Several years ago, my roommate and I were visiting Istanbul, where we did some shopping for fancy souvenirs at the very congested, jam-packed Grand Bazaar.
After we selected some appropriate gifts for the grandchildren and a few friends, I asked the most famous two-word question: “How much?” The clerk broke it down for me and gave me a pretty fair figure (I think). A few more gifts, along with the customary haggling, and my cost became even more reasonable. I had shopped several of these items elsewhere and I was ready to pay and grab a cab back to the hotel when he hit me with his question: “How are you going to pay?”
Euros? Isn’t that the preferred currency these days?
“Do you have American dollars?” he asked. “I will give you an exchange rate of ten percent more than today’s rate. That will be an extra ten percent off your purchases.”
I told him: “Make it twenty and you’ve got a deal.” We settled on fifteen.
As I had left the hotel earlier that day, I jotted down the exchange rate for that morning. Sure enough, he was giving me fifteen percent better than the desk at the hotel. Other than what I bought, my new friend asked me if I had more American money that I would be willing to change. Knowing I was doing well, I pulled out a few more large bills.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
That is when he leaned over and whispered, “It is only a matter of time when these euros sink in value. We here have more faith in your money than you do.”
This was too easy. Was I being taken? Did he put one over on me?
When I returned to the hotel I checked at the desk, and then walked into the bank around the corner. Yup! I did very well. I had just earned a fifteen percent return on my money without working or investing.
It seems that the vendors in Turkey knew something that most of us didn’t. Whatever their thoughts were of the much-heralded euros, they preferred Uncle Sam’s paper.
Last year a euro was worth almost $1.40. As of this writing the current number is $1.05. I was tuned in to a financial channel and an economist was talking about the “free fall of the euro.” He predicted parity with the dollar by the end of the year, with the euro dropping to 85 cents next year.
It’s only my opinion, but if you plan to vacation in Europe this year or next, you might want to tuck a few extra hundred dollar bills into that zippered travel belt she bought you for Christmas.
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Within minutes of the liar, Harry Reid, announcing his retirement, all political minds were focused on our own Sen. Charles Schumer as his successor. Instantly, everyone was reminded of the famous gag about this publicity seeking hound. Just in case you are one of the three people on the planet who hasn’t heard it, here it is: “The most dangerous place to stand in Washington, D.C., is between Chuck Schumer and a camera.”
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My president traded five first-round Taliban draft picks for a possible deserter. He then celebrated the occasion with Bowe Bergdahl’s parents in a Rose Garden ceremony. I am StanG
