Colone vs. Dollar

[sabo941 0]

I guess when we are 230-1 folks ,the folks will to start to go else where and then the Ticos can love Obama and starve. Is there one Tico that thinks Obama cares about any anyone but Obama? I can tell you that no south of the boarder person is on the morning briefing, sorry.

Edited March 31, 2010 by sabo941

[DanaJ 0]

I guess when we are 230-1 folks ,the folks will to start to go else where and then the Ticos can love Obama and starve. Is there one Tico that thinks Obama cares about any anyone but Obama? I can tell you that no south of the boarder person is on the morning briefing, sorry.

 

Just what do Tico's care about President Obama? The President they care about is named Laura Chinchilla. President Obama might as well be Santa Clause as far as most Tico's are concerned.

The only residents of CR that need to worry themselves about President Obama are US citizens. And we should pay attention to President Chincilla too.

 

Dana J

[kenn 0]

Just what do Tico's care about President Obama? The President they care about is named Laura Chinchilla. President Obama might as well be Santa Clause as far as most Tico's are concerned.

The only residents of CR that need to worry themselves about President Obama are US citizens. And we should pay attention to President Chincilla too.

 

Dana J

 

I get your point, but think you overstate it. Latinos care a ton about Obama, or whoever is in charge in the US. I live near Roosevelt School and Kennedy Park, named for US presidents who impressed Ticos favorably. Ticos are keenly aware of how much power the US has, for good or ill. My local car parking guy is always eager to talk about US politics, and follows reasonably closely. You will also notice that La Nación covers the US fairly well--at least more than US newspapers cover the world outside the US.

 

Right now the question about Obama seems to be a question. He was hugely popular in CR at the time of his election, but now Latinos seem to be taking a wait and see attitude. Obama hasn't prioritized Latin America, and the US stance in Honduras as well as Plan Colombia to some extent have given some Latinos pause. He appears now to be following the same course as Bush, and that was not very popular. However, my sense is that the jury is still out. The Ticos are waiting to see what if anything he does that affects them. But they are not unaware of how much power the US can exert and are watching.

[happy2b 0]

It is down to 517 and 518 this morning. Maybe we should buy as many colones as we can NOW!

 

This is updated daily:

 

Retail traders exchange rates

[puravidamj 0]

512 and 514 today, my friend.

 

And thank you for the web page link.

 

But the international rate is:

 

Live rates at 2010.04.06 20:39:28 UTC

1.00 USD

 

=

 

555.598 CRC

 

 

 

Go figure!

Edited April 6, 2010 by puravidamj

[kenn 0]

Actually folks, while I'm keener on idle musings than the next person, I think it may be time for us to put our collective thinking caps on and figure this out. Basically, the dollar is now worth about what it was when groceries, bus fares, and so on were 20-25% lower. This is starting to be a problem.

[kenn 0]

512 and 514 today, my friend.

 

It's 506 today, over a 1% loss in a little over two weeks, which is in keeping with the roughly 1.5% per month loss over the past 8 months or so.

 

However, I have a conjecture that I would like to put forward for comment or criticism. The decline in the value of the dollar has roughly coincided with China's construction of the new soccer stadium. Now, maybe the absolute amounts aren't significant enough to have affected anything and I have no idea how exactly the finances worked, but China did pump a lot of money into the CR economy over a compressed period of time. China could have flooded CR with dollars during this period, which would in theory lower the value of the dollar, and in fact China could have flooded CR with dollars with their artificially depressed currency, which would have magnified the devaluation effects on the dollar. Again, the specifics elude me, but it was a massive project over a short period of time in a fairly small country and the timing coincides. It's possible that we're all just experiencing the consequences of China's massive infusion of cash into a small economy, and once that works its way through the system we'll be back to relative normal. Of course, if this conjecture has merit, the soccer stadium is in part being financed by a gringo tax--so I hope you like soccer!

 

Again though, whatever is going on is specific to the CR economy, since the dollar isn't devaluing elsewhere, at least with anywhere near the same intensity.

[ciclista 0]

Your point of view is similar to the one expressed today in AM CR, that lots of $'s coming into CR has decreased their value. They also mention that exports to the US are paid in dollars (to the exporter) but the exporter pays their costs (labor and materials) in colones... so there is a relative surplus of dollars and a relative shortage of colones. The busiest tourist season (for gringos coming to CR) has wound down now so perhaps that will slightly decrease the amount of dollars coming into CR.

[SCORP 0]

I wonder if all the dollars the CR Governement is confiscating from these drug dealers are having an impact on the devaluation of the dollar. They seem to get hundreds of thousands of dollars almost daily from drug dealers. Just wondering

[ciclista 0]

I wonder if all the dollars the CR Government is confiscating from these drug dealers are having an impact on the devaluation of the dollar. They seem to get hundreds of thousands of dollars almost daily from drug dealers. Just wondering

 

I guess you're assuming that those dollars actually make it into the CR marketplace...

 

I think the substantial majority of what they confiscate is drugs, not dollars.

[DanaJ 0]

Or, perhaps, the dollar is actually worth less. Since the beginning of the so-called financial 'crisis', the Fed has been printing money like the Monopoly Factory. World wide, the $ has declined in value. It just takes more $$ to buy the same amount of goods. Look at prices in the States now, have you ever seen them so high, and do they ever go back down? No.

Many people are fearing some kind of Wiemar Republic, pre- WWII inflation. At the rate things are going, who doesn't think that may be a possibility. When we got here in January, it was C585 to the $, now its almost to where it was a few years ago. makes one nervous about their retirement, doesn't it? What happens if it becomes $500 to the Colone?

Not much we can do, but keep the fingers xx....

 

Dana J

[puravidamj 0]

I used my ATM to withdraw colones today, and the exchange rate was 506.5 per dollar.

 

It may not be long before 500 hits us. Is this the negative or realistic view?

Edited April 22, 2010 by puravidamj

[ciclista 0]

Or, perhaps, the dollar is actually worth less.

 

What has happened to the value of the dollar vs the internationally-meaningful currencies, like the Euro, pound, yen, etc?

[kenn 0]

What has happened to the value of the dollar vs the internationally-meaningful currencies, like the Euro, pound, yen, etc?

 

Well, this is actually one of my points of departure. I don't know about the yen (though it could easily be checked) but the dollar is doing well against the euro and the pound. I also believe that the cordova in Nicaragua is still depreciating against the dollar. Blaming Obama or anything else inside the US for the decline of the dollar vis-a-vis the colon doesn't seem to me to make any sense. What's happening in CR has to do with what's happening in CR, not the US.

[kenn 0]

Your point of view is similar to the one expressed today in AM CR, that lots of $'s coming into CR has decreased their value. They also mention that exports to the US are paid in dollars (to the exporter) but the exporter pays their costs (labor and materials) in colones... so there is a relative surplus of dollars and a relative shortage of colones. The busiest tourist season (for gringos coming to CR) has wound down now so perhaps that will slightly decrease the amount of dollars coming into CR.

 

I actually read AM CR and missed this but, yes, the tourism increase this year would actually lower the value of the dollar. I also read that Intel's exports to the US have been up, as well as others. Whenever dollars come in and aren't spent (on imports) it floods the local market with dollars and lowers their value. I am guessing that CR imports from the US are down.

 

I can't say about drug money, although US money to help fight the drug trade may have an effect. Again, the more US dollars that come into CR vs. the fewer that are spent for US goods (or others paid in dollars) the lower the value of the dollar would be.

 

I think. I'm sure there are complicating factors.