thats good news. it means money is coming into the country.-blurey

*Sigh* If only Bush concentrated on the US economy than his personal agendas. I am sure the country will eventually recover, as soon as he leaves office/gets impeached/gets assassinated.

Welcome to New York, European tourists!

As Americans have figured out, liquor stores are the best place the exchange currency and/or cash checks.

Ah, I remember the days when the dollar was worth more than the euro... I hate euros. So ugly.

@rdldr1: wow you're a new breed of idiot.

The over spending originated in the highly regarded congress. The war did not cause this. Bush was too liberal on spending.

Why take Euros? Because the US dollar's value is tanking right now. The country is facing a recession, and more money is leaving the country than what is coming in. Prices across our economic board is coming up. OUR loss, is the European tourist's gain. Thats why international business people, most notably Gisele and Jay-Z, rather take Euros than an internationally weakening dollar.

Meaning he signed off on too many of the bills that liberal congress created. You add that too the subprime melt down, caused by the people who bought houses they couldnt afford under an ARM, and what you have is a recession.

However, 90% of the people who use that word, don't know what it means. A recession can only happen on one particular day. You cant wake up and have a recession, unless its that day. Wikipedia is your friend.

@rdldr1: Also because we started printing money.

@Bladefist: Ok genius, WHAT WAS ALL THE SPENDING ON? If not the war, then what? NOT SCHOOLS OR PUBLIC HEALTH CARE! You just confirmed what I said when you say that Bush was too liberal on spending. Thanks! Lets share in our idiocy!!

@rdldr1: Your caps lock is stuck. Read my 2nd point. And if I said bush was too liberal in spending, which I did, how could voting in liberals help? I can only assume your a liberal.

@Bladefist: Actually, you can. "Recession" has to be officially declared, and its more of an afterthought.

@Bladefist: Im not a liberal, Im a moderate. The congress that was in office was more Republican, and did not shift towards the Democratic party until the last elections two years ago. The Republican-majority congress passed all those bills that went to Bush's desk.

@rdldr1: Its my new years resolution not to argue w/ neophytes. The last word in your 1st comment shows your maturity and regard for human life. I no longer feel compelled to argue with you. Thanks for the comments.

Also, Bush's disastrous Presidency convinced my Republican friends vote for a Democrat president this year.

@Bladefist: I bet you never heard of the Curse of Tecumseh then?

@Bladefist: The fact is liberals have done less spending in the past 10-15 years than the republicans these days. The time of the fiscal conservative went out the door 30 years ago.

In fact if McCain where to come in, he would likely be the first republican with a desire for fiscal responsibility since well before one of the worst spending presidents in the last 40 years.... Reagan.

As for libral spending, you seem to forget the last president with a not only balanced budget, but one that started to pay DOWN the debt was Clinton.

@Falconfire:
Im sure Pres. Bush would not be so hated if he got RESULTS rather than promises. We did got Saddam, but not Bin Laden - and exacerbated terrorism worldwide. At least Regan was there when Communism fell in the USSR. Because of that, I view Regan positively.

@Falconfire: You definitely have a point. I believe in republican/conservative ideals, which is less spending. I agree, we've have failed in that area. But overall i do like bush. And its not all his fault. If this was Clinton, and the same mistakes were made, they would have been swept under the rug. Like his foreign screw ups and oh i dunno, purgury. Online, its like 10 liberals to 1 conservative. So I know im going to take a beating. But most of them are uninformed. unlike yourself.

The Consumerist: Shoppers Bite Back and Fight About Politics! That's why I love this blog in particular! I don't remember how I found out about this place, but I'm glad I did.

The fact that NYC stores are accepting currency other than the US Dollar probably means that the US Dollar is weakening. But in a more positive view, it just goes to show you that it's becoming a smaller world after all. Gone are the days when sending a short message across town would take several days. The whole world is in our world. How sweet!

In a few weeks that exhausted line - "overlords" - will be 14 years old. For the love of all that's good let it rest.

OK, you can restart your political argument.

Just like the canucks did to the american tourists before our dollar tanked (& basically became even value , give or take, with the canuckian dollar).

@Falconfire: LOL. I like to use the term "Bizarro Economics" but you have a point... we also have "Bizarro Politics." I think it must be linked to the changing magnetic field... soon Democrats will be slashing government and Libertarians will be calling for more federal regulation.

Personally, I'm wondering if bin Laden will suddenly be "caught" just to give the Bush admin a boost before the election. (Yeah, I've got a tinfoil hat.)

@rdldr1: @Bladefist: Citizens, you need to be more funny. Well, okay, the business about the "Curse of Tecumseh" was pretty funny, but only because I have no idea what that is.

@tootingbec

It is kinda like Montazuma's revenge, except there is no pill to cure it...

[www.snopes.com]

if you really want to know. Basically rdldr1 (was r(on)p(aul)l(ea)d(e)r1 taken? or was it a typo?) is using this to hide the fact he would like to see someone kill the President because he does not like him.

Nutter.

It had nothing to do with a weak dollar.

I lived on the canada usa border in NY. Border towns were canadian visited took canadian money. Infact you could pay tolls anywhere in NY state with Canadian money.

It had everything to do with smart shopkepers catering to an increasing customer base. I just wonder how they avoid getting burned on the currency trade with their banks.

@Techguy1138:

Exactly. It's a matter of convenience. As long as it isn't too inconvenient for the shopkeeper, they're doing this for the convenience of the shopper.

Most shops outside US military bases in South Korea accept dollars, a lot of the time on a 1000 won to the dollar rate for small purposes, regardless of the current rate (it usually fluctuates over and under that).

I think it would be great to never have to change money. Last I checked, ATM exchange rates were alright. And airport exchange places in Japan, China, and Korea have very little markup. But good luck finding anyplace other than Travelex, with its exorbitant markup PLUS a fee on top of that, at US airports.

Which reminds me...thats just one more thing I hate about flying to or from US airports. There is no way in which air travel in Asia is not superior.

Yea - this is a non-issue. The fact is tourism is booming right now due to the weak dollar. This is just a business offering an additional service to their customers.

Never mind the politics; blaming this or that person for the economic problems isn't going to solve anything. Anything that can help our sagging economy right now has to be a blessing. I think with the cyclical rise and fall of the dollar (Remember, the economy seems to function in cycles), this will help us in the long run... hopefully.

Everything has gone global. Wouldn't surprise me if we moved to a one-world monetary policy just to simply trading. After all, it seems to have helped the EU.

When the US dollar was "strong" shops in Toronto would take the green but only give you a 1:1 rate so the shops were making $.XX more profit when they'd exchange it. I wonder what exchange rate NYC shops are offering.

@Randy: Make that "simplify" rather than "simple".

d'oh!

I'm sick of Europeans visiting New York. It's like we're getting payback for the ugly Americans who used to visit them to eat Le Big Macs when times were good here.

@Randy: Tell that to the Italians who suffered when lira prices inflated just before the 2002 conversion deadline.

Accepting Euros is a classic currency hedge; I wouldn't be surprised if they are giving better rates than the banks too, to encourage the Europeans to spend. It does have to do with the fact that the dollar's in the toilet at the moment.

@shoegazer: I'm sure the situation will reverse itself once the dollar grows strong again. Like I said in a previous post, it's all cyclic.

The Italians just had a stroke of bad luck when that happened, unfortunately. :( From what I know, there were winners and losers on both sides of the equation. It's pretty much balanced out since then, if I'm not mistaken. Not being an European, I have no idea, really, only what I've read.

You're right, it's a classic currency hedge. The banks will come out on top if more people adopt the policy of accepting Euros.

@Bladefist:
Actually, you'll take a beating because you're trolling. Anyone who uses the phrase "Democrat president" is trolling.

You're a smart person (since you post here) so you are aware that the party in question is the "Democratic Party", but don't call it that because focus groups have concluded that using the term "Democrat" has a negative connotation as compared to "Democratic".

Just in case that was an accident, and you don't know grammar, let's review:

Clinton is a Democrat. He is one of many Democrats -- members of the Democratic Party. Contrast with Republicans:

Ron Paul is a Republican. He is one of many Republicans -- members of the Republican Party.

Republican is both a noun and adjective, while Democrat is only a noun.

HTH, HAND

This happening in NYC - a dog-eat-dog city, I wouldn't be too surprised if the shop keepers give the tourists a 1-for-1 exchange rate...

@deadlizard: Surely you jest...

You should welcome each and every one of these foreign visitors with open arms as they bring money into this country.

@firefoxx66: And what day was it when the Euro was worth more than the dollar?
[finance.yahoo.com]
Certainly not any in the last 5 years.

PS- Euros aren't as pretty as the currency they replace, but they are prettier than the US dollar, as if beauty has anything to do with currency.

It's not a sign of the apocalypse. It's just a sign that Euros are maybe replacing the Dollar as the international currency. Probably has something to do with Bush, but also with the growing up and wide acceptance of the Euro Zone.

@DeltaPurser: It's what I would do.

@DeltaPurser: While there are no doubt many merchants offering and hoping to get this exchange rate, I seriously doubt there are many takers. Considering that the weak dollar is why most of the tourists are here-- one would think they were considerable more savvy than to accept that exchange rate.

@stinerman: Thanks for the lesson. I know democrat is more of an insult then democratic. Hence the reason I use it.

I do not worry about my grammar in posting comments on a blog. I've stated this in numerous past comments on this site. Usually people just disregard my whole point because my grammar wasnt perfect, so I commend you on addressing my points. However, using grammar is not an indicator of intelligence or lack of intelligence.

Hopefully im right, because you did say "and you don't know grammar" and your right, I never met him.

Luckily my fellow Paulites and I put all our savings in Krugerands months ago. Have fun eating our tablescraps. [/sarcasm]

All the shopkeepers in third world countries are happy to take currency with real value rather than the local script.

@GiselleBeardchen: Good point... Europeans in general, are smarter than Americans.

@tootingbec:
I just had to comment about your handle. My husband was boring in St. Georges Hospital ... You're on his home turf. Apparently, you can keep it.

@DeltaPurser: And most online posters have no idea what they're talking about.

Whoops .. I meant born. He might have also been boring there as well.

It seems funny to me that no one cringed about shops taking euros as a form of payment. I remeber protest against a pizzeria in Dallas for taking mexican pesos. "This is America, we use dollars" protesters yelled.

It just being practical and a good business too.

Lets say that the exchange rate is 1.50 dlls for 1 Euro. Your shop put a "Euros accepted here" and accept payment in euros at a discount (let say 1.40). That's it a 7% mark up, just for accepting foreing currency.

Other countries have this practice for ages. New York just discovered boiled water.

@RDLDR1
"Thats why international business people, most notably Gisele and Jay-Z, rather take Euros than an internationally weakening dollar."

The Giselle story was debunked a while back.

[www.sfgate.com]

All I can say is that the Euros I had left over from my vacation have really gone up in value. I can get used to the idea that taking a vacation is the same as investing my money.

"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television."

I wonder if he takes wampum and confederate money...

by the way, I've been making smart and witty comments for several weeks and none of them were apparently smart or witty enough to make it past the watchful eyes of the consumerist moderators to be posted. I guess I'll work harder to leave comments more like 'darkened' above...so insightful.

@DeLarge: that's a great point about the difference between our perception of euros vs. pesos (and those who spend the currencies as well). personally, i think this particular development with shops accepting the euro is more troubling for americans emotionally than it is financially. in reality it's only a product of smart retailers catering to a growing clientele. but it FEELS like we are becoming a third world country. after all, the bigger your economy is, the harder it falls.

also: the technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth. we are just about there folks. check the quarterly rate of growth of the GDP. it's down quite a bit compared to Q4 2006. we're not just slowing, we are coming to a grinding halt. the other indicator to watch? inflation (CPI)... and guess what, that one's up over 4% nationally when compared to december 2006. i don't see us waiting in line for bread any time soon, but i'm definitely spending less and saving more right now.

The US (and in turn the global) economy will pick up once we've figured out how to siphon all the oil out of Iraq and hopefully Iran. Anyone know if production levels are up to pre-war levels yet? I know they weren't for a long time cause those terrorists kept cutting lines and stealing oil. Hopefully we've killed them all, cause that oil is the solution to our problems.

I'm actually glad now that no banks in my area would exchange my euros for dollars when I came back from Italy. These days those rednecks would probably beg me for that money so they could make a quick buck.

I run a mail order business here in the U.S. and a small fraction of customers like to send money through the mail. I started gladly accepting Euros in August after the housing market started tanking and the rate cuts hit. We're socking those away for a rainy day.

That liquor store has accepted Euros for years. Nothing new there. It's the best liquor store in the East Village. In fact, I'm still kinda drunk from booze I bought there yesterday. Paid in $US though.

@yesteryear: That´s rigth, it is a perception issue. At any given day, there are more mexican pesos floating around US than Euros in tourists's pockets.

@Bladefist: A recession is two or more quarters of contraction in the economy. It doesn't happen "in one day." Fifth grade is your friend. Well, not your friend, obviously. Must be those school vouchers your kind are always calling for.

@PotKettleBlack: Damn. I hope socialism doesn't "ruin" our economy like it did the Euro Zone's.