There's nothing wrong with a "weak" dollar.

jimpeel

jimpeel

Well-Known Member
http://wcbstv.com/local/new.york.city.2.628806.html

Jan 13, 2008

NYC Hits Tourism Record; Weak Dollar Draws Many

Mostly International Travelers Reason For Estimated $28 Billion Spent In Metropolis

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― With a falling dollar sweetening the deal, a rising number of international travelers chose the city as their destination in 2007, spurring a record-setting year that saw visitors spend an estimated $28 billion in the metropolis, tourism officials said.

With a final count still pending, the city's tourism office said Sunday that an estimated 46 million people had visited the city in 2007 -- up 5 percent from the year before. The jump was largely due to visitors from other countries, who numbered an estimated 8.5 million -- a growth of 17 percent.

George Fertitta, chief executive of city tourism office NYC & Company, said the visitors were drawn by more than a favorable exchange rate and the city's international marketing efforts.

"The city is more vibrant, cleaner and safer -- and it's just more exciting than ever before," he said. "It really is experiencing a great moment. Almost everything is functioning on all cylinders, from the performing arts to the museums to the theater and restaurants."

The portion of the city's tourists who were from other countries had dwindled since the Sept. 11 attacks, and last year's growth returned the ratio to pre-2001 levels.

The city has been working to draw such international visitors, who stay longer and spend more money. NYC & Company has launched an overseas television, print and billboard campaign, and in 2007 it more than doubled its marketing offices overseas, targeting countries including China, Brazil and Canada.

While the city has gotten increasingly popular with many nations in Europe and elsewhere, the number of Japanese citizens deciding to visit continued to fall -- down to 260,000 last year from 410,000 in 2000.

Fertitta attributed the decline to economic troubles in Japan and what he said was a tendency among many Japanese to visit a destination only once.

New York is one of only a few U.S. urban centers that did not see a drop in the number of overseas visitors between 2000 and 2006, and Fertitta said he expected to continue working to hold the city's lead, in part by opening marketing offices in Australia and India.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he wants the city to attract 50 million travelers each year by 2015. Last year, visitors to New York spent $4 billion more than they had the year before.
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It's hurting us too, while some things are getting cheaper, jobs are being lost because of the weaker american dollar
 
yeah weak currencies have been great for tourists in many asian countries. then again, the natives here sure don't wanna live like the natives there, where you can pay some dude a few bhat to pull you around all day in a rickshaw. we don't like menial, shit-paying jobs. that's why we got them mexicans up here, right?
 
catocom said:
for real....
the grocery bills are killer these days at my house.
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You can thank the ethanol crazies for that. Even TIME MAGAZINE has published articles on the effect that ethanol has had.

Studies have shown that if we converted 100% of all aerable land in the United States to corn ethanol production it would only offset 12% of foreign oil imports.

Milk at my store went from $2.50 to $4.40 pergallon in two months. that is because the result of feed in milk out is immediate. Now that the slaughter animals are making their way to market those products -- fowl, pork, beef -- are increasing as well.

Until people start goint to their reps. and sens. and threatening an ethanol tea party nothing will change. They have never worked a real day's job in their lives but think they know everything there is to running businesses.
 
This has been coming like a runaway freight train since 1933 when a democrat president violated the Constitution and outlawed gold as a standard for our money.

It contnued in 1964 when another democrat president took what remained off the silver standard.

Still one more democrat president decided that th price of gold and silver should float on the futures market and look at where it is now.

You now have nothing to show for your dollar except a few printing presses running full-tilt 24/7/365.

Kennedy wanted to take back the printing authority and disband the Federal Reserve; but soneone decided he would be far better off dead. It doesn't pay to piss off people who have more money than God.
 
Jim, you're not that simple. Think it through. With the US greenback at €1.45, oil is trading at over $90 a barrel. That's heat, that's transport, that's food, right there. Why is oil over $90? Because the greenback buying it is worthless. Similarly, everyone's bleeting about the price of gold ans silver rising to record levels. No they aren't. It's the buck that's buying them dropping against then. Look at how gold has moved against the euro, and it's a whole different picture.

The answer to employment issues isn't to drop the dollar to the point where it's economical to keep the work here. Are you really insane enough to think that we'll ever approach the level of production per dollar that korea and india can? The answer to the problem is .... to keep the jobs here regardless. If every american stopped buying anything not produced in the US, their cost of living would skyrocket, but so would their paycheques, and the employment numbers. I worked for a sort time at Leviton. You might know that name. They make electrical products, like extension cords and light switches. They had a production facility here in Montreal. Shortly after I started (I was temp) they closed the facility to move production to Mexico. Why? Because Noma, their biggest competitor, already had, and they had no choice if they wanted to stay in business. But oddly enough... I never did notice the price of extension cords dropping to match.

That, my friend, is the problem and solution. Encourage, force, or railroad your suppliers using your buying power ... to keep your buying power within your borders.




Do you really think that many chinese buy other than chinese manufacture?
 
Some are working to get the jobs back here, and with the coming
depression, and rise in unemployment rates (more to come), the U.S.
can and probably will come back and strengthen the dollar back, but it's
going to take snapping people Back to a reality, that many have not known.

Jim's right though, and IMO we need to go back to the gold standard.
 
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