October 3, 2007
The dollar is in free fall, or so it seems. In 2002, you could buy a euro for 86 cents. Today, it will cost you $1.40. You'd have to go back at least a decade to find a time when the U.S. dollar was so weak. Against some currencies, such as the Canadian dollar (the "loonie"), you'd have to go back 30 years. It sounds ominous, but is a weak dollar really so terrible?
Not necessarily. A weak dollar can be good for the U.S. economy, because it makes American exports cheaper and, therefore, helps close the trade deficit. But over the long term, the value of a country's currency is seen as a verdict on the overall health of its economy.
It's difficult — impossible, some economists say — to tease out the effects of a weak dollar from all of the other variables affecting the economy at any moment. But one thing is clear: The weak dollar creates ripples around the world. Some of those ripples are good, some bad. But that, too, is relative. Where you stand on the weak dollar depends largely on where you sit.
Is a Weak Dollar Really So Terrible? : NPR