There is a "money" exchange in the world, that many people know nothing about. It is often barely regulated, depending on the country. Yet, here in the US, it is regulated more than most in most countries. It is called, the Foreign Currency Exchange, or Forex for short.

This comment isn't going to suggest anything about it except that, among other things, it constantly measures the relationships between the values of fiat currencies worldwide.

The point of this comment is that the Euro, when compared with the U.S. Dollar, is sitting right around 1.3118 right at the moment of this writing. This means that if you decided you were going to trade Euros and Dollars at a foreign exchange bank right now (all the major international airports in America have these banks), it would cost you $1.31+  to buy €1. Conversely, it would cost you €0.76+ to buy one $1. And, as usual, there would be an exchange fee at the bank.

Let's look at a short history of the Euro compared with the Dollar. Four years ago in July (July 2008), there was a time when the EURUSD (Euro/Dollar symbol) peaked at just over 2.6000. This means that you could exchange €1.00 for $1.60+.

On 10/26/2008, a low was reached at €1.00 for $1.24-.
On 12/17/2008, a high was reached at €1.00 for $1.47+.
By 3/2/2009, the Euro was back down to €1.00 for $1.25-.
By 11/24/2009 the rate was almost to €1.00 for $1.50.
By 6/5/2010 it was as low as €1.00 for $1.19-.
By 11/3/2010 the rate was back up to €1.00 for $1.42+.
By 1/8/2011 it was as low as €1.00 for $1.29-.
On 5/3/2011 it was back up to almost €1.00 for $1.50.
Then there were a lot of smaller ups and downs that to the rate to €1.00 for $1.21- by 7/23/2012.
What is so interesting is that as of today, 9/17/2012, the almost reached a high of €1.00 for $1.32.

In a peculiar, almost abstract way, this means that the value of the U.S. Dollar dropped something like 10% in the space of less than the last 2 months. And this doesn't have much to do with what the people think. It has to do with what the major banks and corporations of the world think... or how they are manipulating things.

Now what's the big deal? Why is the jumping around of value relationships important?

1. A jump of only a few cents indicates the transfer of billions, or even trillions, of dollars between banks internationally. This is because whenever there is a change in the EURUSD rate, it was either preceded by or will be followed by all kinds of changes in rates between many of the other fiat currency pairs. The changes are equal to THE VALUE OF NATIONS CHANGING WITH REGARD TO EACH OTHER!

2. Major changes, like those listed above, mark the places in time that the major banks of the world decided to control the world in this way or that. The controls could range from military coups in 3rd World countries, to bailouts, to Quantum Easing. Generally, the amounts of money invested by individual people as opposed to the banks and big corporations, is minimal.

3. With regard to the immediate lives of most people in most countries, such fiat currency exchanges internationally do little to change the circumstances of people. The exchanges may be felt at a future time. But everything is designed to give the banks more and more control over the whole world, with the Federal Reserve Banks being the king of the hill, so to speak.

Well, if you are interested in this kind of thing, go to http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx and check out the value relationships of all kinds of major currencies. Check to see if BIG changes match up with major important happenings in the world.