When Clinton was in power, I remember the pound being worth around $1.40. 5 years on and the US dollar is, at the time of writing worth much, much less – £1 now translates to almost $1.95 ($1.94379 to be precise). The Guardian also reports that the US dollar hit an all-time low against the Euro.
On the one hand, this is good news for me – stuff in America is now a lot cheaper and this includes things like shareware – 5 years ago WinZip would have cost over £20, now it’ll cost less than £15. On the other hand, it means my earnings from Google Adsense are worth somewhat less – in the time since I joined (less than a month ago), they’ve depreciated in value by about £5.
They way things are going, we’re not far off a 2 dollar pound.
Update: Japan is threatening to sell off its dollar reserves if the dollar doesn’t rebound.
US Dollar going down the toilet?
December 4, 2004 at 17:15
Unfortunately Google charge in GB Pounds and pay out in US Dollars on their advertising. So it’s really not good news at all for me.
December 4, 2004 at 18:27
But it’s great for us ex-pat brits who still get paid in pounds
a crisp £10 in your pocket and you can live like a king
December 5, 2004 at 13:38
On the bright side, this does mean I’m less tempted to import Britcom DVDs for myself when I should be thinking Christmas gifts. I just hope it rebounds after the start of the year.
December 27, 2004 at 16:53
I don’t about you guys, but I am losing thousands of $$$ per transaction.Any expert remarks about the RISE of the dollar? I’d appreciate any remarks about the previously almighty USD!