www.CostaRicaTicas.com

A no fly zone and evacuating everyone in a 10 mile range are two very different things. Evacuation SHOULD be front page news all over the country......but here in Minneapolis......not a peep about it.......

Snippit:
Just how bad is the threat to the Fort Calhoun reactor?

The cooling pumps are being ran off backup generators and workers are carrying the fuel to plant by hand to keep the generators running.

Ft. Calhoun nuclear workers carrying in fuel cans by hand in order to keep pumps running

[...] At Fort Calhoun, where the river has risen gradually, the water seeps in through sandbag walls, electrical conduits and other places that workers had not thought much about before. There are so many small water pumps running to keep up with the leaks that keeping them supplied with gasoline and diesel requires something akin to a bucket brigade.

Orange plastic fuel cans are rolled on a cart over the catwalks and then handed off to employees who are headed deeper into the plant. Climbing over the sandbags at the entrances, they carry them in, and workers on their way out pick up a few empties and carry them out for refilling. [...]

Source: NY Times

“Gavins Point Dam in Yankton, SD now unleashing nearly a million gallons of more bad news every second.”

Gavins Point Dam is only 154 miles north of Ft. Calhoun.

Sorry my friend I did not miss the point. Your post indicated that the exchange rate is the only determinate of value of the USD vs the CRC. That is simply not true. The actuality is what can you buy for one dollar when you convert to colones? In economic terms it is labled "purchasing power". A small example in January of 2004 the colon was about 400 to the dollar and the price of a pineapple at Mas x Menos was 300 colones so about 75 cents. In June 2011 the colon is about 500 to the dollar and the cost of a pineapple at Mas x Menos is about is 750 colones so about a dollar fifty or twice the cost. So you are worse off not better off when you get 500 CRC to the USD then when you got 400 CRC to the USD because your purchasing power decreased dramatically. You are in fact much worse off because the price is increasing faster then the CRC is gaining against the USD if you are on a fixed USD income.

Now to second statement. "Also, the rate didn't change until sometime after 1994." Simply not true. You indicated that in the early 90"s the rate was 98. The rate in April 1992 was 137 so devaluation was taking place long before 1994. The CR Central bank had instituted a program of daily mini devaluations of the CRC against the USD to prevent a catastrophic hit against the colon. That worked well for expats as the annual devaluation basically matched the inflation rate so expats maintained a status quo.A few years ago they instituted a floating rate, with high low bands, rather then the mini devaluations. That worked well until the USD tanked.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Sorry Irish Drifter, but you did miss my point. The subject line of this thread is about the USD/Colon. I was just making a point of observation about the exchange rate today versus years ago. Inflation was not part of my comments, nor did I suggest that you were or were not better off. However, I have found that some people like to argue for the sake of argument. Since I don't have time for that and the fact that you know it all in your own mind, you can continue this on your own. You could write in for me and then respond for yourself and continue until you are content with the outcome. Good luck.

I gave my facts and figures in my previous post. So, this one will be super generic. Anyone was spent any significant time in CR knows that it is quantam leaps more expensive now than in the past. Really nothing is cheap anymore. At the time of this post, I am in Barranquilla, Colombia. Used to be affordable here too but the decline of the USD in combination with inflation in Colombia has made it almost impossible to vacation at a reasonable cost. The problem is the US debt. The whole quatatative easing 1 and 2 has flooded not only the US but the world with less valuable dollars. Just 2 years ago I was getting 2300 pesos a dollar, today 1840 (actually up from last week when I got 1820). DEBT, DEBT and more DEBT. We need to raise rates but that will drown the already drowned consumer. Price you pay when you are a consumer-debt based economy.

dapanz1

No problem amigo. We can let the readers of the thread draw their own conclusions. It is regrettable that you classify a discussion between two individuals with differing view points as an argument.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

When I was in college (when the hell was that ?), many economists used Big Mac as a part of "purchasing power" to measure up the value of a currency. Of course, this is very US centric and doesn't take in a lot of cultural differences and micro-economics, but used as a base line nonetheless.

I wonder if they still use that or changed it to something else to tailor the changes in global economy and culture a little more.

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Yo-Eleven!!
Pura Vida!