Thoughts on Our Dying Dollar

Working in the heart of midtown Manhattan, I can generally gauge the greater condition of our economy - and country in general - by observing what's going on in and around the building in which I work. The locale happens to be 33rd St. and 7th Ave. - dead smack in the middle of Madision Square Garden, Macy's headquarters, the Empire State Building, and not too far from Times Square.

This summer - more than any of the past seven I've spent in the same office building - I have observed an insane amount of European tourists. As I spend five or ten minutes at a clip having a smoke, I watch endless waves of foreigners - predominantly from Europe - adorned in I-heart-NY tee-shirts, with grins from ear to ear, arms wrapped around all sorts of consumer items.

At face, it's certainly not fair to begrudge these folks their summer getaway or having a good time. It's when I think about the bigger picture though that I can't help but ponder what these scenes really mean for the United States.

I don't think it can be coincidence that at a time when the dollar continues to perform dreadfully against the Pound and Euro that the Europeans are taking full advantage in coming here to buy everything up at what to them are bargain rate deals. All the while, likely laughing at what a joke our country has become.

Again, the observations come during the course of the work day, and I think that's probably providing an even greater sense of comparable despair. While my colleagues and I are surrounded on all sides by hundreds of thousands of tourists each day, we're constantly reminded that we're slaving for a dollar that is worth literally nothing - all to purchase food, gas, and other necessities that continue to skyrocket in price with negligible-to-zero increase in salary at best.

I realize a lot of this may sound exaggerated, but this sense of "the joke's on us" has been building rapidly in me over the past three months or so, and I can't help but think this a great microcosm of the larger trouble our nation is in.