Although maybe we can credit him and Greenspan, and all the advocates of discretionary central banking, for wrecking the empire, too bad they had to wreck the dollar in the process.
Writes Ron Arnold: “I work in the Travel Industry and we get updates once a week on things such as what the decline in the dollar has done to tourism. Check this out.
“‘THE DOLLAR used to be the universal tourist currency, accepted almost anywhere, from the streets of Hanoi to the plains of Africa. But the continued slide of the dollar against other currencies has led the greenback to be shunned in unexpected places, creating new problems for American travelers and pushing prices higher. The Taj Mahal and other national tourist sites in India have stopped accepting dollars for entrance fees. Some tour operators say they have encountered newfound resistance to dollars in parts of Vietnam and Peru, especially in villages that are off the beaten path. Even in New York, some shops are encouraging payment in foreign currency. And some American tour operators are now tacking so-called currency surcharges, in much the same way that airlines have bumped up fuel surcharges in the face of rising fuel costs. Some hotels with a large American clientele have begun to guarantee some rates in dollars. (Page 6, New York Times/Travel, Sun.).'”
12:47 pm on February 5, 2008
