The US dollar is in a freefall. I saw on the news today that we fell below 100 yen for the first time in 12 years. We've had a 20% drop against the Phillipeno peso in less than a year. I've seen the dollar go up and down for many years but it held steady against the Phillipeno peso. The dollar dropping so much in so little time against a much weaker currency should get your attention.

Recently the US dollar went through the psychological barrier of 1.50 against the Euro and is now trading at 1.5411 today. This is the bank rate in 1 million dollar blocks. Add in your bank and ATM fees and you are looking at 1.57 or better.

This will not bode well for those who bid the FDA's. On 06/27/07 when the LOA was released to the crewforce for review, the $2700 offered was worth 2005.79 Euros. Today that same $2700 has eroded to 1751.99 Euros. That is a loss of 253.8 Euros or $391.13 US dollars per month. Who is going to absorb that loss? We don't even have aircrews over there yet. It's business as usual for FedEx. They have a signed LOA.

There might be some good news on the horizon. The S&P announced today they believe the banks' write-offs from the sub-prime mess is over. i.e., the worst is supposedly behind us.

That mess won't be over 'til housing prices are lowered to pre 2004 prices (the true house values).

Hopefully this will teach everbody that you can't become a real estate investor over night to get rich quick.

Here's are some good rules of thumb.
1. If your house is currently valued at $200,000...the actual value should be reduced by at least $50,000.

2. If your house is currently valued at $300,000...the actual value should be reduced by at least $75,000.

3. If your house is currently valued at $400,000...the actual value should be reduced by at least $100,00.

And so on and so on.

Is oil at historic highs in other countries? Is the record oil price more a function of the weak dollar.

I just got back from driving around Europe for several days in a rental car. The price of a liter of gas there (0.2645 US gallons) was only marginally more expensive than it was three years ago. Diesel was even less of an increase, but I think that it's subsidized in Europe. Gas in some areas as little as .05Euro more, others .15Euro more. So if you do the math..............

I wish we had some of the cars they have here though. I rented a BMW 120d, and was getting 34mpg, driving it like I stole it.

Against the British pound it's even worse!!!

What is it going to take to get the dollar strong again? IMHO, a substansive change in monetary & fiscal policy in this country. I think we may already be a debtor nation.



atp