why is pound so poor against the dollar?

Voyager2002

mitchg wrote: »

It also has something to do with the jokers in chaarge running our country opening their mouths saying how bad a state we are in. That was basically the final straw since then the rot in the exchange rate was hightened and speeded up. And expect it to get worse i would guess down towards the £1-$1.35 mark.
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Yes, that is what I meant by my comment about "unpatriotic remarks". Fortunately, the Conservative party are not in charge, and George Osborne has caused deep embarrassment to the wiser members of his party. Truly a joker, but not even funny.

lesley1960

starchick wrote: »

I will be travelling to the states for a second time within a month. 2 weeks ago the exchange rate was terrible, 1.4-1.6 dollars to the pound. I managed to get mine at 1.6. Now I am travelling again and the rate is even worse, 1.4 dollars to the pound.

WHY IS THE POUND SO POOR AGAINST THE DOLLAR? I thought that the US was in a worse financial state than the UK. I cannot understand this. Is it likely to get better? I remember the good old days when it was 2 dollars to the pound...

Any advice or enlightenment would be appreciated.

When was that lol................a few months ago? , 3 years ago we got less then $1.40 / £

wdyw

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Your comments miss the point. Britain was the world's first industrial nation, and up to the time when Mrs Thatcher came to power manufacturing industry was the key component of our economy. Government policies under her rule effectively destroyed most of the UK's manufacturing base, reducing this sector to an insignificant segment of of our economy. Hence, changes that were large in percentage terms (such as the increase from a very low base in the early 1990s, and the recent fall) are actually rather small in relation to the economy as a whole, and in terms of absolute numbers.

By the time Maggie came to power, it was blindingly obvious that UK manufacturing was uncompetitive, over priced, produced (in general) poor quality goods and the sector suffered from awful productivity - the legacy of a too strong Union system. The modern labour party would hopefully have done exactly the same as Maggie. Within two years of Maggie coming in, Uk productivity surged to record levels, jobs were transferred from manual to non-manual.

Just think how shafted the country would now be if we had tried to keep unviable manufacturing going through subsidies. THe gradual decline over 20years has been much better than the sudden hammering we would have got from India/China in the last 10.

starchick

lesley1960 wrote: »

When was that lol................a few months ago? , 3 years ago we got less then $1.40 / £

Eh- no Lesley that was about 2 years ago, but thanks for your helpful comment (!)

hulagirl79

Three years ago i went to new york and the exchange rate was $1.9.

GlennTheBaker

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I used to belong to the Labour Party, but left in 1988 and have never felt that I would be welcome to re-join. I think their politics stink, but I have to admit that they are very good at running a capitalist economy.

You're the winner of today's 'Joke of the Day' prize - congratulations!

John_Kennet

The US economy is in a bad state but the dollar is protected for several reasons, the big one being it is the world reserve currency.

All countries hold dollar as financial reserve - this is merely an international convention that has been around for many years - it also means it is the primary "flight" currency - when international companies or people get out of shares they get into dollars

As a consequence of that many commodities are valued in dollars (oil, metals, etc).

This inertia allows the US to be more reckless than any other country with its economy without being penalized by the international markets.

If the world changed to say the Euro as the primary currency then the USA would be in a very bad way, which would drag the rest of the world's economy down and boost the Euro. It still wouldn't help the pound.

It's probably better if the world transfers to a floating multi-currency reserve (say Dollar-Euro-Yuan) so that it prevents one reserve currency country abusing its position.

meester

lesley1960 wrote: »

When was that lol................a few months ago? , 3 years ago we got less then $1.40 / £

You got utterly shafted

http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory

2008:

Average (323 days):1.90314 High:2.03970 Low:1.45560

2007

Average (365 days):2.00181 High:2.11610 Low:1.91800

2006

Average (365 days):1.84295 High:1.98460 Low:1.71640

2005


Average (365 days):1.82069 High:1.93520 Low:1.70480

2004

Average (366 days):1.83277 High:1.95500 Low:1.74790

2003

Average (365 days):1.63554 High:1.78240 Low:1.54570

2002

Average (365 days):1.50377 High:1.60640 Low:1.40380

2001

Average (365 days):1.44131 High:1.51030 Low:1.36770


3 years ago????

Are you sure?