Amiga Exchange Rate

[Plaz]

Buying Ami equipment from Euro sources have usually been prohibitive for me because of exchange rates to the dollar.  Things seem to be going rough for most everyone these days, but hard times seem to be coming down even harder on the Euro. If it keeps up, buying Amiga gear could reach parity Euro<>Dollar. Any one an expert on Euro markets that could explain what's going on? I know the American markets are taking hits because of the banking debacles, but that should be hurting the dollar more I would think, not the other way around.

Exchange Rate News

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Plaz

[Lemmink]

It turned out that europes financial markets are hit more by the US financial crisis then initially expected so it is natural the the Euro is going down as well. But I don't think it will go down as much as 1:1 $:EUR as all in all the US financial market did take a heavier hit then the europe market. I guess in this fast moving struggeling time you can predict about everything and people will belive it.

[meega]

Shorting the euro won't help you get out of the mess.  :lol:

[Plaz]

all in all the US financial market did take a heavier hit then the europe market.

How heavy still remains to be seen. And then there's the bailout package that was passed that's suppose to stablize US markets. So far Europe isn't gonig for a bailout of their own. Rocky times ahead.

Plaz

[alexh]

I wish I was a USA banker.

Get paid for f**ing up.
Loose money and the tax payer payer pays your losses.
Bonuses if you make money.
Bonuses if you loose money.
Golden handshakes if you get fired.

How the hell did I come to the conclusion to be an engineer?

All the US and EU banks should have been allowed to go to the wall. Lots of bankers should have lost their jobs. It would have been very painful for 5+ years but in the end it would have been much better! It would have taught the people the value of money, people would have become much more aware of credit / interest rates.

1000's of businesses go under every year and the tax payer does not bail them out!

[keropi]

well said alexh, especially the "bail-out" thingie.
Also this was inevitable for the US , same old story , rise and fall.

[alexh]

I think I might be saying something else if I was about to retire and had just seen the value of my index linked pension plummet.

Who do we know in USA who is about to retire on the proceeds of his stock portfolio... hmmm... President Bush perhaps? ;-)

[impactor]

Death to the Euro... sorry just had to say that.  :pissed:

[countzero]

why the hatred against euro ? you don't even have to use it ?

[impactor]

countzero wrote:
why the hatred against euro ? you don't even have to use it ?

Yes, and hope it stays that way.  The Euro is a political weapon of the EU, designed to create a United States of Europe.  Don't get me wrong I love Europe, I just don't like the political nature of the EU and the Euro.

[darksun9210]

people go to mortgage company for a "ninja loan" - No Income No Job Applicant.
mortgage company then sells mortgage to the bank on the assumption the property will increase in value so doesn't take a deposit, and takes the commision for selling the loan.
Retail Bank goes "crap, we've bought some really dodgy mortgages, i know, we'll push them over to our investment side."
Investment Bank side then packages up securities, using the mortgages as collateral, calling them CDO's (assuming the mortgages get paid, the CDO's will pay back to whoever invests in them)
the CDO's are then split into 3 levels of risk (traunches). the good the not-so-good and the ugly.
if some of the mortgages fail, as some surely will,the investment bank will pay the investors holding the "good" traunch first, then the "bad", and the "ugly" investors last.
so the "good" investors have the least risk, get the lowest interest rate
the "not so goods" will get a better interest rate, and the ugly guys will get a nice big fat interest rate as they have the most risk.
The investment bank then buys insurance for the "good" piece so the rating agencies give it AAA-A safety rating. The "not so good" gets a BBB-B rating, and for the "ugly" piece, it doesn't even get rated.

so, supposed AAA and BBB rated securities get created out of a pile of risky mortgages, that get invested in by insurance companies, banks, small towns in norway, school boards in kansas... anyone looking for a high quality safe investment.

the ugly pieces get kept by the Investment Bank, and they pay themselves a nicce fat interest rate. however, so they don't show in the balance sheet as crappy mortgages, a shell company gets setup in the caymen islands to take ownership of the mortgages. the name for this being Special Purpose Vehicle - SPV.

then the whole thing falls down as there is no money comming into the mortgages to pay the CDO securities investors - who then don't recieve their monthly payments, and it all falls down through the chain.

basicly, my thoughts are that someone somewhere is making a shed load of cash off the back of this.