The dollar reaches new all-time lows against the Euro

[rumguy]

This is becoming a trend.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=509&u=/ap/20031216/ap_on_bi_ge/euro_rally_1&printer=1

[wryter2000]

1. Can someone help me understand the impact?

I'm not an economist. What does this mean for our economy?

TIA

[ender]

2. it means - no more foreign investing.

[Robbien]

3. ozymandius has explained this beautifully in the

Stockmarket watch thread today. Look at his post number 31 in the thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=271821#272035

this should help you

[DCDemo]

4. I'm not economist but

Since we import more and more things - we import much more than we export - prices are going to go up. This makes American exports more affordable for other countries, but it fucks us as consumers since so much of everything we buy is imported...

[Warpy]

5. In the short term, inflation

...as everything but seasonal foods is made outside the US, now. Foreign goods will become more and more expensive as the buck falls. Since we appear to be heading for a period of deflation, this news aint all bad. Just be prepared to stop seeing those WalMart "we managed to squeeze our producers harder" price lowering ads.

Investment in the US will also dry up. You'll see more and more stock dumps in the coming months. Perhaps the Dow will recede enough to provide us with stocks with sensible P/E ratios. Since Bush's economic meddling has been 100% to prop up the hyperinflated Dow, this is less likely.

In the long term, if the buck normalizes against other world currencies (and if China is pressured to float the yuan), you'll see foreign produced goods becoming more expensive than anything that can be produced here, and that is good for the long term employment outlook. Imported should always be more expensive than domestic.

However, be prepared for a bumpy ride for the next couple of years, at the very least.

[RedEarth]

7. wryter...look at this article, it does a good job of explaining the impact

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=24344

[Yavin4]

6. The Big Picture Says: "We're (DU Rule: Expletive Deleted)"

Here's the whole thing in a nutshell. Since the 80s, we've had one, and only one, dominant private industry, Technology. It was the only industry whereby we had an advantage on the world. Well, because of sheer greed by the corporate elites, we've outsourced our only dominant, growth industry, and in order to make the eocnomy look like it's growing, Bush and Greenspan have been injecting the economy with "economic steroids" : tax cuts, deficit spending, weakened dollar, low interest rates, and expanding the volume of the money supply. The world is catching on that the U.S. has no growth economically, so why loan it any money. Think, name one industry where the U.S. is the world's leader.

And, just like real steroids, it can make you look bigger and stronger in the short run, but it will ruin your overall health in the long run.

[TrogL]

8. US world leader

Here's a few

• cinema ie. Hollywood
  
• PC's eg. HP/Compaq
  
• hospital equipment
  
• some chips
  

[Voltaire99]

9. Good reply

Yes, the US can still do some things right.

I'd worry less about the fate of the tech sector than that of manufacturing. Tech rode the rise of the Net and the Dot Bomb bubble; it couldn't last. The failure of manufacturing, touching far more people, and in decline much longer and more grievously, carries with it the seeds of much deeper shocks.

Without manufacturing there's not much of an engine for creating a larger middle class. And there's nowhere for the laid off workers to go but down into the futureless gullies of the service sector, which can't sustain them or their communities. Politically, this is less likely to drive displaced workers into the arms of moderate or right-of-center Democrats and only likelier to lead them into deepening cynicism and receptivity to harsher right wing solutions.

We have problems. Big ones.

[RainDog]

10. Huh?

why would republican policies be likely to drive people into harsher republican solutions...unless the dems fail to harness the populist outrage that grows daily as unemployment now stands at at least 9 million?

...the press does, of course, mostly whore for the corporations, which is and will be a problem, but even Lou Dobbs has had a series on bizzes exporting jobs.

the republican's greed will be their downfall, because, when the housing bubble bursts, unless some sort of measure is taken, I can imagine quite a few middle-class families who cannot afford their own home mortgages and equity loans if they also lose the jobs to pay for those things.

that's getting to the gut of the American middle class...home ownership.

[IMayBeWrongBut]

11. even those are slipping

Where was "The Matrix" fimed?(Austrailia)
Where was "The Lord OF the Rings" filmed?(New Zealand)

HP/Compaq I'm willing to bet that the parts are made in Tiawan and the tech support is in India now...

GE just moved all its R&D to India...

Which chips? AMD processors are made in a fab in Germany.

We really are slipping in every area

[Yavin4]

14. "Elf" Was Filmed In Canada

Increasingly, more and more productions are being done overseas instead of the U.S.A.

[GinaMaria]

16. Canada

Even Chicago was filmed in Canada. If the dollar doesn't hold out, Canada may not be a cost effective option for film making. Chicagoans miss the film industry and what it did for our economy. Kind of miss John Hughes.

German medical supplies/equipment are comparable to the US. Those items will likely come down to cost.

[Yavin4]

15. None of Those Industries Are High Growth Industries

And most of them are indeed being outsourced. We've become nothing but a nation of consumers.

[llmart]

13. Did you forget

WEAPONS?

[Ernesto]

17. And torture technology:

Instruments of torture for export is a growth industry..... And the little puke twice told Diane Sawyer last night: "The US does not torture people".......... Nice to hear from ya, limart!

[wryter2000]

12. Thanks, all

I just got around to reading your replies.

:yourock:

[Kellanved]

18. indeed

another day, another cent. € is now at 1.24.