Thank you wren

I don't need to do the math, I'm responding to the blame being attributed to President Bush but thanks for the information.

"The economic downturn began the week of March 10, 2000. If you feel the need to blame someone, do the math."

Actually, I think the date was March 11, 2000, when my brilliant financial advisor told me to get even more heavily into the market. In my mind, it's all her fault.

I think the downturn started March 9th, 2000 but I could be wrong.

I agree with Hanl: for decades the dollar has been strong and (I take my case of italian) we too used to complain about how expensive a trip to the US could be for us, and the americans would find ITaly as very affordable (also germans, to be objective).
Now the situation is reversed, period

Hey, I'd love to get .91 Euros to the
$1. Canadians get .62 Euros. Return air fare on a seat sale from where I live (Alberta) to London is something like $900 to $950, Amsterdam $1150. I realize costs have increased dramatically, but for some of us, it's even more. Count your blessings and enjoy your travels.

Wow, a thread visited by economics PhD's and nobel laureates. The stock market headed south in March 2000, not the whole economy. Yes, just as Clinton inherited a strengthening economy from GHWB (and was smart enough to not screw it up), GWB inherited a weakening economy from Clinton (sadly, he hasn't been smart enough to pick it up -- tax breaks over years don't help). But the international exchange picture has nothing to do with this -- it is separate from our stock markets and even our overall economy (anyone out there think that our economy, weak as it is, is increasingly weaker vis a vis Europe's?). It is not to blame him to say he's pushed things this way (weakening dollar), in fact I think it's to his credit he's doing this (it just stinks for tourists).

Hi all,

Has anyone considered how the movement of Saudi Royal Family money from dollars to Euros has affected the exchange rate?

They control about $500,000,000,000.

Winnepeg---
i also am intrigued with the idea of the room above the cows. How did you find out about this and where is it?

I think Bush's $80,000,000,000. war in a weak economy might have something to do with it.

1. When the euro was introduced (January 1, 1999) the value was 1 euro = US$ 1.18. Now it is 1 euro = US$ 1.095, so the euro is actually cheaper now (in US$ terms) then when it was introduced.
2. I remember 1985 when 1 euro was about US$ 0.65 (using the German mark as the predecessor of the euro), and 1996 when 1 euro was US$ 1.35, so today's price is nicely in the middle.

Since I started this thread, I'll chime back in.

I agree with the poster who said first-timers will certainly get crunched going to Europe now.

But I'll reiterate that for someone who knows where to go/what to do, the price difference for a trip -- even with a 25 percent swing in currency rates -- isn't a big deal. And it surely won't add 25 percent to the cost of a trip. I figure you can priceline.com yourself to Europe this spring for $400 from the East Coast/Midwest.

I'm not budgeted any more than I ever have. Although I may not buy as many souvenirs.

robby