WP: A Painful Exchange: Americans' Pocketbooks Pinched by Euro, Pound

[DeepModem Mom]

A Painful Exchange
Americans' Pocketbooks Pinched by Euro, Pound
By John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 9, 2006; Page D01

....The tanking dollar, which recently hit a 20-month low against the euro and a 14-year low against the British pound, has Americans who live or travel in Europe gulping harder, digging deeper and shelling out painful amounts of money.

The $9 soda, the $5 espresso and the $30 taxi ride are commonplace. Dinner for four at a pizza joint for $100 is starting to leave a bad taste in Yankee mouths....

The greenback is taking one of its worst beatings ever in Europe, with high U.S. trade and budget deficits, low personal savings, the burst of the U.S. housing bubble and threats of a recession driving down the value of the dollar overseas, particularly in Europe, where economic growth is picking up.

On Friday, it took $1.32 to buy one euro, a fall in value of about 13 percent on the year and approaching the record of $1.36 in December 2004....

***

The dollar is doing even worse against the pound, down about 15 percent this year. On Friday, it took $1.95 to buy one pound, a 14-year-low that approached the psychological 2-to-1 exchange rate barrier....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/08/AR2006120801712.html?nav=most_emailed

[aquart]

1. Thanks, George.

Republicans are great for the economy.

[mcscajun]

2. This should prove interesting; one of my co-workers just left for Germany

on Thursday, hitting the German holiday markets, returning on the 18th. I can't wait to hear her laments.

[Drum]

3. I am leaving for Germany tonight...

on the downside, it's only for four days, a work thing. I had intended to buy some nice Christmas presents at the holiday markets, as well as gorge myself on some yummies...not looking forward to doing that sad math in anticipation of every purchase.

:(

[gulliver]

4. I'm about 80% in foreign mutual funds at this point.

It has been working out very well so far. Bush et al have just created a bad business environment in this country. Enron, the shrinking dollar, jobs exportation, exploding deficits (trade and fiscal), corruption at unprecedented levels... I'm out until we restore some responsibility and honesty in American government and business.

I figure I'll give the Dems a little time to start the oversight machinery back into operation. Then I want the dollar to get some respect. Once that happens I'll start to think about investing in American funds again (too busy/uninformed to invest in stocks really).

I have an idea for a fund, and I wonder if it exists. Does anyone know of an American stock fund that focuses on buying stocks in companies least affiliated with corruption? The research should be fairly straightforward. Just focus on companies that give predominantly to Republicans and, perhaps, only thrived during the Bush years. The theory is that the clean companies are the most likely to recover first once America gets back on track and the dirty companies whose "business strategy" involves political manipulation will trail.