National debt and Euros

Looking at the exchange rate for euros today and swirling that together with the national debt figures gave rise to the following:

On May 25, 2001, the Euro was worth US$0.8591; that is, you could buy $116.28 in Euros for US$100. At that time, the US national debt was a mere US$5,660,883,342,386.72 [1].

On May 25, 2008, the Euro was worth US$1.5669; that is, you could buy $63.69 in Euros for US$100. On that date, the US national debt had increased to US$9,492,245,770,788.70 [2].

Converting the debt into Euros is interesting - in 2001, the debt was the Euro equivalent of $6,582,422,491,147.35 whereas today it is a mere $6,046,016,414,521.46 in euros. In other words, the value of the United States (as measured by the worth of our debt) has decreased by nearly 9% since 2001.

This isn't the only indicator of the drop in the value of the US. The Euro is now the world's most popular currency. Foreign investment into US debt has slowed. And exchange rates continue to climb.

So ask yourself one simple question the next time you talk to your politician: Have the past eight years improved the US or made it worse? And then vote appropriately.

John

[1] That works out to $19,855.64 for every US citizen alive in 2001.

[2] Or $31,169.40 for every US citizen alive today.