The US Economy is killing me

Things have not been going well since George W. Bush decided to leave the US government's MasterCard at the bar. Especially not for people like me - who doesn't even live in the US.

My hourly rate is about DKK 900 (Danish Kroner) per hour (it varies depending on the type of work - strategic help costs more, simple concepts costs less). My rate is not that expensive. It is cheaper than the amount expensive consultants take, but also expensive enough to only get serious requests.

But my prices has gone through the roof ever since George W. Bush decided to see if he could bankrupt a country:

• In 2002 my hourly rate of DKK 900 would amount to USD 105
• Today DKK 900 is a whopping USD 166, due to the downward slide of the exchange rates between the USD and DKK (and USD vs. EUR).

I have gone from having a fair price, to being overly greedy - without ever changing my rates. The result is noticeable. US Companies can no longer afford my services - and 39% of my visitors come from the US.

Ads revenue dropping

Another problem is my Google Advertisements. I do not make that much from ads (read: very little actually), but I lost 9% of my ad revenue within the last 12 month alone - due to unfavorable exchanges rates.

Only 5-10% of my annual income is from freelance work, and only 0.5% is from my ads revenue. I am not going bankrupt. It is just annoying!

A two way street

Of course, buying products in the US is now insanely cheap. I recently bought "The Art of Cars, by Pixar" from Amazon - and the price difference between Amazon.com (USA) vs. Amazon.co.uk (Europe) is huge:

• Amazon.co.uk sells it for GBP 20.99 = DKK 230
• Amazon.com sells it for USD 26.40 = DKK 142

I can almost buy two books from the US store for the same price as the one in England - and this is true for every product.

Although it's fun that I can buy US products for almost no money at all, it is disastrous for US as a country.

BTW: Didn't George W. Bush bankrupt his last company too? The congress should put him under financial administration before China starts to outsource to the US because "it is cheaper that way"...