I'm not really that current on the current events but there was a time when the SGD to the USD was like 1.7 to 1 and it's more like 1.3 to 1 right now or maybe even less. To americans is it too expensive to take overseas vacations now especially in europe where the currency is much stronger?
Huh? The dollar has been consistently strengthening against Euro and Canadian dollar for the past several months and the Yen just took a dump. Now gold is stagnating. The dollar just soared yesterday - I think you're confused. Going to Mexico for a week just like every other year, and planning a trip through Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in the spring if time allows. Small fluctuations in exchange rates don't have any real adverse effect on the types of people who take overseas holidays.
btw, we're also debating Spain and maybe Greece for a week or two in the next year - exchange rate has no effect whatsoever on our decision, unless the dollar suddenly takes to 2 Euro or something insane like that.
Yeah, the SG is gaining strength, but the exchange rate with the dollar is still pretty decent on our end. These types of moves on currency rates have a much broader effect on issuing of credit and large scale investment and trade than on stuff like whether or not we decide to visit Singapore. Which we would either way, dammit, because I really want to.
Haha, I wouldn't want to travel here. I'm trying to leave to America. Currency - *My personal view* - We're at war to control resources, but more importantly to control the currency it is traded in. :3eyes: :biggun: I doubt our USD currency would be worth squat if it wasn't for this. I'm pretty sure the currency would implode on itself. I find our currency to be unstable in the long term. Not to make this political or anything...
A quick Google: The dollar has been weakening in value for a while now, mainly because of the near-zero interest rates that the FED has been maintaining, and also because of low consumer confidence in the US. Below is a graph showing the weakening of the USD against the euro during the past 6 months of 2009. However, you are right in stating that the dollar went up recently against the Japanese yen and the euro, and gold plummeted in value.
Before anyone says anything, the Euro being worth more than the dollar really doesn't mean anything. It's not hard when you have like 12 countries economies to back it up.
Does me think of this documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuPgdZeAFjA You should really watch it, it is very interesting.
Well those countries are the backbone of European economy, and the EU has close to 500 million people, while the countries which have the Euro or the Eurozone has more than 300 million people, so yes, it matters when it comes to trades between Europe and the US
interesting.. this should serve as a warning to those who live beyond their means.. here in guru3d, i think there would be some who spend hardware upgrades using credit but dont have the means to pay it?
You realize that doesn't tell the whole story, correct? There's been a purchasing power anomaly with the dollar relative to other currencies for going on about two years now, which is why people have been furiously investing with dollars the past few months. It's wildly undervalued right now, which makes this the perfect time to get into the market. On the flipside, you couldn't unload gold if your life depended on it, so everyone who bought in five years ago is stuck. With Spanish bank bailouts, the Euro is looking to take another huge dive similar to back in January of '08. Asia's currencies are just all over the place lately. It's really hard to gauge what is going to happen with the SG, for example.
