Looks like going to our Northern States in Canada or going to Aussie land (oz) is going to cost more as the US buck $ is going d o w n … We had hopes of going down under one of these days and just might have to wait a wee bit longer. Too many trips this year already booked so we will see about next year and of course that’s what we say ever year !!!
Cheers TOF
So, uh, how’s that hope and change workin’ out for ya? 
The debil made me do it! :lol:
The GBP (£ Sterling) is climbing a little against the dollar so maybe one or two more items from the States could be considered. But hey! All the aircraft are grounded; how on earth would I get it. lol
PS: Luckily my coal hopper from the States arrived in the UK yesterday. Thank goodness.
Steve Hope ? Sometimes it works, sometimes not but I keep pluggin’ at it. We have an Amtrak trip sorta planned for sometime this year and we our annual trip to Hawaii in September taken care of so the plate is kind of full this year. But then there is next year, ha ha, next year, maybe Aussie land, oz.
And your plans ?
Cheers from Lost Wages TOF
I remember saying to myself, “Self, buy gold before it hits $800/ounce.” What is it now?
David Hill said:[url=http://www.goldprice.org/gold-price.html]$1159 and change per ounce.[/url]
I remember saying to myself, "Self, buy gold before it hits $800/ounce." What is it now?
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Tom Ruby said:
We elected it!
Please don’t include me in your WE! 
John Neal said:This is how I feel. :)
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from the Financial Times, “Record Gold Prices ‘Unsustainable’”:
The current price of gold is unsustainable in the long term and prices will have to fall to stimulate demand in the jewellery sector, the precious metals consultancy GFMS has said. . . . Demand from investors for the yellow metal soared last year, overtaking jewellery demand for the first time since 1980, GFMS said on Wednesday in its annual report on the gold market. Philip Klapwijk, executive chairman of GFMS, said a “hefty drop in prices” would be needed to boost jewellery and bring the market into equilibrium. Investor inflows would need to be maintained near current record levels to take up the slack from lower jewellery demand, he said. But while continuing jitters over the strength of the global recovery may sustain investor demand in the near term, Mr Klapwijk believes it is unlikely to be maintained in an environment of rising interest rates. “It is difficult to argue that prices could be sustainable” in the long term, he said. “This is a market that has moved out of kilter with its underlying fundamentals.”
Darryl Noble said:
Looks like going to our Northern States in Canada or going to Aussie land (oz) is going to cost more as the US buck $ is going d o w n ... We had hopes of going down under one of these days and just might have to wait a wee bit longer. Too many trips this year already booked so we will see about next year and of course that's what we say ever year !!!Cheers TOF
Norm
During the 1970s, one ounce of gold cost $35. Assume back then you had a choice of either holding the one ounce of gold or keeping the $35 Greenbacks.
Both had the same purchasing power then, enough to buy a brand new business suit, shoes, tie and accessories. If you had an ounce of gold today and converted it to today’s dollars, it would still be enough to buy a brand new suit of clothes.
This analogy as I understand, can be traced back a thousand years and one will still be able to buy a new “business suit” with one ounce of gold.
FWIW.
Ahemmm … off hand I’d say: do a bit more reading and less complaining, it will all dawn on you. It won’t grow on you, though! 
Okay, who complained and got HJ all upset?? Confess now!
Why should I get, or be, upset. From my perspective things are working out just like I expected them to quite a few years ago.
There are only two ‘collectables’ in this world, the U.S. dollar and gold. When the gold price increases, the dollar is falling, as investors drop dollars to buy gold. When business confidence reigns, then the dollar will come back in vogue. A war economy always inspires gold inflation as investors seek a certainty in an uncertain world. At one time the U.S. government set the gold price at $35.00 USD per ounce (currently now around $1100.00).
The Australian economy was hoping for dollar parity by last Christmas, but alas, it only got to $0.96 USD. It now hovers in the $0.91 range, but will get better as the Oz economy gets back on track and interest rates rise. At present our currency is 30% better off than our New Zealand neighbours across the Tasman Sea.
I can remember (which is a feat in itself lately) back when I was stationed in West Germany 1969, I was able to get 4 DM for 1 US Dollar from the local merchants. Now I guess the currency is Euros, so convert DM to Euro and then to dollars???
Discussions about the relative value of the dollar often assume that a “weak” dollar is bad, and the language used to describe relative currency values–“strong” and “weak”–reinforces that. But the relative value of a nation’s currency is an instrument of trade. China keeps the value of its currency very low, which means that Chinese manufactured goods are very cheap. One reason to manufacture in China is low wages, but a major reason for those low wages is the low value of the Renmin. A “weak” US dollar makes US export goods cheaper and therefore much more attractive to overseas buyers. If you’re Ford or GM, a weak dollar is not really a bad thing. It’s bad for Americans buying consumer goods made overseas, or traveling overseas. So a “weak” dollar raises the cost of model trains made in China. But it also encourages American manufacturing, which strengthens the economy overall. A “weak” dollar would encourage American companies to move production back to the US, for example. And a relatively “weak” dollar would encourage Toyota or Hyundi to build car plants in the US, for the same reason a weak Renmin encourages Accucraft to build in China.
This is not meant as an endorsement or a criticism of present policy or any particular administration, just pointing out that “weak” and “strong” can be slightly misleading terms.
Is the strength or weakness of the dollar at all tied to the inflation as we have been discussing? A dollar with less buying power in the US versus the buying power overseas?