euro crash

[kat]

With all the currency fluctuation going on at the moment I'm a bit freaked out with what the Euro is doing against the Canadian and US dollars (both which are still rather stable compared to other world currencies).
when the recession first hit I was in england and the pay I was getting went from being really awesome and enough for me to sustain my apartment in vancouver and rent a flat in west london where the studio was and still have money to pay off debts, save a lot and still enjoy living. But by early 2008 the pound had lost almost 50 cents against the canadian dollar and it made it pretty nonviable to stay there.
Back in Vancouver for 2008 the US and Canadian dollar started to level out which was ok because I was dealing a lot with purchases coming in from the US so I was saving more money but then in 2009 it all flattened out and off to the EU again to work. The EURO was still strong at that point and I was making 5000 euros a month but it was stupid expensive in switzerland to even eat. So back to Canada after 4 months and then nothing for work for almost a year. now in 2011 I'm back over here working for even less than that, 3000 euros a month and the exchange rate is even worse than ever before. Finland is stupid expensive to live in too. Next time I get considered for a show, its full rates or I get to work from home cause this is just not balancing out properly any more.

[teacher3d]

Yup - its unfortunate this whole global economy. I hope that you'll still have a place to go back to in Canada...

Well, you should be relieved that at least you're not in Greece right now.

[Rolandks]

To us European people the US-Import or order Situation is brilliant: 0,70 EURO payed for 1$ - Software,etc is cheap now, i ordered the "Urban PAD" for 21 EURO.... last week

[teacher3d]

Yup - same in New Zealand (0.76 to the USD at the moment). Its great for buying from the USA (When a book from Amazon.com costs (including postage!) like 1/2 the price to buy it locally in NZ - well, you get the idea)

But it sucks the other way around. Getting $$ from the USA only gets like 25% or something more then the US price (ie. say I move some of my PayPal back to NZ). And I guess this is what Kat is struggling with 'cause covering expenses back home can't be easy if the $$$ amount in the job is tight...

[kat]

The cost of doing business, living and pretty much everything else is astronomically high in the EU. Like i mean off the wall stupid expensive. So whatever deal you guys think you are getting now, well great, but its not really that much of a deal compared to what you can get for the same amount of currency plus exchange rate in the US and Canada. what we really need is for the pound to take a nose dive a bit and then I will be a bit happier if the euro tanked after I got back to north america because I order all my records from the EU. I could then press my next record in the US (cheapest place in the world to get it done with top quality across the board) and then ship to the EU and push hard on my EP and album release. It's hard being independent and not a digital goon like every other dj other it seems..

[SonicN2O]

The cost of doing business, living and pretty much everything else is astronomically high in the EU. Like i mean off the wall stupid expensive.

Yeah... I just visited London for a week because of a buisness trip for my Dad. It's like how much everything in the U.S. costs in dollars, multiplied by 1.5x, and then in EUROS. We didn't live very extravagantly that week, but we still had to drop a shitload of money. I can only imagine LIVING there...

I think I'll stay in the good old states, thanks.