Bargain Bin

As you no doubt know, New Orleans mostly dodged a bullet this week. As I write this, Colleen is still hunkered down at the hospital safe and sound and our friend Laurie is lodging at Chez Henley, awaiting the all clear so she can head back home. Talk about answered prayers!

And I have more good news for you tonight. I'm not sure if you've been following the currency markets lately, but the dollar has had quite a rally against the Euro over the last several months. You can read the story from the Wall Street Journal below, but here's the bottom line: everything in France is now 10 percent cheaper for us than it was just seven months ago.

That means every meal, beverage and souvenir in France is 10 percent off. Right now the whole country is on sale. Of course there's no telling where the Dollar will be vs. the Euro. nine months from now, but the trend is our friend.

Go Yankee Dollar!

NEW YORK -- Plunging oil prices bounced the dollar to a seven-month high against the euro Tuesday and a nearly two-and-a-half year high against the U.K. pound.

Crude futures closed below $110 a barrel Tuesday as it became clear Hurricane Gustav would not inflict anywhere near the damage seen three years ago, when Katrina smacked into New Orleans and oil infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, putting a serious dent in the overall U.S. economy.

The surprisingly good news on the storm front, and the dollar's subsequent gains, helped convince even the most skeptical currency observers that the greenback's big gains since mid-July constitute a true reversal in its long downtrend.

The euro fell as low as $1.4466 Tuesday, its lowest since early February and more than 15 U.S. cents down from a record high of $1.6040 on July 15. The pound dropped to $1.7784, a level unseen since April 2006.