Finding joy in the demise of the UK economy?!?!?

Yes, on Thursday my British Politics class and I discussed the joys we felt from the UK losing its AAA rating from the Moody agency. For those of you who have no clue what this means lucky for you, you have an expert here who can tell you all about it. (Note: do not rely on my explanation, Google it and yes, Wikipedia is a valid source!)

Basically, countries have credit scores as well. AAA, being the highest rating, is what all countries are shooting to receive from agencies Moody, S&P, and Fitch. This score tells other countries (or BIG TIME investors I guess) that investing in a certain country is prosperous as the economy of that country shows long term stability. Alternatively, the ratings show whether countries' economies are improving and worsening.

BLAH BLAH BLAH this is boring and we are not an Econ majors for a reason. BUT the take away that you should consider is that now, for me to buy fries from the pound sterling menu (at McDonald's, obviously) I only have to give up $1.50 rather than $1.66 that I had to pay back in January. ISN'T THAT GREAT!

Now if that doesn't seem impressive, how about this: My rent has reduced from being $3248 to $3070 because of this event. Now, you should really understand why this is so important to me!!!

My only hope is that the UK economy keeps failing. THIS SOUNDS SO BAD but lets be honest. British prosperity means my demise. But alas, the UK isn't necessarily crumbling to bits because of this loss in ratings. For those of you non-Econ majors, this may not make sense but again, expert here. (And again please note: do not rely on my explanation; you know the drill). With the drop in credit ratings, and currency conversion rates, foreigners, like myself, get really excited and spend more because they can afford more. Exports increase and international spenders start dropping G's (grand$, for the urban language challenged folks out there. May I also add that there will be no grands dropped on my end, let's be honest).

So, that is why we are finding joy in the demise of UK economy. All us study abroad folks are looking at conversion rates daily, taking out money now, and spending money because as we all know, these things are volatile and changing by the hour even. My hope is that the US doesn't do anything silly that makes the economy fail more or causes the country to lose a credit rating from any of the credit agencies.


cheers,
jo xoxo

**Suggestion to future study abroad folks, check the conversion rates daily and make more use of your dollars!