"The Europeans Are Very Happy that our dollar is weak"

I write books for young'uns. This is from a Publishers Weekly report on the Bologna Children's Book Fair -- kind of a "Cannes Film Festival" of children's publishing. Note the "legacy of George," now affecting/infecting everything:



Exchange Rate Volatility Makes for a Challenging Bologna Fair

With the euro close to an alltime high against the U.S. dollar, the exchange rate was a key topic of concern at the 45th annual Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Sticker shock was everywhere: hotel rates, the prices of meals, the costs of goods in stores. As FSG editor Wes Adams observed, "I just bought a $4 pack of gum. That’s about a quarter a chew."

At the fair, from the American point of view, it was great to be selling, not so easy to be buying. "To buy a picture book, it would have to be irresistible," said Holiday House's Julie Amper. "Our stuff is cheap to everyone else," said Orange Avenue publisher Hallie Warshaw. "The Europeans are very happy that our dollar is weak." Handprint Books’ Christopher Franceschelli said, "For selling books, I say ‘Thank you, George Bush’ every day. But I would not want to be a European rights director selling to the U.S. right now."

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http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6546485.html?nid=2788

exactly the way ours were. Don't expect a flood of tourists, either. Most would love to come here but won't while Stupid is in office.

Once we get Democrats into power, expect to see a real buying spree here, all those fancy condos in Miami being snapped up as vacation homes, something that will eventually help the area.

However, while this country is on its present track, forget it.

...about the financial retrenchment of the whole journo "industry," but the gal who oversees finances was saying -- agreeing -- that really, nothing is going to be done to/for/with the economy while the Li'l Drunk is still in office.

Everyone is holding their breath, waiting to see if we collectively "make it past" Wee Luficer's last term.

After that, she also expected a kind of "optimism burst" to evince itself..

We shall see...