subster can't even afford enough commas.

Ok; if the euro falls, it will be good long term for the dollar. Short term, it's like kicking the economy in the nuts.

Doooooom!!!!!

\let's all sing the doom song

According to the Big Mac Index (new window), the Euro is overvalued by quite a bit... even when adjusted for GDP per person (new window)

Reserve currency, lots of atomic weapons, what's not to like?

hopefully this isn't the plan for education

doesn't really matter.

/more concerned about a floating exchange rate for the yuan.

Relative to the dollar, I should say...

mynameisdouglas: doesn't really matter.

/more concerned about a floating exchange rate for the yuan.

Actually, if you look at that GDP per person calculation the Economist did and to which I posted a link earlier... the Yuan may be about right.

Darmok and Jalad, when the Euro fell.

The Euro has been grossly overvalued for some time.

Gunny Walker: If we hit parity with the euro and the CAD, should we all be one one currency?

(Or should we sink to Peso levels first?)

No. It works well in good times, but not so much in bad times. See Europe right now.

USA USA USA!!!!

/or something

sinanju: According to the Big Mac Index (new window), the Euro is overvalued by quite a bit... even when adjusted for GDP per person (new window)

How so? Just because you can work at McDs and own your own house over here doesn't mean that it is overvalued.

Well we can't have this! Quick order the treasury to print another trillion dollars so we can give more bank and financial sector bonuses!

In before the Paultards and their "Dr. Poopy Pants has a plan!!!!!" posts.

Huh. Euro-socialism is an abject failure. Who would have thunk it?

TheCruxOfTheBiscuitIsTheApostrophe: Huh. Euro-socialism is an abject failure. Who would have thunk it?

Just like the United States of America?

Hint: united states, it's a collective.

sinanju: According to the Big Mac Index (new window), the Euro is overvalued by quite a bit... even when adjusted for GDP per person (new window)

How farking sad is it that the best measure of the relative value of commodities is no longer the cost of corn, but the cost of a big mac?

Spoonfed'sBuddy: The Euro has been grossly overvalued for some time.

When the Euro was mostly the Franco-German currency with some minor states attached, its value made sense. The whole issue started when Europe's weaker (or more corrupt) economies began jumping on the wagon. Then everyone went full retard acted like they added value instead of subtracted from it.

Up until recent we kept hearing how adding in the various shiatty states meant that the EU was just opening new areas for development. In reality those new areas borrowed heavily in the EU's name and ran for the hills.

reserve currency= guns,ammo,food,booze.

HotIgneous Intruder: TheCruxOfTheBiscuitIsTheApostrophe: Huh. Euro-socialism is an abject failure. Who would have thunk it?

Just like the United States of America?

Hint: united states, it's a collective.

An autonomous collective?

ha-ha-guy: Spoonfed'sBuddy: The Euro has been grossly overvalued for some time.

When the Euro was mostly the Franco-German currency with some minor states attached, its value made sense. The whole issue started when Europe's weaker (or more corrupt) economies began jumping on the wagon. Then everyone went full retard acted like they added value instead of subtracted from it.

Up until recent we kept hearing how adding in the various shiatty states meant that the EU was just opening new areas for development. In reality those new areas borrowed heavily in the EU's name and ran for the hills.

IANAE, but this sounds like a solid theory to me. It's a bit like adding your unemployed brother-in-law to your household and then assuming the amount of money coming in is going to rise. No.

AcneVulgaris: An autonomous collective?

I call executive for the week! Dibs!

HotIgneous Intruder: TheCruxOfTheBiscuitIsTheApostrophe: Huh. Euro-socialism is an abject failure. Who would have thunk it?

Just like the United States of America?

Hint: united states, it's a collective.

Sure, we're headed in that direction too.

Hint: unsustainable entitlements and poor fiscal policies.

It's not the social spending per se (although that was probably unsustainable in the long term) that's killing the Euro, it's the EZ's structural problems. As HotIgneous Intruder pointed out, the EZ is not a collective. There is no real central bank, no common bond issuance, and no transfer payments, all of which the U.S. has in its collective. IOW, the currency union is doomed without fiscal and political union, especially given the wide differences in economic competetiveness among the different national economies. If the U.S. could get it's sovereign debt problem under control, it would be in very good shape compared to the rest of the world. I blame the entrenched two-party system. It's rotten to the core...unreformable...a parasite at this point.

Hmm.

I need to fly out to the States for work next May.

Was hoping to pick up a bunch of swag ultra cheap. Now that one of my 1.00 Euros buys only 1.30 dollars, I guess I'll settle for just picking up a bunch of swag cheap.

Good, I wanna travel back over there soon and it needs to be a lot cheaper.

sinanju: According to the Big Mac Index (new window), the Euro is overvalued by quite a bit... even when adjusted for GDP per person (new window)

never knew there was a Kelly's Blue Book for money. Cool.

As someone who plans to go to Europe for a series of presentations and papers this summer, I have only the following to day :

FALL BABY FALL.

I hope the Pound falls to $.50 and the Euro to $.20! I hope the RMB goes to $5.

krusader3z: Hmm. I need to fly out to the States for work next May. Was hoping to pick up a bunch of swag ultra cheap. Now that one of my 1.00 Euros buys only 1.30 dollars, I guess I'll settle for just picking up a bunch of swag cheap.

By next May, you might find the swag considerably less cheap. You don't imagine that the fathead politicians in Europe know what they're doing, do you?

krusader3z: Hmm.

I need to fly out to the States for work next May.

Was hoping to pick up a bunch of swag ultra cheap. Now that one of my 1.00 Euros buys only 1.30 dollars, I guess I'll settle for just picking up a bunch of swag cheap.

If I were european and in one of the euro countries it would bother me how much value they have lost in a short amount of time.

Our currency is going up compared to theirs; ZOMGOurs goes down compared to theirs: ZOMG HOW WILL WE BUY THEIR STUFF!

anything happens with anyone's currency: ZOMG

b>TheCruxOfTheBiscuitIsTheApostrophe: Hint: unsustainable entitlements and poor fiscal policies.

Our entitlements are absolutely sustainable, but not in addition to unfunded wars and tax cuts for the rich, and a ridiculously oversized military.

Gunny Walker: If we hit parity with the euro and the CAD, should we all be one one currency?

(Or should we sink to Peso levels first?)

The Euro started at parity with the dollar. We intentionally devalued our currency over the last 10 years to help bolster exports and domestic production.

Race to the bottom! Now there's a game we can win! Go USA!

/sigh

steamingpile: krusader3z: Hmm.

I need to fly out to the States for work next May.

Was hoping to pick up a bunch of swag ultra cheap. Now that one of my 1.00 Euros buys only 1.30 dollars, I guess I'll settle for just picking up a bunch of swag cheap.

If I were european and in one of the euro countries it would bother me how much value they have lost in a short amount of time.

If you look at a graph dating back to the inception of the Euro it's always been quite volatile (new window).

Just about where we were a year ago. Also much higher than it was when I was last in the States..(summer 2009)

I'm not hoping for a Euro breakup, but if it does the currency of the country I reside in will be much stronger than its peers. Even cheaper swag.

/American by birth

Dear world:

Can we get off the inflation train? We're just fooling ourselves with the "growth" it produces. It's not growth, just the devaluation of currency.

/When I was a kid we could get a loaf of bread for a haypenny.

Headline, hurt, head

Smackledorfer: b>TheCruxOfTheBiscuitIsTheApostrophe: Hint: unsustainable entitlements and poor fiscal policies.

Our entitlements are absolutely sustainable, but not in addition to unfunded wars and tax cuts for the rich, and a ridiculously oversized military.

Not according to the CBO.

krusader3z: If you look at a graph dating back to the inception of the Euro it's always been quite volatile (new window). Just about where we were a year ago. Also much higher than it was when I was last in the States..(summer 2009) I'm not hoping for a Euro breakup, but if it does the currency of the country I reside in will be much stronger than its peers. Even cheaper swag.

The Dutch bank ING has had another go at the numbers...Germany would suffer a "deflationary shock". The whole eurozone would crash into depression, with a GDP contraction of around 9pc in 2012 - Germany (-7.4), France (-9.1), Portugal (-12.7), Greece (-13.1). Outside: UK (-5), Poland (-6.6), US (-0.2), Japan (-1.1)... ING's Mr Cliffe does not agree with those who think the D-Mark will soar against the dollar after a break-up, mimicking the Swiss franc. It will be sucked down by depression and mayhem. Nor would the euro rally after spinning Greece back into the Aegean. The residual core currency would plunge below dollar parity, and perhaps below $0.85. (new window)

Krone slumps?

Meanwhile, elderly woman faints on hearing her European investments have all evaporated in the latest economic crisis

Mentat: Regression to the mean, it's the American Way.

This.

OK, so i don't know anything about those charts and graphs, but i'm going to Spain next year. Should i bring extra money or should i count on bringing an axe to win in the Thunder Dome?

Why the fark would any American *want* to see the EU currency slide? The current exchange rate favors our economy ffs.
Stop listening to the damn rentiers so we can get out of this slump.

TheCruxOfTheBiscuitIsTheApostrophe: "Not according to the CBO."

The GAO has a cool stacked bar chart that shows your line graph is largely a compounded interest problem and that changes to spending on entitlements are a minor factor in that slope. http://visualbaseline.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-ris ks-of-growing-entitlement-spending.jpg

The graph basically says "fix the deficit" and therefore "fix the growth of medical costs" and "reduce military spending". (The vast bulk of that white section of bar chart is military spending). These are things that we already know, and that are largely orthogonal to our current level of entitlement benefits. So you're both right.
The *level* of benefits is sustainable, but not at the way costs are rising and certainly not when military/surveillance spending and stagnant revenue (due recession, depression and tax cuts) push us into massive deficits.