Hey, not everything I say is negative. Here’s some upbeat comments about Europeans going shopping here in NYC I made to the NY Post.
They actually left out my favorite datapoint: Luggage sales at shops like Tumi are up 30% year over year. Europeans are buying so much stuff, they need more bags to schlepp it home !
via NY Post
I wonder if the hookers are insisting on being paid in euros.
Spent the holidays in a Beachfront Hotel in Santa Monica, and shopping on the 3rd street promenade — never seen so many Europeans in my life.
All I am saying is this phenom is not just happening in NYC, the same impact is certainly alive in Los Angeles, too.
Damn foreigner are taking our deals!
It would be interesting to see as this becomes more and more prevalent in the MSM if some politician somewhere will attempt to create a special tax on sales to non US citizens.
Regards,
TDL
Uh…the U.S. dollar getting stronger? IN FIVE YEARS??? Barry, based on WHAT? We are printing massive amounts of money backed by an increasingly smaller manufacturing base, if it weren’t for those left over factories from our ancestors we’d be a banana republic already.
We’ve lived on our reputation for years now, and I see no end to the pummelling of the dollar for quite some time. Yes, as the dollar gets weak enough there will be some economic counterbalancing (this spending thing, some manufacturers moving in based on “cheaper than Europe”, but it will not overcome the print and spend mentality that is currently dooming the dollar.
And I would love to hear the Goracle’s reaction to people burning jet fuel to get across the big pond TWICE to do some shopping.
Lewis
They’re also buying all the property in NYC without the comparable taxes they’d have to pay buying property in other foreign countries.
I wouldn’t be surprised if NYC becomes a city of foreign absentee landlords … remember the tax shortfalls Bloomberg predicted for next year? I guarantee they’re just going to get worse.
It is nuts that some people have so much money that they can afford to fly to N.Y. to shop. This is a good example of how a small elite are simply making too much money – too much money concentrated in the hands of too few people.
As for the first comment that we (U.S.) is printing money big time: can we finally put that baby too sleep. Keep your eye on credit, not money. New credit creation is contracting as insolvency increases.
Barry,
I love your blog. Nice to see a wall streeter with his head on straight.
I’ve never felt compelled to contribite to your comment section, however, I don’t see the dollar making any sort of sustained rebound unless fiscal policy is significantly altered.
The dollar has been on a downturn for almost 40 yrs… http://mwhodges.home.att.net/exchange_rate.htm
Hey Barry, just a suggestion. Why not code your links to open in a new window.
Dollar stronger in five years if the currency cycles hold? I would appreciate it if you could explain what you mean by that. Thanks.
In order for me to turn long-term bullish on the US dollar, I would have to see a complete change in behavior from Wall Street, Washington and Corporate America. I’m not holding my breath.
So the retail sales figure for Xmas is inflated by the aliens, so things are worse than you realized!
I don’t think the government ever attributes inflation to aliens. And I’d bet the anal probe you keep dreaming about, isn’t the aliens either.
Lets see that gets through the spam protection…..
Hats off to Lewis for telling it like it is. Bernanke & Co. will ensure the US dollar becomes a banana republic currency. Time to move assets into Canada, and watch as predatory sovereign money scoops up US assets on the cheap.
I totally agree with Don…who flies across the Atlantic and spends $350/night for a hotel room as part of a shopping spree? These kind of people must be relatively rare and very wealthy. Or just kinda dumb as these items can be shipped overseas too. I guess if they consider visiting the city a vacation, then perhaps. But most European cities seem nicer to tourists as they have public restrooms.
The weak dollar is good for foreigners and Corporate America but what about Americans living on fixed incomes? The first baby boomer officially begins receiving Social Security next month.
>> Hey Barry, just a suggestion. Why not code your links to open in a new window.
>> Posted by: Alex | Dec 26, 2007 2:40:29 PM
Alex, you can hold down the CTRL button when you click on a link. In IE, it opens a new window. In Firefox, it opens a new tab.
Come to think of it, you probably already know about the CTRL trick and just want BR to make it even simpler. Good idea…
Barry?
Here’s one (contrived?) way to look at this. We:
– export high-end jobs, so that fewer local workers can afford luxury goods and
– import high-end shoppers, to buy the excess luxury goods.
See? It all works out! ;-)
So, when does the higher yields start to be seen as a “lack of foreigners buying our debt?” Isn’t that a real question? Was it not the claim that by having the Chinese and Gulf Oil countries buying up our tresuries this created low yeilds which in turn supported the housing bubble? Remember even Greenspan couldn’t quite fathom the affects of all this. So when does the U.S. economy become inversely affected?