As now, the dollar was in general decline against some currencies during September 2007. The Euro was strong against the dollar; the British pound reached $2 per pound and the Canadian dollar reached 1 to 1 parity with the dollar.

I have always kept track of the U.S./Canadian dollars by comparing the two prices inside new book dust covers. I wrote about this here on October 4, 2007 in a post titled McTeer on Dollars and Books.

Chairman Greenspan’s book, The Age of Turbulence, was released on September 17, 2007, priced at U.S. $35.00 and Canada $43.50. That was a 24 percent difference despite the parity in the exchange markets that month. His publisher obviously didn’t think the parity would hold.

Read the rest of this entry »

Naturally I bought the Maestro's book, Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence, early on September 17, the day it came out.  I wanted to see if he said anything about me.  There was just one sentence on page 212.  Whew!  What a relief!

The price on its dust jacket was $35 in the U.S. and $43.50 in Canada, the 24 percent difference presumably reflecting the exchange rate between the U.S. and Canadian dollars.  The Prince of Darkness by Robert Novak had come out a little earlier with a 27 percent difference.  My other September book purchases had similar differentials, the lowest being 21 percent near the end of the month.  I buy a lot of books. I don't necessarily read them.  But I buy them.

Since book purchases are the main way I keep track of the U.S./Canadian dollar exchange rate, you can imagine my surprise to learn that before September ended, the Canadian dollar had climbed to parity with the U.S. dollar.  Or, perhaps I should say the U.S. dollar had declined to parity with the Canadian dollar.

Isn't it interesting that when the two dollars trade one-to-one, the U.S. dollar is called weak and the Canadian dollar is called strong. I guess what have you done for me lately is a question for currencies as well as for people.

If you don't hear from me for a while, don't worry. I'll be somewhere up north buying books with U.S. dollars and selling them across the border for Canadian dollars, which I will use to buy back U.S. dollars. Or, is it the other way around?  I hope I don't get confused.