US (cheaper to sell abroad), and it can be good (in my view) in increasing the cost of oil so we use less of it and hopefully move toward alternatives. And it can be good, as far as I understand and I don't really understand it, in making our huge deficits cheaper for us to pay back. But the danger/problem is that it can greatly increase costs for us everyday Americans (especially energy and food). Especially if foreign governments that have a lot of dollars realize that we're not really trying to keep the value of the dollar strong so everyday they keep holding those US dollars they are losing money. If there is a stampede to get rid of these US dollars (as it appears we might be starting to see), then we're kind of in uncharted territory as far as the ramifications and things spiraling out of control. Yes, the strong canadian dollar/weak US dollar may not be good for Canadian business, but maybe good for the Canadian consumer? |
