The dollar struck a fresh all-time low against the euro as gold prices traded close to record highs a day after topping 1,000 dollars for the first time on US economic woes.
Oil prices fell on profit-taking after striking an historic peak of 111 dollars per barrel Thursday.
In later European trading the euro stood at 1.5566 dollars, down from 1.5624 late on Thursday in New York.
Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said the problem was more about the dollar’s weakness, which has been driven by growing concerns that the US economy has lurched into recession.
I read the news, today, oh boy…
Thanks, Mr. Justin
That’s got to be the ugliest chunk of change since the Susan B. Anthony buck-up.
Too bad European tourist hesitate to come to the US because they think we’re friggin nuts over here.
@RTaylor: You are nuts.
I’m not giving my fingerprints for a vacation.
And I don’t like countries who torture prisoners.
So the other day the Fed, instead of lowering interest rates again (they still may) converted hard to sell mortgage based bonds into easy to sell treasury bonds, which caused the stock market to jump big time.
The effect is the same though, it seriously devalued the Dollar yet again.
The stock market loves the devaluing dollar, but average consumers are consistently the big losers here. We are paying for debt burdens with higher prices.
Gold was actually around $2,000.00 per ounce, in inflation adjusted dollars, back in the 80’s.
Man… you guys run a sloppy ship. The amount of BS you guys post is astonishing.
Doesn’t anybody do any research? Apparently not. I guess it’s just easier to be a lazy fuckwad and cut and paste garbage without having to do the hard work of using Google for 5 minutes to verify something.
Losers…
So what will the inflation adjusted dollar value of an ounce of gold be in 2028? Who will give a crap when an “inflation adjusted dollar value” loaf of bread is $100+ and people are dying in the streets because they can only afford a $20 loaf. We can not keep printing dollars and hope to “keep expanding the economy”. Just ask the Germans if it worked after WW1. Seems like their only out was to attempt to spread their form of government around the world. Sound familiar?
#2 .. Europeans that I encounter come to the US as a sort of Disney Land experience and beaches.
Lot’s of shiny things, rides and nice weather. Culture and trying to figure out American priorities is something they gave up on long ago.
#5 JPV – Hmm, first time I’ve seen a post from you that’s even close to accurate…the gold price part anyways.
I’m from the UK and I have to say I like the Euro.
For me it means summer holidays in France and skiing in Italy in February.
I like not having to strain to figure out the differences between francs and lira and wouldn’t care if we ditched the pound for the euro.
If you Americans save really hard you might be able to get some.
Oh had JPV in an act of rebellion against your rant I have used Yahoo instead of google for some interesting verification – check the 5 year graph – from .95 to .65 in a steady decline.
http://tinyurl.com/d8nwt
[Please use TinyUrl.com for overly long URLs. – ed.]
#6 It’s amazing how many people don’t realize what the main cause of infltion is. Keep the presses rolling! $10/gal gas here we come…
So what? The EU will only hurt itself. They need to buy more GOLD!!! Yea! that’s a useful metal!
I can’t think of anything European that I need or want that I can’t find here.
Everything us better here in the USA….
NA NA NA NA NA NA!!
I wonder if its intentional or just stupid lucky for the media and the government to constantly tell us the War in Iraq is bogus because “The American People aren’t being asked to sacrifice.”
On the surface, that sounds like a “talk truth to power” type of confrontration==but I think the actual deeper psychological impact is to put people to sleep in our complacency.
THE WAR IN IRAQ AND TAX (NOT) POLICIES are costing us dearly. Consult our dollars value and the national debt. Bushie boy is just a failed coke head but Cheney and Rove be up on charges.
One of the largest causes of inflation in the modern economy is dept, and interest rates. The US keeps lowering interest rates so all those idiots will not lose their homes, but the rest of the world does not. Add to that you have a congress and executive branch that loves to write blank checks to any pet project (and as far as I can tell none of the current crop of candidates is about to change this, just the opposite in fact), and it all equals up to a weak dollar.
Whats going to happen is this, at some point its all going to collapse (we still have a while before that happens a year at least, though gas prices could hurry it along some), and the US is going to fall into a pretty bad recession, followed shortly by the rest of the world (interconnected economies and all that). Interest rates will climb sharply, allot of people will lose their houses (why in the he** did you ever get a floating interest rate anyways?). The job market will for the most part suck for several years before everything re balances itself in about 4-5 years time.
The wild card in all this is energy costs, Gas prices are never going to go down significantly ever again. Oh sure we may see a dollar drop here and their, but for the most part its going to go up into the $5 a gallon range and stay their. This will start to make people change their lives significantly, people are already pulling out their oil furnaces and driving smaller cars, the cost of fuel will accelerate this.
Maybe a viable biofuel or other portable energy source will come along in the mean time, I doubt it, but that would of course make the recession last less time. In the end though the politicians will continue spend money they don’t have to buy even more votes, and the result for our children will be worse.
#5 is absolutely correct – as ever. In fact, we should pass a law that every journalist for every source must be required to include a correction in 1920 gold-backed dollars when reporting currency. Then, every anal copout conservative whose gonads twitch painfully upon mention of yet another aspect of American life screwing over working folk – won’t be permanently disabled.
As if he could give a shit.
>If you Americans save really hard you might be able to get some.
And if Europeans save hard they would afford to buy their own house.
#10 – It’s amazing how many people don’t realize what the main cause of infltion is.
Yes. I’m stunned that only a small percentage of people majored in economics.
The last time we had a dollar this weak we had lost the Vietnam war.
#13 – Whats going to happen is this, at some point its all going to collapse (we still have a while before that happens a year at least, though gas prices could hurry it along some),
Within a year, I’ll be 100% debt free…
and the US is going to fall into a pretty bad recession, followed shortly by the rest of the world (interconnected economies and all that).
A well deserved recession, if you believe in Karma. Now the rich can get a small taste of how others of us have lived entire lives.
Interest rates will climb sharply, allot of people will lose their houses (why in the he** did you ever get a floating interest rate anyways?).
And the conditions will be easier for sowing the seeds of revolution. Another upside to the coming disaster.
The job market will for the most part suck for several years before everything re balances itself in about 4-5 years time.
How do you explain a job market that has kind of sucked for about the whole decade already?
The nice thing about collapse is that cops will only bash rioters heads in as long as their paychecks don’t bounce… and their paychecks are gonna bounce.
Call me optimistic, but we might be looking down the barrel of revolution. WOO HOO!
#10. Money, by Kenneth Galbraith, said that inflation is caused by having too much, money.
#16 – OhForTheLoveOf
No need to have a degree in economics to know what inflation is and what it causes… it just requires an ounce of general knowledge… but then again, that’s scarce in a country where a majority of people still believe in supernatural beings.
#19 “Kenneth Galbraith, said that inflation is caused by having too much, money.”
In relation to what? If he means in relation to the production of a country, sure. Print too much and instant inflation. Most people don’t even understand that money simply represents s/g. They don’t even understand why money was created.
15-
And how many American’s who ‘bought’ a house are now losing them in record numbers?
By your definition, the standard of being successful is plunging yourself into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
The amount of ignornance I see posted in the name of nationalism staggers me.
***ANOTHER REPBULICAN DEPRESSION*** !!! And the JERK IN THE OVAL OFFICE is telling us “Prosperity is just around the corner” !!! I guess after having LOOTED THE TREASURY, THE REPUKES ARE READY TO CLEAR OUT – TO DUBAI, AND OTHER OFF-SHORE HAVENS FOR CROOKS !!! Time for the Grownups (DEMS) to come in and clean up this mess !!! (but first, banishing the Repukes to another 40 or 80 years in the wilderness !!!)
I like the euro coins. Drop the penny and get some 1$ and 2$ coins!
#23 – Yes, I remember the meltdown in the 70’s. After the Dems controlled the purse strings for decades. Neither side can find their way out of a paperbag.
Why? Because for most politicians it’s about maintaining power and/or getting weathly off of the public teat.
Out of the 3 major Pres candidates, none have enough successful Executive & administrative experience to qualify for the top Executive position on the planet.
Interesting to see, that the 2 euro coin shown above has Norway as one of the member counties of the European Union. Whereas in real live, the real euro coins only show Sweden there in the tiny map; looking like a flacid penis.
Dollars cheaper than dirt. Houses sold off left, right, and centre… Maybe it’s time to pick up somer property for the coins I found in my sock drawer. ;P
Are Euro Coins ugly?
Check the other side
http://www.eurocoins.co.uk/images1euros.html
#26: the real euro coins only show Sweden there in the tiny map; looking like a flacid penis.
Which, according to a Swedish friend of mine, is why Sweden opted out of the Euro zone. After all, they have a reputation to maintain.
#18
Revolution? In the current United States? Seriously?
LOL
People in the U.S. are far too apathetic and (quite frankly) too lazy to carry out a revolution of any sort. At best we’ll see a little bit of change in the next presidential term. Otherwise we’re probably going to be about the same as we are now, just a little poorer.