MSNBC - The Europeans Are Spending

The Europeans Are Spending

The devalued dollar has made the U.S.—and New York, in particular—a shopping haven for tourists this holiday season. Is that good news for the locals?

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY

By Gersh Kuntzman

Newsweek

Updated: 4:52 p.m. ET Dec. 20, 2004

Dec. 20 - You may have heard something over the past few weeks about how the U.S. dollar is plummeting in value against foreign currencies. Given that the value of your weekly paycheck also seems to be plummeting, you may be wondering if the falling dollar is a good thing or a bad thing for our economy.

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On the one hand, some people say that a weak dollar helps our economy because it discourages us from importing worthless junk from China while encouraging the rest of the world to buy American-made worthless junk. This theory is supported by key Cabinet officials and federal monetary experts (the same guys who recently demanded that their salaries be paid in Euros, although I'm sure that's just a coincidence).

On the other hand, opponents of devaluing the dollar say it only slows worldwide growth, thereby discouraging foreigners from buying anyone's worthless junk.

Who knows which theory is correct? (No wonder Harry Truman always wanted a one-handed economist.) But I do know one thing: Somebody better call Homeland Security, because the plummeting dollar has prompted a European invasion of New York City.

Yes, my hometown has always prided itself on being a cosmopolitan, foreigner-loving burg, but tolerating a few people who wear socks with sandals is one thing. We're dealing with hundreds of thousands of bargain-hungry, deodorant-shunning, chain smokers who see New York not as one of the world's great cities, but as a particularly well-stocked airport duty-free shop. If Paul Revere were alive today, he'd be riding a Segway through Times Square yelling, "The Europeans are Spending! The Europeans are Spending!"

This week, you can't swing a dead cat in town without hitting a European (and, come to think of it, the dead cat thing doesn't sound like such a bad idea). There they are posing for pictures in front of the NASDAQ sign in Times Square. There's another group on line at the half-price TKTS booth in Duffy Square (half-priced Broadway tickets are quarter-priced for these interlopers. They can see "The Producers" for the price of a children's puppet show). There they are at Macy's, where I saw a German guy get so fed up with his wife's excessive purchases that he went upstairs and purchased a $150 rolling case just to get all the junk home (who knew that the falling dollar would help prop up the ailing American luggage industry?). Later, I saw a British guy actually consider buying a Tommy Hilfiger dress shirt with three different colors of stripes that cost $45 (fish-and-chips money to him, no doubt).

Then, on the subway, a French guy was showing off an unbelievably ugly brown sport shirt with thin silver pinstripes to his equally French buddies. And he was passing the receipt around proudly, like a new parent showing off his kid's photo. And then he was joking about the pathetic American economy that made it all possible! And they looked at me and kept talking, convinced that I was just a typical dumb American who couldn't be bothered to learn a foreign language. Well, suckers, I did bother—and all those years of study finally paid off because I caught the French in a moment of smug!

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Page 2: Upsides to the European Invasion

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