Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

When dollar falls, European exporters count their bruises
LA Times ^ | 17 November 2007 | Geraldine Baum

Posted on 11/17/2007 10:16:45 AM PST by shrinkermd

The euro's rise and dollar's slide are squeezing European exporters' profits or multiplying their losses, prompting layoffs and plant closings. Companies are not only curbing production of goods headed to U.S. buyers but also rethinking the way they do business.

The euro recently passed the record $1.47 mark, gaining 11.5% since the beginning of the year against the greenback. It closed Friday at $1.46; a dollar bought 0.68 euro.

Most emblematic of the problem has been the impact of the euro-dollar relationship on the aeronautics industry -- and particularly on France's Airbus, whose main rival is U.S.-based Boeing.

With a falling dollar making Boeing's products cheaper outside the U.S. and Airbus' more expensive, Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus' parent EADS, recently described the sinking U.S. currency as a "sword of Damocles" hanging over the company's future. He vowed to cut an additional 1 billion euros in operating costs by 2010 or 2011.

This would mean more layoffs at a company that is already purging 10,000 jobs, a decision made when one euro equaled $1.35.

Survival strategies

Less dramatic but no less crucial is the impact on other European companies that export sophisticated equipment, technology, cosmetics, cars and luxury goods. For firms that make a large portion of their sales in the United States or compete with firms that deal in dollars, survival depends on raising prices, cutting costs or hedging currencies.

The strong British pound, moribund Japanese yen and undervalued Chinese yuan also play roles in this tale of currency chaos, from a European exporter's perspective. Nearly every day, another company announces more lost earnings and job cuts and blames the currency commotion.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: devaluation; dollar; trade
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 301-320321-340341-360 ... 401-410 next last
To: AndyJackson

Why would you divide 25 by 37 in that context?


321 posted on 11/27/2007 8:07:42 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 320 | View Replies]

To: expat_panama
So what we got is that there is no existing method of calculating inflation that you're willing to accept.

Not true. See links in posts 308 and 309.

322 posted on 11/27/2007 8:09:06 AM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 318 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot

I am not going to teach you two guys chart reading and arithmetic.


323 posted on 11/27/2007 8:09:48 AM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 321 | View Replies]

To: groanup
Check it out, the expert doesn’t know how to calculate compound interest. LOL!
324 posted on 11/27/2007 8:15:01 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 320 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson; Toddsterpatriot
"($88,000-$63,000)/37=.6% per annum growth in personal income"

You didn't mean that an increase of $25,000 over 37 years (namely $675.68 per year), is the same as saying this is a 0.67568% each year.  

My guess is you meant that the growth of $63k to $88k is a factor of 1.4 over 37 years; which is the same as multiplying $63k by 1.009 --again and again 37 times until we can get $88k.  In other words: 371.4 = 1.009, or 1.00937=1.4.

325 posted on 11/27/2007 10:05:49 AM PST by expat_panama
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 323 | View Replies]

To: expat_panama

yes, I agree that you are right in terms of how to calculate this precisely. I still don’t think that .9% per annum government advertised growth in personal income based on government advertised CPI is stunning or, in your words “soaring.” Again, a 1% error in govenrment CPI calculations would make the actual growth negative, and given HOW the CPI is calculated (with substitutions, geometric and hedonic corrections) I don’t know why you would choose to believe it as a correct methodology.


326 posted on 11/27/2007 10:34:54 AM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 325 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson
I am not going to teach you two guys chart reading and arithmetic.....

Obviously not.

yes, I agree that you are right in terms of how to calculate this precisely.


327 posted on 11/27/2007 11:07:38 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 326 | View Replies]

To: expat_panama
In other words: 37√1.4 = 1.009, or 1.00937=1.4.

That number sounds very familiar.

328 posted on 11/27/2007 11:09:49 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 325 | View Replies]

To: expat_panama

I love this guy!

329 posted on 11/27/2007 11:18:48 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 318 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot
Obviously you are ignoring the real point. First, is .9% per year average income growth "soaring," second, is it even real, and third, with GDP growing at 4% per year (so would be the claim from the official statistics) why is personal income only growing at 1%?

That is three serious questions, and not one invitation for another childish snear.

330 posted on 11/27/2007 12:16:04 PM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 327 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson
Obviously you are ignoring the real point.

You're right. Your weakness in math is a distraction from your lack of knowledge in other areas.

First, is .9% per year average income growth "soaring,"

Over and above inflation. Maybe you should compare that number to the income growth in some other developed nations?

second, is it even real

Compared to the numbers John Williams comes up with?

why is personal income only growing at 1%?

Do you really want me to explain what else is included in GDP?

331 posted on 11/27/2007 12:23:20 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 330 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot

Thanks for playing.


332 posted on 11/27/2007 12:49:14 PM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 331 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson
there is no existing method of calculating inflation that you're willing to accept.

Not true. See links in posts 308 and 309.

John Williams said a lot about why his methods are great, but he's never said just what they are.  He's not even willing to part with the index set itself --the link just goes to some $90 toll booth with no guarantee of results.

No problem; we reverse engineer it and find out that since 1980 the CPI says average prices for urban consumers has gone up 2.7 times, while Williams pegs true inflation at a factor of 6.3.  Now let's look at the costs of some of the things we buy and check how expensive they've gotten:

Since 1980--

Price multiple

Medical Care 4.99
Construction Materials 2.47
Food 2.19
Unskilled labor 2.15
Gold 1.00
Oil 2.37
   
Average: 2.53

That 6.3 factor seems high, but there's no way of telling how he came up with his numbers..

Something else I can't figure out is what good the SGS index is, other than for making money for Williams and for saying Bush is a miserable failure.  I mean, none of us are about to insist on paying three times as much for food just for the sake of "fairness".

333 posted on 11/27/2007 1:03:35 PM PST by expat_panama
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 322 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot; AndyJackson
I love this guy!

Dang, I can't keep up with y'all --busy day at the market today...

Using the other .gif with the SGS index, I approximated some values for it using his graph and back figured what his index is (superimposed plot below).

The thing is, if we believe that the SGS is true inflation then we've got to say that all the other prices are plummeting.  I mean, look at the prices of milk and potatoes even. 

I'm wondering if John Williams would say that gold is under priced by a factor of seven these days, or would he say it was overvalued by the same amount in 1980?

334 posted on 11/27/2007 1:19:53 PM PST by expat_panama
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 329 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson

I am not going to teach you chart reading and arithmetic.


335 posted on 11/27/2007 1:38:17 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 332 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot; AndyJackson
It's beginning to look like Williams' "methodology" was to just fudge the CPI with a gradually varying factor.  

Look and the PCE/CPI contrast in post 298.  Sometimes one goes up and the other goes down.  That's because they use prices for different things and they weight other items differently.  The way CPI and SGS track so consistently, it looks like all he did was take the same numbers and move them over.  In fact, he may have not even needed a spreadsheet at all --I say that his graphs were done with Photoshop and Yours Truly has the only existing data set on the index.

In view of the fact that y'all are my good buddies, I'm willing to share the numbers for just $87.50.

336 posted on 11/27/2007 2:03:33 PM PST by expat_panama
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 335 | View Replies]

To: expat_panama
Looks like he stuck a pin in 1983 and rotated the chart counter-clockwise.
337 posted on 11/27/2007 2:23:15 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 336 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot
Looks like he stuck a pin in 1983 and rotated the chart counter-clockwise.

Hmmmm...


338 posted on 11/27/2007 3:09:30 PM PST by expat_panama
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 337 | View Replies]

To: expat_panama

Close. Try to cut off everything to the left on '83 or '84. Then rotate it.

339 posted on 11/27/2007 3:12:57 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 338 | View Replies]

To: Toddsterpatriot
left on

left of

340 posted on 11/27/2007 3:14:34 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (What came first, the bad math or the goldbuggery?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 339 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 301-320321-340341-360 ... 401-410 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson