Last night, during the intermission of the Los Angeles Master Chorale concert at Walt Disney Hall, I reached deep into the pocket of my coat and found a one-Euro coin. Today it's worth $1.30 at official exchange rates, compared to only $1.19 when I returned from Italy back in April. Needless to say, I wish all the pockets of all the clothes I brought with me from Italy were filled with foreign currency.
The dollars is taking a pounding and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Enormous budget and trade deficits are to blame. The current account deficit is accumulating at the rate of $600 billion per year. The budget deficit for FY 2004 was $412.3 billion.
For American exporters, the weak dollar is good news. It's not such good news, however, for me and my plan to return to Italy soon.
Excuse me for a moment while I go search all my pockets.