Dollar Up or Down

I would agree that all things being equal, and if there was even a hint of normalcy in the world, probably the long term trend would be up and we would probably at least go back and re-test that 55 level, even maybe within this year. BUT ... things are nowhere near normal in the current US situation. The effects of Trumps isolationist trading agenda, tariff wars, tax breaks for the wealthy, destroying the healthcare system and the environment, exploding the deficit ... the cumulative effect of these things is certainly going to start showing up in the economy. Who knows what the timing will be, or what this will do to the dollar, but I think it will not be pretty.

 

I never read the book but did see the film. Depressing for sure - our money is basically in the hands of corrupt banks and corrupt investment managers. When we 'allow' them to look after it for us, it becomes (to all intents and purposes) THEIR money, to do with as they please! And when we ask for it back, we have to, sometimes, justify why we need it. I know a major company whose owner had to fly a 16 hour return trip back to the USA to get his bank account unfrozen because they would not accept a wire transfer he tried to make. Once frozen, they want you there in person.

But when THEY mess up their accountability is zero.

 

I and my wife move money out of our bank accounts to remittance companies to remit to the Philippines. We have had at least 12 occasions when we have had to phone our banks to justify why they should allow us the transaction (and the sum was always less than $10,000). Once I had to give details from my passport or else "we will freeze your account". Another time we were told it is suspicious that we transfer small amounts at a time and not all the money at once - (but this is what people remitting money do). Seeing as my wife's family name is not the same as mine and we held separate accounts, they were not aware we were connected, but we had the same experiences.

Also, some banks are now refusing to allow customers to buy cryptocurrencies - perhaps they feel is is a big risk BUT it is NOT the banks' money (as you say, Mr W) - they just act as if it is. But they allow people to buy houses, shares and other investments - so why can they decide what is best for other people and which are the 'safe' investments (after all, it is the banks who made a mess in 2008 due to poor investment decisions of their own!)?

Finally, I quote "Money deposited in a bank account is, as established under case law going back more than 200 years, legally the property of the bank, rather than the account holder."

Not paranoia - just a high level of awareness of what is going on in the financial systems.

 

I researched the peso rate vs a few currencies on 1st July 2006 (when you say the peso started to tank) and today's rates (the chart shows how many pesos you would get for one unit of each currency below):

Currency/1st July 2006/Today
USD 53.06 53.30
EUR 67.87 61.02
GBP 98.11 67.96
AUD 39.44 39.01
JPY 0.46 0.48

It seems that today the peso is about the same as or STRONGER than all those currencies compared with 2006. Not a sign of "tanking". For an example of tanking, look at the GBP!!!

 

I am sure you do not, but this forum represents the needs of people from various parts of the world. It would be a distortion to relate everything to the USA.

But even excluding the UK, many people in Greece and Cyprus woke up one morning to find that the banks had given their accounts a haircut - if the money belonged to the account holders then it was theft, but we are told it was legal to remove some of their cash!

 

Yes, you are correct.

And what is "MEUGA"?