TotallyOz Posted August 25, 2007 Posted August 25, 2007 Here are just a few of the reasons I love Brazil. There are soooo many more! Oz Quote
Guest TravelTop4Bttm Posted August 25, 2007 Posted August 25, 2007 Here are just a few of the reasons I love Brazil. There are soooo many more! Oz I can see why Brazil is on your mind. Now its on my mind also. Thanks!! Wow!! Hot young men. Quote
Members marcanthony Posted August 26, 2007 Members Posted August 26, 2007 Here are just a few of the reasons I love Brazil. There are soooo many more! Oz And please say hi to all of them when you go down there (which I know will be soon, lol). Besides being cute, all those guys are really fun to be around. Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted August 26, 2007 Members Posted August 26, 2007 Oz, How is your Portuguese coming? Marc Anthony was making great progress with it until he went to Russia which produced a profound effect upon him. It turned him into a francophone, even if with a North American twang. Quote
TotallyOz Posted August 26, 2007 Author Posted August 26, 2007 LOL I have NO intent on going to Brazil anytime soon. That is the last place I want to be right now. The dollar sucks and it is 1.9 to one dollar. I remember when it was 3.8. What a fucking mess. No way in hell I'll end up there anytime soon. Quote
Guest CTDick Posted August 26, 2007 Posted August 26, 2007 Oz, where else can we go? Tomorrow I leave for England with the pound at $1.99! The Canadian dollar is nearly US$1. The euro is $1.37. Dick Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted August 27, 2007 Members Posted August 27, 2007 Oz, where else can we go? Tomorrow I leave for England with the pound at $1.99! The Canadian dollar is nearly US$1. The euro is $1.37. Dick I'll leave this as a comment on economics and avoid venturing into political commentary. The Dollar is like any other over-abundant commodity. When the world is awash in them their value declines in proportion to their ubiquity. The Stewards of Wall Street seem perfectly content to sell the country for cheap so they can amass many cheap dollars -- along with the Chinese. Their sense of value is driven much more by big numbers than by big value. As an example consider that the Euro entered the scene Jan. 1 2002 worth about US$.75. That is US$.75 equaled $EU 1.0. Today it takes $US 1.35 to equal $EU 1.0. That is US$ 60 cent loss against the $EU in less than six years, a dramatic loss in purchasing value in the EU market. The loss against the Canadian $ is roughly US 45/50 cents over the same interval. (The Candian economy is strongly tied to the US economy thus the Canadian gain has been tempered by the $US loss.) Another sanity check is the price of gold. Its value in US dollars has doubled in the same interval. That isn't because there is less gold. Au contraire, if anything there is more gold as mining goes on. There has been no unusual hording schemes to drive up the price either. That means that the present day US $ only buys US$.50 worth of gold in the year 2000 era. Consider this loss of $ buying value on present day oil and it shows that production pressure and political uncertainties account for $20 or so of the present day price, with roughly $25 due to erosion in the value of the Dollar over the last half dozen years. Consider that Dow Jones Index at 14,000 whipped Wall Street into a frenzy. That reflects present day $ value in our market economy. Everythings comes down to dollars eventually. Present day dollars are worth only 2002 US$ .40 as measured by the sixty cent loss against the Euro. That indicates that 14000 on the DJI today converts to roughly 5600 as valued by the 2002 US$ measured against the Euro. Maybe a better number might be 7000. But does that difference really matter much? Now consider that the DJI was at or near 11,700 before 9/11 and maybe 10,000+ shortly after 9/11. What is the intrinsic value of the present day DJI high? Was this Wall Street frenzy a recognition of big value or big numbers? Big idiots IMO. Greed blinds. I am a layman, not an economist. I know that the above analysis is too slick by half. There is a myriad of other factors to consider not to mention higher order contributions to the math. Even with weaknesses in the above argument, its basic thrust is sound IMO. Our soaring economy is based on US dollars of greatly diminished value. The good news: we don't tend to notice it as much in our day to day lives until we come into contact with foreign commodities. (Except Chinese) Most of us are toegether on the Down Elevator. Only when we reach outside of our confines do we realize that we are falling behind -- way behind. Time to put the soapbox away. Quote
TotallyOz Posted August 27, 2007 Author Posted August 27, 2007 LOL I have NO intent on going to Brazil anytime soon. That is the last place I want to be right now. The dollar sucks and it is 1.9 to one dollar. I remember when it was 3.8. What a fucking mess. No way in hell I'll end up there anytime soon. What I meant to say was, I have NO intent to fly to Brazil anytime soon unless on a Sunday in August. Well, the last one passed. Thankfully, I arrived safely today and am relaxing in my hotel room. LOL Does anyone know if Club 117 is open on Mondays? Quote
Members marcanthony Posted August 27, 2007 Members Posted August 27, 2007 What I meant to say was, I have NO intent to fly to Brazil anytime soon unless on a Sunday in August. Well, the last one passed. Thankfully, I arrived safely today and am relaxing in my hotel room. LOL Does anyone know if Club 117 is open on Mondays? That just goes to show that I know you better than you know yourself! Quote
TotallyOz Posted August 27, 2007 Author Posted August 27, 2007 That just goes to show that I know you better than you know yourself! LOL. Yes, you and TY had me pegged. I didn't actually book the ticket till the night before. I showed up at my hotel and they didn't even know I was coming. Since I booked for a long stay, they were a bit shocked. Luckily, they were able to accommondate me. They did put me in a room with the kitchen help, but that was always my favorite room anyway. Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted August 28, 2007 Members Posted August 28, 2007 LOL. Yes, you and TY had me pegged. I didn't actually book the ticket till the night before. I showed up at my hotel and they didn't even know I was coming. Since I booked for a long stay, they were a bit shocked. Luckily, they were able to accommondate me. They did put me in a room with the kitchen help, but that was always my favorite room anyway. Still the careful, deliberative long-term planner I know and love. Quote
Members stripfan Posted September 3, 2007 Members Posted September 3, 2007 Here are just a few of the reasons I love Brazil. There are soooo many more! Oz oh my! I fell in love instantly....with all of them! stripfan Quote
