rchua
Senior Travel Member
travel is the spice of life
Posts: 148
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Post by rchua on Dec 17, 2007 20:56:12 GMT -5
do any of you think the dollar will recover against the pound or the euro? it just seems like it keeps sinking in value every day. this will make it difficult for people to travel with it being so expensive to travel to europe. just curious what you guys think.
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Post by me on Dec 17, 2007 22:51:22 GMT -5
if by *recover* you mean return to the greenback's overvalued past, i sure hope not. the days of Bretton Woods, where the US$ served as reserve currency to the world and contries could devalue at America's expense, are gone. with luck, they're gone for good.
USA is still the world's preeminent economic & political power, our industry will do all the better without the "strong dollar tax." and others will still turn to America if needed, but we won't neccesarily be the fist place to go.
who knows, maybe America will be able to lighten it's load in paying the UN's budget. is America still footing 25% & 30% of the bill for UN general operations & peacekeeping, respectively?
- d
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Post by herrbert on Dec 18, 2007 5:43:30 GMT -5
As long as the US government keeps spending more money than it has that will not happen.
(btw. the US does pay the maximum of 22% of the budget, if there was no limit it would be 27%, the EU-countries combined pay 37,5%)
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Post by WillTravel on Dec 18, 2007 13:18:38 GMT -5
It's not sinking in value every day - the USD has risen a bit from its lowest point against the Euro and pound a few weeks ago. I don't think there's a great way to plan for the currency fluctuations in advance, other than to try to save up more money than you will need, because there's no way to be sure what will happen. I agree that it's unlikely the USD will rise very much - and the longterm trend is probably downwards.
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Post by me on Dec 18, 2007 23:53:04 GMT -5
(btw. the US does pay the maximum of 22% of the budget, if there was no limit it would be 27%, the EU-countries combined pay 37,5%) is that 22% for general operations or for peacekeeping? btw, US & EU are not really comparable. US get's just one vote. EU gets 27. [granted, US is a P5 member of UNSC. but, EU has two P5 memberships, UK & France!] |
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Post by herrbert on Dec 19, 2007 5:47:22 GMT -5
(btw. the US does pay the maximum of 22% of the budget, if there was no limit it would be 27%, the EU-countries combined pay 37,5%) is that 22% for general operations or for peacekeeping? btw, US & EU are not really comparable. US get's just one vote. EU gets 27. [granted, US is a P5 member of UNSC. but, EU has two P5 memberships, UK & France!] General costs for the entire UN, and ofcourse you can't compare it properly, as the EU is not 1 country. (but Japan is, and they pay 19 point something %) The Dollar is not sinking every day, but it respons to a lot of things. Interest rates going up or down, have an influence. If you aware of the housing market in both the US and the UK, you have no trouble predicting, more troubles ahead. Here on the other side of the Atlantic I am pretty happy about the low dollar. It keeps the already high petrol prices (1.44 euro/liter) a little bit payable. |
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Post by me on Dec 19, 2007 11:49:48 GMT -5
General costs for the entire UN, and ofcourse you can't compare it properly, as the EU is not 1 country. (but Japan is, and they pay 19 point something %) yes, Japan is getting a raw deal. they pay a huge amount to UN, yet get no extra influence! China pays a relative pittance in UN dues, yet is the world's #2 economy and is a P5 member <has a veto> on the UN Security Council! Here on the other side of the Atlantic I am pretty happy about the low dollar. It keeps the already high petrol prices (1.44 euro/liter) a little bit payable. Oil is priced in US$'s, also a leftover from Bretton Woods. China's Renminbi/Yuan is linked to US$ value by People's Bank manipulations. Chinese products are certainly extra cheap in Europe & Canada as the US$ has dropped. i once asked here if any countries were having deflation because so many world commodities are priced in US$'s. deflation can cause havoc to an economy. The Dollar is not sinking every day, but it respons to a lot of things. Interest rates going up or down, have an influence. If you aware of the housing market in both the US and the UK, you have no trouble predicting, more troubles ahead. the sub-prime mortgage crisis is having an impact here. the Fed has cut interest rates again. in America, the big threat is inflation. all these rate cuts might bring inflation back.  - d |
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