"Euros Accepted" signs pop up in New York City

[Doctor Cynic]

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN065579...

[gateley]

1. Am I the only one who finds this alarming? nt

[grytpype]

7. No,you are not!

[goforit]

38. Hmmm.....yes it is scarey, but we widdle Americans deserve it.

Football/Nascar/Budweiser Beer.........Drunk at the scene of the crime(Bushco) says it all!!!

[Art_from_Ark]

49. I don't find it particularly alarming

After all, New York is a major tourist destination for a lot of Europeans. It's just a sly way of getting European tourists to part with some extra cash that maybe they're weren't going to convert and spend in the US. If I were running a tourist business in New York, I'd accept not only euros but also British pounds, Swiss francs, Japanese yen, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, no problem as long as I could make sure the currency was genuine.

[Mountainman]

2. So some visitors won't have to exchange all their money.

The price of the item is the same just denominated in different currency.

[shireen]

3. so they're still getting a bargain visit! nt

[Mountainman]

9. Visiting us is a bargain for Europeans and not a bargain for us visiting Europe.

[ixion]

23. yeah, as long as they're not detained, strip searched and tortured

which is always a possibility these days.

[saigon68]

43. Especially if they have dark skin

[frazzled]

4. I'd take euros, too--they're worth $1.46 US

We just got back from Europe ... ouch. Except, on the good side ... prices are not that much different there. An espresso for 1.65 euros is not that much different than the U.S. price. Our huge price inflation makes things expensive here at home, especially food.

[mahina]

5. Welcome to Argentina.

[CJCRANE]

6. "Another day, another euro".

[valerief]

8. Pretty soon we'll be wiping our behinds with U.S. dollars. nt

[Donnachaidh]

11. the Saudis are already doing that.

And I hear tell Barbara Bush likes the texture.

[Beausoleil]

16. Yeah, but does she like her dollars

Soft or Strong?

[DCKit]

10. It's an effective political statement, even if not intentional. n/t

[originalpckelly]

12. This is the best news I've ever heard! Free market currency!

Instead of being stuck with the dollar, we the people will choose what currency we want!

This is very good news too, because it means we won't be tied down to our country's monetary policy, which is perhaps the worst of any central bank in the world.

[earth mom]

20. NO-this means we are closer to the NEW WORLD ORDER!

Where the powers that be can & will reduce the majority of us peons to 3rd world status!

Bye Bye Middle Class!

Be VERY afraid!

[acmavm]

13. Maybe these shop owners want to take in some money that's

actually worth something.

[BB1]

14. good.

that will teach the ehmm, the lower class?

[High Plains]

15. Will people get angry like they did with the pizza joint that takes pesos?

Ah, Euros, white man's currency.

[struggle4progress]

34. That was the Dallas racists, upset to learn Mexicans sometimes eat in the US

The Big D is unlikely to experience a huge influx of Euro-toting tourists (except possibly as thru-travel at DFW airport) because there is no there there. And rightwingwacko Texans have traditionally turned up their noses at the Big Apple

So I expect Pedro's pesos will continue to be the foreign currency preoccupation in the land we stole from Santa Ana

[lebkuchen]

17. They'll be getting a damn good exchange rate

if it's one to one. May as well take advantage of and make it convenient for those euro tourists who were intrepid enough to jump through all the paperwork hurdles to enter the U.S.

A lot of Europeans aren't bothering with the visa hassles and are heading to Spain instead.

[Nickster]

18. Makes sense to me, why not make it easier for tourists to spend?

[earth mom]

19. This means we are now OFFICIALLY one step closer to the AMERO & The North American Union!

NEW WORLD ORDER!

OMFG!

[CreekDog]

21. Being a first world nation was sure fun while it lasted!

ah, memories...

[Cant trust em]

22. This is a sad, sad sign (literally and figuratively)

The U.S. is to Europe how Mexico is to the U.S. A nice place to visit where things are cheap. What is happening to our great country?

[LiberalFighter]

24. Considering that Euros are the currency for all of Europe

it probably the smart thing to do. Now, if each country had their separate currency it would be a different animal.

[dipsydoodle]

26. Only the ones in dark blue on this map.

Not the UK for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro#Currencies_pegged_to_... go there and then click on the map

edit bad link

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. But it doesn't say how the shops set the exchange rate they accept them at

so it is probably no more than a sign that a lot of European tourists are coming to NYC, and the shops see a way of making things easy for them - at a price. It's a side-effect of the dollar weakening against the euro, not something special in itself.

[dipsydoodle]

27. Who painted that map

Kandinski ?

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Worldmapper

http://www.worldmapper.org/about.html

[superconnected]

35. rofl hahahhaa.

[Redstone]

29. Well, why not? You can pay with dollars in other parts of the world.

Redstone

[allisonthegreat]

30. oh dear...n/t

[KamaAina]

31. Many shops in Waikiki have accepted yen for years

including the ubiquitous ABC convenience stores (would you believe 36 in about a two-square-mile area?) Many other stores, including my local food-and-sundries outlet just outside Waikiki, take JCB credit cards right along with Amex, Visa and MC.

[Generator]

32. More proof of our third world status

Along with a president that was never elected by the people's votes(twice) and a treasury being raped for a phony war.

Back in the USSR baby, you don't know how lucky you are.

OH and ain't it grand that only the very rich can afford to travel to Europe now?

[yellowcanine]

33. This is good for the merchants - not so good for the tourists. You can bet that the

merchants will award themselves a "cut" in the exchange transaction.

[Dreamer Tatum]

36. FINALLY a rational response

If you're a retailer in one of the most popular travel sites for those who hold euros, AND you can trade euros for dollars anywhere in town, why NOT sell products demoninated in their currency? Why make them swap euros at retail rates when you can charge a lower exchange premium and induce sales? Makes complete sense to me. Has nothing to do with the relative value of the dollar.

[truthisfreedom]

37. Someone's actually got their thinking cap on in this forum.

*applause*

[yellowcanine]

39. Most tourists aren't going to bother keeping up with exchange rates

So it will be relatively easy for merchants to price things directly in euros including a nice premium on the exchange rates and no one is the wiser. Because of the weak dollar items are going to seem cheap anyway to Europeans so there will be plenty of "wiggle room" that merchants can take advantage of. They can and probably will jack up the euro prices even higher and then offer discounts for euro purchases at the register.

[Dreamer Tatum]

40. Agreed

Certainly true there. Let us also remember that many foreign tourists use credit cards, just like Americans. Quoting cash
prices in terms of euros may help tourists judge relative prices that much better - after all, they pay their credit card
bills in euros, not dollars (except in certain rare situations...it is possible to be billed in a currency other than
that of your home country; depends on the lender).

In any case, I fail to understand how the acceptance of a foreign currency spells any sort of doom, or is a sign of anything
negative. "Wanting a currency thst is actually worth something" is a silly argument, unless we're talking about enormous
amounts of raw currency trading hands. Retailers are in the business of selling things, not speculating in the spot market.
Now, if retailers have to commit to purchase inputs from foreign countries, with fluctuating exchange rates, we have a
different set of incentives...

[ckramer]

51. The negativity is the Fed will lose power

to control the world financial markets.

[Dreamer Tatum]

52. Huh?

How did we go from a couple of retailers taking euros to the Fed and the world financial markets?

[CJCRANE]

41. I'm not so sure.

You can bet your bottom euro that retailers would be less interested if the euro was worth less than the dollar.

[Dreamer Tatum]

42. That doesn't make any sense

Dollars and euros aren't eaten, hung on walls as artwork, or stored in safe deposit boxes as though the pieces of
paper have commodity value. They're just notes. The relative weakness/strength of any one currency is not dynamic enough of a phenomenon
for retailers to try to speculate in currency. In any event, transactions costs would probably eat away any arbitrage
opportunities.

Accepting euros instead of dollars is almost certainly just a convenience offered to customers, the same way accepting pesos
for pizza was a convenience. The convenience to customers would become an extreme nuisance and a losing proposition to
retailers if the exchange rate fluctuated hugely on a daily basis, which (a) it doesn't, and (b) is unlikely given the
small amount of business they probably do in euros in the first place.

I like the suggestion that this is a way to make money. Europeans have to pay a premium to exchange currency at the airport.
If they know they don't have to wait in line to do that, they'd probably be willing to pay for the service. Given the
strength of the euro, that service looks pretty cheap right now.

[Xithras]

44. No need to take a cut.

With the dollar still declining vs. the euro, a retailer need merely hold the euro for a short period before exchanging it. The euro has gained 6 cents on the dollar just since last August.

Even if they do assign a fee for taking euros, I don't have an issue with that. Tourists can still exchange their euros for dollars and avoid the whole thing.

[ckramer]

45. "Euros Accepted" signs pop up in New York City

Source: YN

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080206/us_nm/newyork_euros...

---

The Fed has destroyed the US dollar since Alan Greenspan by lowering the interest rates for too long too low.

When the currency is collapsing, the empire will collapse soon.

The real terrorists are within!

Put the criminals in jail!

[HereSince1628]

46. Even while US dollars are no longer accepted at the Taj Mahal.

Work that over in your mind a few times and think about what it means to be a citizen in a MDC (more declining country).

[Benhurst]

47. The Empire has fallen. How much longer will we borrow $ Trillions to

defend it?

The World's Only Superpower! What a sad, pathetic joke.

[LynnTheDem]

48. No US dollars accepted at the Taj Mahal.

The "New American Century"; as with everything bush, it's not gonna be quite the way the bush Cartel wanted it.

[roamer65]

50. The American Peso.

Si?