I've been observing this for a few years since the late 90's, whilst my daughter went through university in the UK, and I was paying her rent and stuff. I gradually watched the dollar drop from 1.4 ukp to more than 2 ukp. Junk currency? It was about that level (2:1 $/ukp) when I got a stonking bargain in an Hassidic New York camera store near Wall Street in 1979. Great Nikon camera :)
The Daily ToryGraph has it that
Sterling has soared to its highest level against the dollar since the early Thatcher era, smashing through resistance to reach $2.0131 as global investors turn ever more bearish on the crumbling US currency.
Follow me...
And also:
Investors appear tired of propping up a US economy that needs $900bn a year of foreign capital to meet its spending needs.
Both China and Russia, with the world's biggest ($1,200bn) and third biggest ($340bn) reserves, have signalled that they wish to cut their dependence on dollars. Washington has just enraged both: Beijing with trade sanctions, and Moscow with the new US missile shield in Eastern Europe.
Peter Schiff, chief economist at Euro Pacific Capital, said the dollar "now teeters dangerously close to the edge of a very large precipice", and the US could no longer count on the goodwill of foreign governments.
As someone with an interest in good dollar exchange rates, I'm mortified by the plunge in it's value.
Has no-one else noticed this? Has anyone stayed in an hotel room in London recently?
<fx:sigh> It was almost inevitable that this would happen, sooner, rather than later. The irony is that these spendthrifts (read:Bu$hCo economi$t$) got to pay back their debts in devalued dollars. It looks like that time is coming to an end.
Deities help us.