So you buy a lot of European products?
“It’s all relative and the slide in the dollar has been a very good thing for the US manufacturing and exporting sector. -— Well, that’s good. Because for the rest of us, it’s been a nice little pay cut.”
I happen to be paid in dollars and actually live in Europe. This has not been a “little pay cut” for me. My purchasing power has gone down at least 20% in the last two years. That’s not a “little” pay cut -— it is a huge pay cut. In that sense, in the short term I taking it in the shorts.
But I see it very different than you do. My long term interest is in the U.S. economy, and I can see that the low dollar/euro rate now is encouraging heavy investment in the U.S. Just as one of many examples, the other day I read about how the German company ThyssenKrupp was constructing a 4 Billion dollar plant in Alabama. I’m sure ThyssenKrupp expects to profit from that investment, but I’m also sure that a lot of U.S. families will be putting a lot of bread on the table building the plant, and then working in it. It is not like the Germans will later pick up their plant and take it home with them.
For personal reasons I would like the dollar to go back up, and fast! For the good of the U.S. economy, the low dollar will pay big dividends in the future, and I’m more concerned about that.
While I was composing my post, Blam happened to be posting the facts about ThyssenKrupp. See Post 46.