Posted on 11/30/2004 4:21:37 PM PST by M. Espinola
The Euro became legal tender on January 1, 2002. An "all-time" low involving less than three years of data doesn't seem all that impressive.
Were you thinking when you said
"Yes, it has increased the price of oil for us. That's about the only downside, though. It's jumpstarted the economy and it's even caused a dramatic upturn in the amount of drilling we are doing domestically."
Homes
College fees
Medical costs
Lumber
and on and on and on
>>Meanwhile, Europe has a 12% unemployment rate and piss poor productivity.....I'll take the US economy and the dollar any day of the week.<<
Adjust our numbers to the same methods we used five years ago and ours will be close or just above 10%.
How does a currency get "pegged" or "unpegged" from another currency?
Let me just say that I hope you're right...
Good move! I wish all buyers would just think about the differences in ARM'S and shorter term mortgages.
Always ask, "How many years do I expect to live in my new home when buying a mortgage."
Eight years is the longest I have ever owned the same home. If the banks will pay 2% on CD's and real estate is rising at 10 or 15%, why put your money in a bank?
Making money is easier than working if you THINK, THINK and THINK AGAIN about how to do it. Stay informed!
>>Any moron could see the wisdom in that.<<
If they do NOT listen to the Experts or Politicians!
Or if I do, you used really bad examples.
By government order. If you make it the law that a peso is worth 8 to the dollar, or whatever they choose, then that's what it is. Banks and other financial institutions have to make that exchange rate at that amount. There can be a little black market differential, but not much.
Living overseas in the Philippines I follow the exchange rate almost daily. Here the USD is near all time highs against the Filipino Peso.
OK, keep quoting those DNC talking points...
How did I miss such a major change in our methods of measuring this? If true, why wasn't this the major theme of Kerry's campaign?
You've been around here long enough to earn credibility, but this one seems off the wall to me.
In contrast, Dell and HP computers are as cheap and ever, and will be selling like hotcakes everywhere.Find me a Chinese computer that's cheaper and comparable to a Dell, i.e., Pentium chip running at better than 1 Ghz. I don't think you can. I certainly don't know of any, and I'm a computer enthusiast. That's why the Euro-weasels aren't going to be buying Chinese computers. They're going to be buying Dells and HP's.Why wouldn't they just buy Chinese made electronics which are quite a bit cheaper than USA made?
Not only did Americans invent the digital computer, they invented the Internet as well (and the airplane, the transistor, the polio vaccine, and many other inventions).
If I recall correctly, the changes were done in three stages. I remember some brokers talking about it at lunch.
Six months or so after President Bush was elected was when this was initiated, for cost savings.
I'd have to see some links or discussion before I'd seriously entertain that it's true. I just can't believe that we're in an economic recovery by all accounts with an unemployment rate of 10%. Everywhere I look, I see companies hiring at the biggest rate in many years.
Homes, college fees and medical costs today all have imported materials that are part of the reason they have increased.
Example, most of the hardware in a new home is imported, as is the hardware in a hospital. Beds, chairs, desks, x-ray machines, metal doors, etc. The same goes for colleges. Heck, they even buy some books that are published overseas.
The next time you are in you local hardware store ask for a screwdriver that is fully made in the US. We are the proud manufacturer of lots of plastics. Hurray! for the US.
Ask your Senator if he thinks NAFTA did our ecomony any good or if it was harmful. Then ask why he hasn't written a Bill to cancel it.
It's only barely related to a discussion of the strength of the US dollar versus foreign currencies.
>>I just can't believe that we're in an economic recovery by all accounts with an unemployment rate of 10%. Everywhere I look, I see companies hiring at the biggest rate in many years.<<
#1 We aren't in an economic recovery. If your company lays off 1000 workers whose average wage is $20.00 per hr with benefits coming to $38.00 an hour in costs and then a year later hires 500 workers whose average wage is $14.00 per hr. with no benefits that shows me that the company is in a serious financial struggle.
Yes, the employee change was a smart move but it probably was done to prevent bankruptcy. The debits and losses that you've incurred are more than your creditors were willing to assume. The employee profile change wasn't the worlds best because it will take at least five years for your production to rise to previous levels.
One of the largest problem American corporations are having is maintaining their retirement accounts to gov't required levels. It is like an anchor holding them back.
Do you recall hearing of employees laid off with one years wages as a bonus? That is smart financially if you keep enough experienced employees to train your new hires. You can only do this if your business is slower than it was and you are not expecting it to grow to the previous levels before your new employees are all trained.
Then you will have a similar employee profile that isn't receiving benefits, a much cheaper employee profile than before the layoffs.
Here comes the problem. If a competitor is doing the same and four years down the road they start to offer benefits, you must do the same or else you will lose your smarter employees to the competitor.
A bummer, huh?
It's not as good, in relative terms, as we'd like but it's pretty good. It's as least as good as the mid-1990s for most people. Objects may be closer in the mirror than they appear and your mileage may vary, but that's how I see it, and I think most Americans do, too.
When a country accepts as many immigrants, legal and illegal as we do, these people need shelter and employment. The only ones who can provide it are what you and I would call the middle class.
The middle class in America is losing their jobs to the methods I described and having to go back to work at jobs which pay less than they previously held.
The middle class in America are the one with assets that can be traded for cash.
The result in this is that there is probably, in total outlay, the same amount of money being paid in wages but now it is divided amongst a continually increasing group which means that your personal income has dropped and will continue to drop.
When I say 'you' or 'your', I am not speaking of any particular individual but the group as a whole. Some will incur tragic losses while other will maintain, a few may even progress.
Which of the three are you and your family in?
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