The Exchange Rate

Of all the things I didn’t worry about but should have before I moved to Spain, the exchange rate is at the top of the list.

When I visited Spain in 2022, the rate was about 1 to 1. One dollar was about the same as one euro.

But now? Now I watch the exchange rate in horror. In November 2024, when we moved here, $1000 was about €1000. Now $1000 is about €850 on a good day.

Since I earn all my money in dollars, this is a horrible situation for me. I´m working just as hard as ever to earn fifteen or twenty percent less. And it could have been avoided except … well, you know what happened in November 2024.

Of course the exchange rate isn´t the only consequence of that election, it´s just the one that applies to me personally.

I think about that a lot. If you´re not an expat, you probably don´t worry about the exchange rate much at all. And yet it is vitally important to me.

I resent this crappy exchange rate. It should never have come to this.

I´m angry about the exchange rate. None of us who care about each other caused it but we´re suffering it.

I´m furious that the people who have power, even limited power, are doing nothing about the exchange rate.

I cannot believe that this is where we are, this powerful country with so much potential to do such good, with such a dismal exchange rate.

I´m not talking about the exchange rate.