I don't think Tbills are a good investment right now. I think they were actually sold at negative rates last week or so. It would be better to stick your money in your mattress.

LOL 7307 don't you know there is still bartering system in place?

When I lived in the former USSR, tourists brought Levi's for sale. Or liquor. What can I take to Hawai'i? Maybe garlic from Gilroy :))

(I live in San Francisco)

But you made me think. Do I need a visa? If Obama is being sued...

Faina, I know where you live - remember, I used to be dmlove!!

Oh, this is who you are! I wondered :)

"What can I take to Hawai'i? Maybe garlic from Gilroy - (I live in San Francisco)

But you made me think. Do I need a visa? If Obama is being sued.."


Well, pretty much anything from Target/Trader Joes/Ikea - we're always jealous about hearing others go on and on about these stores while we are a bit cut off from all those things :(

Although, all the people from Maui usually request sourdough bread whenever someone visits San Francisco.

impact of britain's sanitary towel currency:

we'll be forced to stay in britain.

we'll have to give dordogne-shire back to the french (after we ruined it) as our £ pensions will be worthless to pay the mortgages.

we can't be smug about america's currency weakening anymore.

we'll have to give up drinking too much continental lager and vomiting all over ourselves.

so yes, the fall of the £ will jeopardise the great british lifestyle.

We told the kids for years. "If you break your country, we won't buy you a new one". But as always, they wouldn't listen. Now they scream for money. No, they won't get any more moeney, they have to learn, not to break their things.

Yes, this is all part of my evil plan to spend everything so my kids have nothing...HA HA HA HA HA...and by default I'm giving everything to ....EUROPE...HA HA HA HA HA.

:-)

dave

It's still a good time to visit Europe now since the Euro has not reached record high.

I am flying to Tokyo in 10 days and the Yen has just gone up to a record high this week! Tokyo is so expensive to begin with.

Because we plan to travel to Europe as often as we can, I decided last year to try to hedge currency risk somewhat by buying a CD denominated in Euro through everbank.com. There are of course many ways to buy currency and I don't have particular loyalty to everbank, but it is an easy way to protect yourself a little, with FDIC insurance. I believe the minimum amount you can buy is $10,000. The interest rates are generally low, so the only way to make a meaningful return is appreciation in the Euro. For us, it's mostly a matter of having some financial assets in another currency in case the dollar repeats the fall of last year.

Other currencies and indices of several currencies are also available. We also bought a CD denominated in a basket of Asian currencies. I figure that if the dollar appreciates I will lose a bit on the CD's but be ahead overall; if the dollar drops, I will not be hammered as badly when I travel.

Today's rates are $1.37 for Euro and $1.53 for the GBP.

Que Passa?

((I))

The stage is set for a journey of no return. Slow at first.

Shocking moves in the Euro today. Im glad Im not in Paris right now, Im sure I would accuse the teller of making up quotes

It'll all come back to bite the Euro. It's only because of the higher interest rates here.
Meanwhile I'm taking advantage of the low pound :)

Hey on a $10,000 trip a move of .14 Euro cents will cost you no more than $300.00. Do not worry about it. You will pay more than that for dinner for 2 at an overpriced, tourist targeted French restaurant!!!!!!!

To put it in perspective, the Euro is still worth far less than the average fx rate for the past 12 months. And it is right around the average for the past 5 years. I would say it is neither especially strong nor especially weak at the moment.

I do worry, though, for Sterling, for the short-term. The UK put so many eggs into the financial/professional services basket, that this recession will hit the pound hard.

FWIIW, UK financial papers over the weekend were predicting that in the first quarter of 2009, sterling will recover to around $1.60 and $1.78 by the year end. Against euro it will strengthen only gradually to 1.25 euro and 1.30 euro respectively.

Hi; For us, it just means adjusting to a bit lower euro allowance per day. There are so many great places to stay or eat at reasonable prices. We were in France in September when the euro reached it's high against the US dollar. Folks, it's not a problem, just adjust. We had two oversees planned for 2009 and a trip to California. Now our grandaughter will be doing a semester in or close to Reims in the fall. We are going, but adjusting our to our budget. The 'euro' is just a state of mind. Don't let it discourage your plans. ADJUST ENJOY Iris

I hope that it does not keep rising. I just saw it is up to 1.37..still better then when I started planning this trip...

Get out of the dollar now. Cheap money is not the cure. The Fed people risk releasing an avalanche right now.