Colombian Peso jumps to two-year high against dollar

caslug says on Dec 13, 2004, 17:52:

COL in US should hope for.. a stronger dollar, then their remittances are more. In June sending 1 USD to COL would get your relatives $2700 peso, now the same dollar gets your relatives $2450. So if they want to send the buying power, they now have to send more dollars.

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juanalejo says on Dec 13, 2004, 18:06:

Revaluation is not always a good thing, remember Colombian goods become less competitive on the international markets. What we need is a peso that maintains its value, although in this case I think it is more a devaluation of the US dollar against all major currencies in the world rather than a specific appreciation of the Colombian peso against the US dollar. If I am not wrong the peso-Euro or peso-UKpound relationship has maintained quite stable.

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kernow62 says on Dec 13, 2004, 19:44:

Gringoinbogota why do you specify "worked illegally", many are in the US working legally. The illegals also pay taxes for the most part ans never reap a tax refund. It is a win win situation for the employees, the employers and the government.

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santiBOG says on Dec 13, 2004, 19:58:

To ColombianoX Hey ColombianoX... reality check. The decline of the dollar vs the peso is not necessarily good news for Colombia. In fact, the central bank has taken measures to stop the trend.

I suggest you save your patriotism for a better cause.

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gorgonabob says on Dec 13, 2004, 21:41:

dollar weaknes i would say its more dollar weakness than pesos strength. the colombian peso is only %18 off its all time low. Big deal. The New Zealand, Australian and South African currencies in this same period are up 80% from there lows.

i dont know why the colombians could possibly moan about all this. exporters complaining to the govt about the strenght of the peso. please.. what do they think the govt of colombia can do. pay americas $600,000,000,000 annual debt. right.

the only thing that counts is that americas economy is in a hole and the colombians is coming out of one.
vic

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Flyinrob13 says on Dec 13, 2004, 21:41:

Once the interest rates go back up in the US, the US dollar will gain value again. A strong dollar will increase imports to the US, and Colombia will benefit from that. Hey, im no economist, but sounds reasonable to me.

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kernow62 says on Dec 14, 2004, 04:51:

gorgonbob, what is the $600,000,000,000 figure you quoted above? Your wording left me confused as to what debt you are referring to. Is it US debt in US dollars? As has been discussed on previous threads, the only benefit that is tangible either because of the weak dollar or because of the peso's modest growth is the repayment of debt.

Colombia's Foreign Debt.

Colombia's debt is not as bad as many Latin American countries and her economy is stable in relation to Latin America. Remember the years of 1000 percent inflation in Argentina and Brazil while Colombia was at 27%.

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kernow62 says on Dec 14, 2004, 12:27:

I see your point, I would be interested if anyone has figures on legal versus illegal Colombians in the country, I am not sure how one would count an illegal group to begin with. Certainly in the census many Colombian illegals will say they are Puerto Rican, this has been my experience. So if they don't work except under the table, and do not show up on census counts how the heck does the US estimate all these no good freeloaders?

I am sure there is some super sophisticated formula that is most likely way off, that is used to determine the number of illegals. Perhaps it is based on school attendance and the number of children per average Latino family. Who knows. I am sure some of the government workers on this forum will provide an answer.

Most Colombians I know in the US did enter legally or received amnesty and are now legal, I know a few illegals that do pay taxes, as you say with someone elses SS Number. Should I report them to Uncle Sam because they work and pay taxes using some dead guys SS #? He don't need it anymore.

Unless W. is taxing the dead too!

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utopiacowboy says on Dec 14, 2004, 16:11:

I would like to see some evidence of an employer going to prison for hiring illegals. I don't see this happening and frankly I don't really want it to. It's a competitive world. If someone isn't going to do it here for $7 an hour there's someone in China willing to do it for $7 a week. I used to live on a trail used by Mexican foot travelers on their way north coming to work to feed the family back home. I had nothing to fear from them - gave them food and water or directions many a time.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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utopiacowboy says on Dec 14, 2004, 18:31:

Wow, you never hear of it happening here and there are illegals everywhere. I don't think there's a house in Texas that gets built without illegals. I am still not quite clear on how the IRS got your friend for tax evasion. Was he paying them off the books? If he wasn't deducting their wages, then he would have been paying the IRS more tax not less? How could this be tax evasion?

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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kernow62 says on Dec 14, 2004, 20:02:

Every construction, landscaping crew, and farm or greenhouse has illegals working in them. INS knows it, but they know these industries will suffer without this cheap labor. Many Americans would not bust a nut in the hot sun for $7.00 an hour, they can collect unemployment. Many immigrants are only too happy to work very hard in the sweltering Texas or Florida sun. The INS has been told to concentrate on terrorists and frankly these illegals don't fit the mold.

Before blaming the illegal workers for all of America's ills, how about looking at the executives who pay themselves huge salaries for often doing very little. Think how many working class Americans just one of these salaries could pay.

By the way the IRS in all their wisdom issued the same SS number to myself and another with the same first and last name and same middle initial. The other guy lived in Boston, I lived in Miami, when I filed my first tax return I was audited for not declaring all of my income. When I stated that I only worked the one job at a restaurant in Miami, they became all hot and bothered and asked about my night job as a security guard in Boston. I said "you think I work in the daytime in Miami and then go to Boston to work as a security guard?" They refused for three years to admit that they had made an error, they had computers, so I must be lying. I have a lot of faith in the IRS catching illegals, who knows they may be having US citizens deported! :-)

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caslug says on Dec 15, 2004, 10:21:

illegals in CA.. I live in CA, a stated that probably has the most illegals and BENEFITS the most. I've talked w/ a CFO of a major grower's CO-OP in the central valley. I've asked him about his company position on illegals, he stated that for their OWN employees all the paperwork must be in order (State ID & SS card, etc,). BUT for the hundreds/thousands of field works, they officially DONT employ them. They have contract w/ a subcontract to pay x dollars for x acres picked, now they pay the contracter a low number that the company DOESNT care WHO the subcontracts hire. Wink. wink. They do this because it lower their cost, which in turn lower the cost of the produce in my supermarket. Or if i go to my favorite cheap chinese, vietnamese, mexican restaurant, i've bet most bus boys and dish washer are illegals, BUT i don't care because my dish is only $4!

Bottomline is that US consumer(CA in this example) benefit tremendously from illegals in form of lower cost of goods(food, hotel, restaurant, etc.,). It's our(consumer) greed and desire for low cost that is the main culprit, if we(consumer) would be willing to pay alot more money then the company can afford to pay higher wages. So if american want to place blame on the illegal resident issue, we need to throw some of that blame our way. That's one the biggest reason i think that govt, companies and consumers have no incentive to crack down. But at every election time, groups or people use it as a issue because it's an easy target. But after the elections things go back to same.

BTW, you can get "fake" ID & SS Card for under $500 in LA. With that you can apply for a job and your employer won't know. Because Employers don't run background checks for minimum wage positions.

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utopiacowboy says on Dec 15, 2004, 12:51:

Thanks for the detailed explanation, gringoinbogota. It makes sense now.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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caslug says on Dec 15, 2004, 13:25:

excellent comment GB.. "It just does not seem fair to the American unskilled worker to me anyway."

Unfortunately your right, if you are an unskill worker in America, you're career prospect is minimum wage(ie, walmart), but then again who said life was fair, right? The other night in the US news show, they mention that the average wage for factory worker in China was 31 cent/hr while US was $21USD/hr. Guess where those jobs are going, so if you're unskill better apply to McDonald or Walmart at $6-7/hr.

I think the more you study this immigration issue the more you realize that's there is not ONE main factor to BLAME. It alot easier putting the blame on "foreingers" than on our own consumerism, capitalist society. And i also wonder if the illegals were "young, hot, blond" au pair from Sweden versus short, brown, latinos, americans would be so quick to jump to blame. I know ELMO would offer them(swedish nannies) jobs & shelter in a heartbeat! LOL.

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