Nope, got cut in half. They were very accurate concerning that. The priceincrease didn't take place in a few days, but it didn't take much longer than just a few months either.

So basically the € became the Guilder, but my budget became half of what it was before. I get confronted with it almost daily when doing grocerieshopping. What i was able to buy for 100 Guilders, should equal 50€ now, right ? Well, fookin wrong...you can't even get half of the products you could buy for your 100 G. Of course a price increase would have taken place nonetheless, but not as radical as this.

I don't recall ever seeing a pair of jeans worth 400/450 guilders, but with the € you'll see em a plenty. 200€ for a pair of jeans is becoming a normal sight. Well, not in 200 years i'm gonna spent that amount of money on one friggin pair of jeans.

The hairdresser i used to go to, charged me 25 G, now it's almost 30€. Just another example that the € transformed into the G.

That sounds...disconcerting. A hairdresser in Hungary costs the equivalent of 3€ for me BTW...I wonder how much that shall be after the change to the €...

I don't like it. But maybe that's because I'm a spoiled American. When I went to France 4 years ago, my dollar went REALLY far, as in I got almost all of my souveniers (sweatshirts, hats, etc) for only about $40 american. I got a really nice hand drawn charcol drawing of me done for around $30 American (about 200 francs) At the time, the american dollar was between $6-7 to the Franc.

When I went to Ireland last August, it was $1.75 to the Euro. My money went real fast then.

Johnny, I've heard the same complaint from my cousin when she returned from France. She had been working as a teacher in Lyon. Prices went way up, salaries did not.

[ 03-14-2005, 06:08 PM: Message edited by: harleyquinn ]

I like it. Although the short-term inflation did hurt my budget. On the bright side, it's a very stable coin that is helping our across-border trade. Which is especially good for my own country, as we export quite alot. Also, I heard the OPEC countries are considering selling their oil in Euro's, rather then Dollars. And if that were that happen.. well, let's just say I'd gladly endure all the Euro inflation again.

As if that's money that directly flows into your wallet. You won't see any benefits of that, take my word for it.

It would mean a massive boost for our economy, as all countries would be buying their natural resources in Euro's (meaning: they'd have to buy them here). When the economy goes up, the employement in my sector grows with it. I can see how that would be good. ;)

As a former European I like it. I hated touring Europe and getting ripped off at every border. It will help trade and tourism no end. Traders have being using it as a price gouge for a couple of years and have flourished by hiding behind it but given time market forces will prevail (yes market forces do work in big countries like united Europe) and life will get back to normal. The same thing happened in Britain during the changeover to decimal currency.

LOL

But why be shy of commenting on matters outside Europe?

<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#00FF00">Not to worry every thing will work out in the end. When they changed our dollar to the loonie people complained that the currency would not be taken seriously but it made little difference. Investors loved it so much they made a twonie as the next highest currency. Soon they will be making a foonie (5 dollar coin) :D </font>

[ 03-22-2005, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: pritchke ]