Showing posts with label falling value of US dollar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label falling value of US dollar. Show all posts

November 17, 2009

Bernanke's Rare Intervention Fails to Calm Fears Over Weak Dollar

With the dollar going into steep decline, with the price of gold rising to record levels, with the US’s huge deficit having to be financed through printing money (or ‘quantitative easing’ as they prefer to call it by way of euphemism these days), with Ben Bernanke talking about the dollar “remaining strong” and a “source of global financial stability”, one really has to question the competence, judgment and ability of the head of the Fed – Ben Bernanke! This is, after all, the age of the resurgence of soup kitchens in America, a country in which fifty million Americans are finding it difficult to get adequate nourishment. It is also an age in which bankers continue to pay themselves ginormous bonuses. Surely, this must be the age of ultimate financial mismanagement. Shame on Ben Bernanke! Shame on them all! – © Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's attempt to shore up support for the US currency failed yesterday as the dollar fell to fresh 15-month lows.

In a rare moment of intervention into the currency markets from America's leading central banker, Mr Bernanke admitted the Fed is watching the dollar "closely" as part of its focus on employment growth and price stability.

Mr Bernanke stressed the dollar will remain "strong" and continue as a "source of global financial stability". >>> James Quinn, US Business Editor | Tuesday, November 17, 2009

April 14, 2008

US Dollar Drifts Lower - Again

REUTERS: NEW YORK - The dollar retreated on Monday, giving up early gains, as worries about a gloomy U.S. economic outlook outweighed the Group of Seven nations' heightened concern about currency volatility. Dollar Drifts Lower as Bleak U.S. Outlook Weighs >>> By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss | April 14, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

April 12, 2008

Expats in Saudi Are Feeling the Pinch

ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH, 12 April 2008 — The effect of the Saudi riyal being pegged to the weakening US dollar is posing a dilemma to several expatriate workers in the Kingdom, who are either silently suffering the erosion of their incomes or quitting their jobs and going back to their native countries.

Abdul Haq Al-Tazi, a Moroccan accountant working in a private company, said he almost decided not to return after his vacation. He has been forced to reconsider the move because of the dwindling exchange rate of his riyal-based income compared to the currency in his home country.

The SR1,000 he used to send to his family in Morocco used to have an exchange value of 3,000 Moroccan dirhams. Today that SR1,000 fetches only about 2,000 dirhams, Tazi said.

“This fall in my income is because of the euro to which the currency of my country is linked while the value of US dollars, to which Saudi riyal is pegged, is falling. Now I have to send home almost SR1,500 every month to compensate for the shortfall,” Tazi said. He added that his employer did not raise his salary to compensate for the loss that began to be largely noticeable over the past several months. “Since the situation is getting worse I am thinking of leaving for my country where I can at least live with my family,” Tazi said.

Tazi is not the only Moroccan who is considering leaving Saudi Arabia due to the weakening currency and the refusal of employers to raise salaries to compensate for the current problems caused by the riyal-dollar peg. Anas ibn Zaydoun, another Moroccan working in a tourism firm in Jeddah, said he has decided to leave. Expats Feel Bite of Weak Dollar >>> By Galal Fakkar, Arab News | April 12, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)