Frank worth more than US Dollar

I checked this morning and Oanda.com had updated their site with values from the weekend. Yes indeed, the Frank did officially overtake the US Dollar on Friday.

The Frank's had a long journey to this point. Back in 1970 a US Dollar was worth FIVE Swiss Franks.

Dollar Frank equivalence?

On Saturday we saw that the Dollar had fallen below the Frank on Friday. However according to oanda.com, the Dollar is still worth just about 1-3 cents more. Any day now.

And, I just noticed that blogger is telling me that it's saved a draft of my posting, but has told me IN GERMAN. C'mon guys, if you're going to do multiple language support, can't you do it in multiple languages?

Just as I finished that, it started talking to me in English once again. :)

Press finally picks up on Swiss Franks rise on the US Dollar

This morning's New Zurich Times' leading story has to do with the falling US Dollar vs. the rising Swiss Frank. I mentioned this earlier. They mention that prices for US goods sold in Switzerland are near twice that for those same goods in the United States. They post the price of the Dollar at about 1.01 Swiss Franks, which I haven't seen yet, as most quotes I've come across have been about 1.03.

Further inside the paper they give a chart of various goods that are overpriced when purchased here in Switzerland. They also editorialize that the prices must fall. Trademark goods are ridiculously expensive. Especially when you consider that many of these products are no longer made in the United States.

Yesterday, I wandered around a couple of shops. One was a bookstore, but I realized that at the prices involved to buy from a scant collection of English language tech books, I could order from Amazon, with overnight shipping and still save. I take hits all along the way in that transaction, first with a padded exchange rate, a fee to transfer funds to my US account, expensive shipping to Switzerland, and lastly a potential 2.3% or so sales tax and 10 Frank fee from the Swiss Government. Still, it is way cheaper to get these goods from the United States. I get a better selection and cheaper prices.

A couple stories that haven't seem to hit the English speaking news yet.

There are a couple stories out there that haven't seem to have hit the English speaking news of yet here in Switzerland....

The Swiss Frank is quickly gaining on the US Dollar
This one is quite surprising that it hasn't yet hit the news. There was all sorts of stories when the Canadian Dollar was approaching the US dollar awhile back. Now, it's the Swiss Frank's turn. Currently a Dollar is worth approximately 1.02 Swiss Franks. At this rate the Frank might achieve parity with the dollar next week, or even pass it. I'm quite surprised to not have seen any info on this.

Non-Smoking Restaurants soon in Switzerland?
This hit the German language news, but I haven't seen anything in English on it. Apparently, last week the Standerrat (Swiss Senate) voted in favor of limiting smoking in Restaurants to specifically built fumoirs, with restaurants largely being smoke-free. A law like this is already in-force in the Canton of Ticino, where there are currently only about 25 fumoirs that have been built so far.

Three year old German Students.

I was going to wax all editorial about my views on forcing three-year-olds to have High German instruction in a Swiss German speaking country, but I think I'll just put the link out there about making these kids learn a language that people don't really speak here.

Is it a good idea? I suppose only time will tell, though I've got just a little bit of doubt on this....