euro trouble

That was sort of predictable.

Last night it was "only" 18%. Whoops ...

I am surprised anyone is buying those bonds. I sure wouldn't.

Well thanks to GW Moron I'm still having fun buying stuff from Ebay. I recall having to pay 1.4 euro for a dollar. Nowadays a dollar costs me

California's bond ratings are rock solid in comparison...

Shocking.

Michael

We on the opposite side of that math. We buy very little stuff from europe (Osram, ST, some NXP ARMs, the occasional Audi) but sell a lot of gear there. A low dollar helps us a lot more than it hurts. And even then, US parts/car/cheese prices seem to stay competitive in dollars regardless of what the euro does.

I hope the Euro hits $2!

But doesn't it cost a lot to ship ebay stuff to europe?

John

From China to most parts of Europe, nothing.

Cheese from the US??? AFAIK most semiconductors and other parts are produced in Asia. TSMC anyone?

US cars are in very low demand here. Here is the reason why:

The totally smashed grey car in the middle is a Chrysler PT cruiser. The female driver of the Chrysler died. The volkswagen on the left is almost undamaged. A European car would have survived the side impact and allowed the women to live.

Compare some crash test results:

And every now and then I have a lot of fun keeping up with a Chrysler V8 using a small dieselengine. Proper handling is the keyword.

I hope so too. Lower oil prices until they start selling oil in euros.

Sometimes its worth it. I just paid $290 to ship two nice Iwatsu scopes from Hong-Kong with Fedex.

It looks like it got squashed between the other two. Any car can get squashed if you hit it hard enough.

ftp://jjlarkin.lmi.net/oops.zip

But I can't imagine why anyone would buy a PT Cruiser. Chrysler specializes in hideous crap, and the PT is the top of the line.

American cars are optimized for a country that is BIG and, mostly, has wide streets and lots of parking. And much cheaper fuel than in europe. Americans tend to have more kids+dogs too, so prefer bigger vehicles.

I've never owned an American car. My wife has a Honda Fit - fabulous little car - and I recently got an A3 to replace my Rabbit. The A3 is not a small diesel.

John

They completely destroyed the JEEP once they bought out AMC.

Its pretty bad when I go in to get parts for my bush beater 91 Jeep and the mechanics working there say the new liberator is a piece of s*it. Its to bad the Cherokee was a nice capable midsize SUV; until Chrysler redesigned it.

Come on. AMC destroyed the JEEP long before Chrysler had anything to do with them. AMC could have given the Brits a run for their money.

Sounds like the states very much. The blue states can drag all the others down with their irresponsibility.

The Brat has a Ribicon and it's OK so far. It seems fine mechanically and blasts through mud and rocks and snow berms like it's supposed to. It's had some weird brake problems, and some of the details (fasteners, connectors) are seriously crap. She loves it.

John

I don't know if they touched the rubicons etc but they cut the Comanche line and redid the Cherokee's and they didn't do a good job on those.

I have a 91 Comanche eliminator I bought off my Dad and the thing is like a small tank goes anywhere. I had to replace the rad it was too small, ran hot on the trails. The only other problem with it was water got into a vacuum line which engages the 4WD and it would give intermittent problems in the winter but it never failed when I really needed it. The body is rusting in spots too; gotta love road salt.

I would run into guys way back in the bush on four wheelers and they would go "you got a truck back here"?

If they wouldn't have cut the Comanche line and added an extended cab option I would be looking at buying a new one now or a Cherokee as it is I don't know what to get for a replacement. She's getting up there and showing her age ;-)

Do not forget the other PIIGS: Italy is not too far behind..

I think a couple million grunts would disagree with you.

It depends on your personal experience mine has been good. I defiantly got my money out of it.

I think you're wrong. AMC and JEEP went downhill long before Chrysler bought them out. Chrysler certainly didn't do them any favors, nor verse visa.

Yeah we've been selling lots of stuff to Europe. I don't think $2 is going to happen now. Let's hope it stays above $1.

Greece should never have been allowed into the Euro in the first place. Their books were seriously cooked to qualify. Now the chickens come home to roost - looks like Germany will be footing the bill.

There is a fantastic opportunity now for the spivs and speculators to deliberately sink the economies of Greece and then Portugal to extract money from the other Eurozone countries by extortion.

If you ever get paid. Only a madman would lend the Greek government money. OTOH if you buy insurance off AIG it might still be profitable.

Regards, Martin Brown

But California is even deeper in debts, 200% their BDP is it?

The end result is going to be either that Greece leaves the Euro or they are going to be forced to make savage cuts to their public spending.