My wife (German in nature) wanted to impress upon me the 'great-evil' of the US dollar being so 'weak' currently....forcing me to read a article from Handelsblatt (the German version of the Wall Street Journal).
The piece went to a anti-Trump strategy....how a weak dollar hurts the German economy, and endangers the US.
Current balance? One dollar buys .84 Euro.
So here's the thing....if you go back to 1960....there have been three low dollar periods:
1971-1979: Following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar experienced significant weakness against the Deutsche Mark, with the exchange rate (DM per USD) declining from around 3.48 in 1971 to 1.83 by 1979.
I remember 1978/1979...I was stationed in Germany, and it was obvious.
1986-1995: After the Plaza Accord in 1985, the dollar entered another major period of depreciation against the DM, dropping from a peak of 2.94 DM per USD in 1985 to a low of 1.43 in 1995.
I was here in the early 90s....remembering that era well.
2002-2008: In the Euro era, the dollar weakened substantially against the Euro, with the exchange rate (EUR per USD) falling from about 1.06 in 2002 to 0.68 by 2008, reflecting broader dollar weakness during this period.
I worked as a contractor in that era...here in Germany, and it reached a point where the company just said...'that's it....we got no extra money to help you with the crappy dollar'.
Looking at the three eras....we have yet to reach this absolute weak point....so the Handelsblatt folks are just talking hot-air at this point.
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