Euro Sickness

January 2, 2008: For the several hundred thousand U.S. military personnel (and their families) who either lived, passed through or served temporarily in Western Europe last year, the weakening dollar led to prices of local goods going up 13 percent. Less demand for the dollar in world markets, and greater demand for the Euro meant that, at the start of 2007, a soldier could buy a euro for $1.30, but that rose to  $1.47 by the end of the year. While troops can buy most things they need on base, using dollars and prices similar to those found in the states, once off base, you needed Euros. The only place where this kind of pain wasn't felt was in Britain, where one British pound cost $1.96 at the beginning of the year, and $1.98 at the end.