Watching The Dollar

With only a month or so before leaving the Ice, many
Ice folks (Winter and Summer) start watching the Dollar.
Both the American Dollar and the Kiwi Dollar. I've
found that while in the States, most Americans really
don't pay attention to how the American Dollar is faring
against foreign currencies. However, to Ice folks, who
tend to travel more internationally than many, it makes
a huge difference in how much money is in the budget for
travelling. When we first starting coming down here
seven years ago, our Dollar could buy two Kiwi Dollars.
Now it buys roughly NZ$1.35. And that's up almost a dime
from several months ago! The Kiwi dollar has gotten
stronger and our Dollar has gotten weaker. This is not
necessarily a good thing for the Kiwis either as there
are fewer tourists that will come to New Zealand because
it's more expensive. I saw a story the other day that
New Zealand is lowering it's interest rate because they
are fearing a recession. As far away as New Zealand is
from the U.S., it's still affected by our economy and if
the U.S. economy isn't going well, the world's economy
isn't going well...no matter how strong the Kiwi Dollar
currently is.