Reuters:

In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

This comes after the Latest Indication of US Economic Troubles: Hip-Hopper Flashes Euro Notes.

Thus, Kevin Hassett, director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and an adviser to Senator McCain, considers it necessary to remind everyone: Ignore the Obituaries, U.S. Reign Will Endure, which is also response to Parag Khanna's essay in the NYT, discussed on Atlantic Review.

I think it is good that NYC shops open up to Euros, but most customers pay with credit card anyway these days. The Boston Globe claimed in November 2007: "With dollar low, US is one big outlet: Europeans arriving in droves for bargains."

Do you see an expression of Schadenfreude on my face? Nope. I am just reflecting on history: Before we had the Euro and before credit cards were popular in Europe, we would travel to other European, Asian or African cities and use plenty of exchange bureaus or banks to convert our national into the local currencies. But this was not possible when traveling to the United States, where it was extremely difficult to find a bank that would exchange Deutschmark into Dollars without several days waiting period and huge fees. The dollar was the only currency Americans knew and accepted. Every tourist had to get dollars before arrival. So we were carrying plenty of cash and traveler checks in dollars. Now the United States is becoming more international by opening-up to the Euro. Cool, but then again, everybody is paying with credit card these days, so it is not such a significant change now.

Related post in the Atlantic Review: Thanksgiving: More Americans Travel to Europe Despite the Weak Dollar

The Boston Globe writes about an Irish woman travelling to the US for "an extended weekend of binge shopping" and claims: "With dollar low, US is one big outlet: Europeans arriving in droves for bargains"

Meanwhile, Bloomberg's John M. Berry tries reassue his readers in the Seattle Times article "Dollar down, euro up, so what?" He argues that the "U.S. dollar is still at the center of the world's financial system, and its importance isn't fading in the face of exaggerated claims to the contrary." (Via EU Digest)

Lawrence Summers, however, says "Wake up to the dangers of a deepening crisis." Bill Clinton's last secretary of the treasury writes in The Financial Times.

Morever, The Telegraph reports: "China has surged ahead of Germany for the first time to become the world's top exporter, prompting ever louder demands from the United States and Europe to revalue the yuan."

Pat Buchanan's op-ed "Sinking Currency, Sinking Country" is supposed to alarm Americans:

The euro, worth 83 cents in the early George W. Bush years, is at $1.45. The British pound is back up over $2, the highest level since the Carter era. The Canadian dollar, which used to be worth 65 cents, is worth more than the U.S. dollar for the first time in half a century. Oil is over $90 a barrel. Gold, down to $260 an ounce not so long ago, has hit $800.

These numbers, however, are not graphic enough. What is really alarming is that "hip-hop maven Jay-Z in his latest video shows off his wealth by flashing stacks of 500-euro bills, " writes the Wall Street Journal's Economics Blogger and quotes a Minnesota newspaper that calls Jay-Z the "New Alan Greenspan" 

"It's sad that rap stars can no longer show their style with a good old $500 bills (featuring President McKinley) and now need to flash 500 euros (featuring some sort of suspension bridge). I don't need the chairman of the Federal Reserve to tell me about the state of our economy. I just need Jay-Z, the new Alan Greenspan.

Endnote: Did you know that the evil European Central Bank prints 500 Euro notes in order to appeal to drug smugglers? The Corner on National Review Online