[Vacancier Permanent]

Wow, I've never seen the US$ so low. Since I work online and get paid in US$, when I transfer those US$ into Canadian $, I'm losing about 10% right of the bat in the exchange rate. That's crazy. While it's good to have a strong and highly valued Canadian $ as it makes going to the US cheaper for us when we go south of the border and when it comes to buying stuff online, which for 95% are in US$. However, when it comes to getting paid in US$, it sucks royally. Anyways, any other Canuck out there getting killed by the deadly combo of very low US$ and the exchange rates? How do you guys handle that in order not to lose 10% right off the bat when you withdraw the $? As I type this, I'm trying to transer from my US$ account into my Canadian acct $2KUS$ into Canadian $ and I'm getting only $1842 in Canadian $!!!! Damn!!!!

I remember reading a few years ago that Gisele Bundchen, the Brasilian model, renogatiated her contract with her US based sponsors, that from now on, she would get paid not in US$ but in Euros or Pounds. Damn smart girl! I wish I could do the same...LOL I fondly remember the days when the US$=1.2 Canadian dollar when those cool 1K US$ commissions gave me about $1200 in canadian $ and it wasn't that long ago (december 2008, early 2009). Back around 2002, when the US$ was trading at 1.6 Canadian, it must have been SWEET getting paid in US$, but I wasn't online at the time.

Anyways, anyone else in here being badly affected by the sinking US dollar? And what are you doing to offset/recoup that loss? How is the low US$ affecting your business(es), whether it'd be positively or negatively? For all the economists or wanna-be economists out there, when is the US$ going to stop sinking?It surely cannot go any lower, can it now?

[speakeasy]

I was just having a talk with my friend about this. The US is in a unique situation. Our dollar can drop like crazy but it really doesn't make much difference in the lives of the average American except for oil or the occasional one of us that travels abroad. Since we have economy hegemony and are the world's largest consumers, exporters can't wildly raise prices to reflect the dropping dollar. The dollar has lost like 40% against the Euro in the past 15 years, but that doesn't mean BMW can raise the price of BMWs by 40% or Americans will just stop buying them. If we were only a few percent of their market, they might not give a shit, but we are probably their number one customer so they can't afford to lose our business. The dollar has dropped like crazy against the Yen too, but the electronics Japan sells us aren't going up in price to reflect that. They can't raise the price of LCD TVs by 40%. I think we'll be hit in the pocket book for stuff we absolutely need like food and oil. Esp oil, that is the one thing that is directly effected by the falling dollar. Luckily we can grow most our own food so we're not as screwed by that, though the prices for oil effects the price of food indirectly(shipping and agricultural machinery).

I'm not sure how much I should be all that worried about the dollar's fall. I think the shit will hit the fan when we lost our status as the world's biggest consumers of everyone's exports. China is the only country on the horizon that could potentially take our place as the biggest consumers, but even they are still a long way behind. GDP per head in the US is 11x what it is in China and the Chinese are known to be prodigious savers. They just don't spend nearly as much as Americans do per capita.

[Excelsior]

I may end up eventually taking advantage of my European citizenship sometime in the future if this all continues. I'd be interested in any way to earn and save my money in a stronger currency with more buying power worldwide.

[Adventure21c]

This video might be of interest to you. It explains the current status of the U.S. dollar, albeit with some personal interest. However, I personally think some points are fairly valid. It's long, but it's definitely worth it to watch. It'll give you some fresh view on what's going on with the U.S. dollar right now. (I got it off my Yahoo email advertisement.)

A Professional View on the Current Status of Dollar

Also, The G Manifesto posted some articles on the U.S. dollar issues on his blog. Rummage through for some links to the books that talk about the U.S. dollar losing its status as the world's reserve currency. The G posts some excellent stuff on investing, the U.S. dollar and all that. Extremely valuable information.

I happen to believe there is a real possibility of the U.S. dollar losing its world's reserve currency status. the truth is, it's already started. the only question is, how much and how soon. Unless something drastic is done, it'll continue to tank, in my opinion.

As always, every view and advice should be taken with a grain of salt, looking for ulterior motives, but I think it'd prudent to proactively encounter the situation.

If you do have business, branching out from the exclusively dollar denominated assets (markets, money, etc.) would be, obviously, a wise move. Other economies are there: why miss them out in any case?

[kerouac]

The USD position as a reserve currency is going back to the early-mid 90s. What a great position that buffoon GW Bush put us in.

[Mrs. Chocolate]

Finally I can think about to go abroad.

[Samseau]

nhey fellas. ben bernanke tripled the money supply.

http://m.research.stlouisfed.org/fred/se...p?sid=BASE


in the next 5 years, you will see gas rise over 10 dollars a gallon.

silver over 200. gold over 3500.

if they keep printing money to pay for our deficits, the USA will experience hyperinflation within 10 years. your money is becoming worthless and holding onto it is the dumbest thing you can do.

this is not doomsday talk. this is math

[speakeasy]

(04-29-2011 09:24 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

hey fellas. ben bernanke tripled the money supply.

http://m.research.stlouisfed.org/fred/se...p?sid=BASE


in the next 5 years, you will see gas rise over 10 dollars a gallon.

silver over 200. gold over 3500.

if they keep printing money to pay for our deficits, the USA will experience hyperinflation within 10 years. your money is becoming worthless and holding onto it is the dumbest thing you can do.

this is not doomsday talk. this is math.

Unless we can go to our employers and get paid in gold nuggets or a basket of foreign currency, there isn't much we can do about it.

[Samseau]

yes you can. covert your currency now, and preserve its value

[Mystik]

The Fed has now been pushed against the wall. I think that it will stop its money supply because there is only that much that other countries will tolerate, as a falling dollar leads to inflation all over the world.

So, now we will see a stop in Quantitative Easing and a major bounce back in the US dollar. There will be a correction in all commodities (including Gold and Silver) and also a major stock market correction.

Keep in mind that the US dollar is not just any other currency. Hyperinflation is possible but it will be a major disaster if it happens in the US. A beast as big as the US dollar won't just go down like this. The average life span of a fiat currency is 27 years, the dollar has been around for 40 years as a WORLD CURRENCY, so already it is an outperfromer. Yes, it has lost almost 97% of its value but that is what currencies do, they lose value.

I would say that we could see a Japan like situation in the US but then the Americans are not like the Japanese. They will continue to spend no matter what. The US$ will lose its status as a world currency in the long term but it will not just stop to exist as a currency.

[Samseau]

(04-29-2011 10:31 PM)Mystik Wrote:  

The Fed has now been pushed against the wall. I think that it will stop its money supply because there is only that much that other countries will tolerate, as a falling dollar leads to inflation all over the world.

So, now we will see a stop in Quantitative Easing and a major bounce back in the US dollar. There will be a correction in all commodities (including Gold and Silver) and also a major stock market correction.

Keep in mind that the US dollar is not just any other currency. Hyperinflation is possible but it will be a major disaster if it happens in the US. A beast as big as the US dollar won't just go down like this. The average life span of a fiat currency is 27 years, the dollar has been around for 40 years as a WORLD CURRENCY, so already it is an outperfromer. Yes, it has lost almost 97% of its value but that is what currencies do, they lose value.

I would say that we could see a Japan like situation in the US but then the Americans are not like the Japanese. They will continue to spend no matter what. The US$ will lose its status as a world currency in the long term but it will not just stop to exist as a currency.

oh, I totally agree. after QE2 the fed will pause printing, let rates rise a little bit, and other countries, such as japan/china will print more of their own money to buy US debt. it will be interesting to see how this ponzi continues.


but that's probably just the next 4 months. the medium term is anyone's guess. the long term prognosis is a destroyed dollar and soaring precious metals.

precious metals will not experience anything more than a 10% drop; most likely they will continue to rise as inflation continues its course. remember, inflation is delayed, so it takes a few years after the money is printed before we see what the extra currency does. right now we are seeing the effects of the bailout and stimulus, we haven't even begun to see QE1&2 yet.

[Mystik]

(04-30-2011 06:04 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

but that's probably just the next 4 months. the medium term is anyone's guess. the long term prognosis is a destroyed dollar and soaring precious metals.

I agree, but I would say that the short term is between 4-12 months. A stock market crash is definitely on the cards and that will scare people and would temporarily stop inflation.

(04-30-2011 06:04 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

precious metals will not experience anything more than a 10% drop; most likely they will continue to rise as inflation continues its course. remember, inflation is delayed, so it takes a few years after the money is printed before we see what the extra currency does. right now we are seeing the effects of the bailout and stimulus, we haven't even begun to see QE1&2 yet.

Yup, true. But again if a stock market crash happens the effect of the inflation will be delayed further but there is not doubt that in the long term precious metals will reach record highs. I am guessing hat gold can go up to $5000 but that is in the next 10 years or so. This isn't speculation or wishful thinking, its simple Economics, whenever there is inflation Gold and Silver rise and there will be inflation because of all the QE.

I still don't think that the US$ will stop to exist as a currency and this is just my gut feeling, I maybe completely wrong. The US is not just any other country and the possibility of a hyper inflationary situation is very unlikely because that will effect everyone from the street beggar to the white collar worker and people will literally take to streets all over the world. It is different from a stock market crash where only the investors are affected.

[Samseau]

a stock market crash will only slow inflation, not stop it.

Quote:

oh, I totally agree. after QE2 the fed will pause printing, let rates rise a little bit, and other countries, such as japan/china will print more of their own money to buy US debt. it will be interesting to see how this ponzi continues.

called it: japan prints 1 quadrillion yen

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japan-r...uadrillion

[manilaguy]

We miss a fundamental flaw in this analysis, in that the value of a currency must reflect the value of a sovereign nation's output. The US does not create enough value per person to support an increasing dollar value for the nation.

Everyone has theory on why this is. I believe that the US is just not economically viable anymore. It led the world on innovation but US innovation is sharply on a decline.

I went to an MIT (Massachusetts inst of tech) open house yesterday, the bastion of technological entrepreneurship, and was dismayed by the lack of solid new technologies. New concepts are cool like taking phone pictures of dotted boxes for automated links (aka phone scanner) or mapping country product maps, but in reality.. cool, but how does this aid a value creation transformation? Hipsters programming iphone apps is not what the country needs.

[manilaguy]

Basel 2 will undergo major changes soon. It has to.

If you know this, then you know.

[phoenix abroad]

I want to reduce my dollar exposure as much as possible. I don't like holding a currency backed by a government printing money like its going out of style.

I have a lot more faith in countries like Singapore that are not burdened by debt and promote actual growth and productivity.

I am a big fan of Simon Black's Sovereign Man blog. He explains that the Chinese RMB is undervalued because the Chinese gov't has fixed the exchange rate. This is artificially keeping inflation within China that would have gone to the US. This pent up inflation pressure will likely force China to adjust the exchange rate - shifting more inflation to the US.

Simon talked about how to open a Chinese bank account:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/from-sove...n-the-u-s/

Open a bank account in the Philippines:
http://outsourcetothephilippines.com/ope...ilippines/

Open a bank account in Hong Kong:
http://gohongkong.about.com/od/businessb...g_kong.htm

I think this topic deserves some more looking into - I will write a blog post about it once I open up some foreign accounts.

Just remember that as an American you have to report foreign bank accounts on your taxes if the total value of foreign accounts is over $10000

[Mystik]

The recent fiddling with the margin requirements shows how much power these scammers have when it comes to influencing the market. Fundamentals do win out in the end but at the moment every country on the planet will be hurt if the US$ goes down. We will see steady inflation for the next decade and a lot of volatility in all markets. When a nation is capable of taking over from the US (none of the BRIC nations can do so now, they all have serious problems) the US$ will go down.

[Samseau]

(05-08-2011 11:32 AM)Mystik Wrote:  

The recent fiddling with the margin requirements shows how much power these scammers have when it comes to influencing the market. Fundamentals do win out in the end but at the moment every country on the planet will be hurt if the US$ goes down. We will see steady inflation for the next decade and a lot of volatility in all markets. When a nation is capable of taking over from the US (none of the BRIC nations can do so now, they all have serious problems) the US$ will go down.

That won't be for a long time. The fact that a 30% drop was incurred by raising margin requirements also shows that this ponzi has a lot of steam left in it. Again it only delays the inevitable but there is a huge story to unfold before "endgame". But that's why I'm not a trader, I'm just a buy and hold kind of guy right now, as trading in this market is equivalent to gambling at a casino.

[Mystik]

(05-09-2011 12:36 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

there is a huge story to unfold

Exactly! And how long this ponzi continues and how far these goons are willing to go? Well, IMO, they will go as far as possible and since US's GDP is 3 times that of China, they have a long way to go.

[changebad]

if I want to buy some stuff online, since I am from AUS

what can be some good US sites to use?

electronics? clothing? shoes? anything else really

[Hooligan Harry]

(04-28-2011 01:08 PM)kerouac Wrote:  



The USD position as a reserve currency is going back to the early-mid 90s. What a great position that buffoon GW Bush put us in.

Lol

Bush did not do that, Clinton did.

[JayMillz]

Hi Guys,

So some of you may be aware and the others may be blissfully unaware

This is to let you know that the world reserve currency is in the process of
changing. Countries or meeting and openly discussing the transition

Just fyi so that you can protect yourselves, assets and families.
Hard assets are best, keeping everything (or a large portion) in stocks
is up to you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSQFj8BnQU

The link above is a German finance group that invited
the noted investor Jim Rogers to speak. The first few seconds
are in German then Jim speaks.

I know that you guys know it all and are very smart. But even the
smart ones need a tip every now and again.

To be well informed, is to be well armed

[Vicious]

A big part of the reason I'm heading to the US in a month is the deflation of the $. The further it drops, the more of a rock star lifestyle I'll be living when there.

[Sweety]

i have the same problem..also losing some of my profit because of the low dollar..ahh i miss the old times of high dollar

[dk902]

(04-28-2011 11:02 AM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:  

I may end up eventually taking advantage of my European citizenship sometime in the future if this all continues. I'd be interested in any way to earn and save my money in a stronger currency with more buying power worldwide.

Hold onto that thought for the time being. The euro is not going through a great time itself at the moment. If all of the PIGS fall, i.e. Portugal Italy Greece and Spain, then this will have serious repercussions around the world.

If you thought the 2008 recession was bad, Lehman Brothers was a catalyst to that, and that was one company.

We are talking about four sovereign nations here. Raising the US' debt ceiling, I am not sure what it will bring...seems as though the US will never get a handle on its debt. The UK is slowly but surely trying to get a handle on the shit state the previous government left it in. Austerity measures worldwide.