Thread: The Dollar, The Euro, and Panama

Haha, where did you find that cartoon?

Originally Posted by spike

Haha, where did you find that cartoon?

It's an editorial cartoon--so they are syndicated and sold to papers. Look in the panel and you'll see where it came from...

Cagle Cartoons, printed by the Columbia Daily Tribune.

CagleCartoons.com - Home
FUNNY BUSINESS

Not that hard to read the panel again...

Cheers.

Does anyone think that the dollar will go up soon? And why?

I think there is a chance it will go up, because after going down so much it might be undervalued.

Originally Posted by lee

Does anyone think that the dollar will go up soon? And why?

Not within the next two years, but perhaps within the next 6.
Much of what is causing the current dollar panic has to do with the housing industry, and the rate at which ppl buy/sell houses and profits made: those that earn money tend to reinvest that money in the market, or spend it.

And as well all know--spending is good for the economy.

When the housing price panic set in, with foreclosures at record highs, and personal debt at ridiculous levels--ppl stopped spending as much money on non-basic items (food, shelter, utilities.)

Right now, housing prices haven't even bottomed out yet--ppl are still losing value on what is usually the largest part of a person's net worth: their home. Home prices are predicted to hit their lowest point in 2009 for the current hot markets. But even then, probably not more than 20-25%.

Are housing prices headed for a fall? - Real estate - MSNBC.com
Housing: Too Much Cash Waiting for Investment for the Market to Fall Sharply - Seeking Alpha

This is all of course, my personal conjecture, and it is displayed in a pretty simplistic way that totally ignores international influences, so don't call me on that.

With next year's election, we will see if the next administration can formulate a plan to clean up G.W.B's national debt mess...
Hopefully, that will inject some bullishness into current thinking, and ppl will start spending money again.

Cheers.

I don't think the dollar will go up either, at least not in the short term. But the market often does funny things and when people least expect it. So I predict 1 euro = 1.42 dollars by the end of the year.

For people with large amounts of cash, would it be smart to put it in a different currency so that it does not lose value?

Diversification is a good thing, whether or not you have a large sum or money or not. Spreading the risk around is a good strategy in any form of investment, currency, real estate, stocks, bonds, etc.

And, value is relative to where you are in the country and the world--the dollar is still rather awesome in Panama, an avocado is still $0.50 in California and $2 in D.C.--whereas that $2 will get me a cross-town taxi in Panama City.

Cheers.

There were some interesting points made in this thread, however, when investing in a currency, or ANYTHING really, you always take a risk. Do some research to help you make a educated decision, but keep in mind that even that can fail since you don't know what the future holds...

As always invest only what you can afford to, and think about the pros and cons of each currency, and follow your instincts a bit and see how it goes. As for the U.S dollar increasing it's value...I'm not too sure. Maybe with the new president the economy will get better, so it's possible. But how the situation is right now, it doesn't look too good.

I came to the philosophy of buying something cheap and living like a Panamanian local in a location that has abundant food and water, and did I mention cheap? It really is amazing how well you can live in Panama if you want for nearly nothing.