Damn...I didn't realize the Dollar had fallen so much. I suppose I should keep up...

[BlueJazz]

...with such things.

Last year I visited my home Country...(Australia).
Before I left I went to a Mall in Tampa and exchanged $1000.00 for some Australian money.
Not sure of the exact amount but I believe I got back something like $1117.00 Australian bucks...which I thought was cool.

I was surfing last night and checked the US Dollar against the AU Dollar. What a Shock!!

I'd get $933 Australian Dollars if I did it today. Damn, what a drop.

I didn't realize it was THAT bad. :(

[melm00se]

1. that's what happens

when the feds print money faster than the economy grows; other countries don't feel warm and fuzzy about your economic growth and the size of your deficits and overall national debt; and the fact that the interest rates paid on borrowed money does not reflect the perceived risk.

The impact, as you have seen, is an increase in prices (inflation) of items purchased outside the home country (or, IOW, imports like oil, natural gas, manufactured goods and the like) but, on the upside, exports are cheaper in the country where they will land.

Long term, however, the slide of the USD as compared to other currencies is not a sustainable trend. eventually, the USD will lose its status as the world's reserve currency which have a dramatic effect on cost of importing strategic and mission critical imports (like oil). In that situation, the USD will have to be converted into the current reserve currency (which has a cost) before the product(s) can be purchased/imported. the cost to exchange the currency (X%) will be added to the price of the product(s) and be passed onto the consumer.

The only upside to this is that manufactured goods made in the country with the weaker currency become more attractive in the export markets until, of course, the receiving countries begin to place tariffs on those products as those imports begin to threaten their domestic industries.

[ThomWV]

2. This reminds me of how you can make money without working

"Buy cheap and sell dear."

[Poboy]

3. US Dollar Index NYBOT

-0.185%
VALUE: 73.887 USD

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DXY:IND

[jeff47]

4. Were you more concerned when the dollar was lower during W's administration?

If I remember correctly, all the people whining about the low dollar were crowing about how great the low dollar was back then.

[melm00se]

6. like so many things

there is a balancing point.

A weaker dollar (to a certain extent) made sense but once you pass over the balance point, an overly weak dollar becomes damaging.

A strong dollar (among other things) helped destroy our industrial base.
A weaker dollar can help rebuild it.
A too weak dollar will grind us into the ground.

[jeff47]

7. Then this post contradicts your earlier one

Given our current economic situation, the stimulative effect of a weak dollar would be a good thing now, compared to the weaker dollar during W's administration.

Anyway, on this subject, I defer to those with Nobel prizes. Especially when the prize is for the odd economics of liquidity traps, such as the one we are in.

[melm00se]

9. not at all

a weak dollar, in and of itself is not a bad thing. an overly weak dollar combined with inflation and an increasing monetary supply is a bad thing.

[jberryhill]

5. I tried to get 20 dollars out the ATM

...but by the time I pressed "OK" it went down to 15.

[BlueJazz]

8. LOL!

[Art_from_Ark]

10. One thing to bear in mind

is that Australia is a low-population, resource-rich country which is currently enjoying high commodities prices and has customers in the Far East who eagerly buy up all the Australian iron ore and coal they can get their hands on. With all this resource money coming in and a small population to share it with, it's easy to get the value of the currency to rise.