The dollar doesn't buy what it used to, especially if it's something made in another country. When the dollar is weak, imports cost more because it takes more dollars to buy a foreign product. And the weak dollar is just the way our government likes it.

That's because the other side of the dollar bill is that when it's weak, U.S. products become cheaper for other countries to buy. While China is having a resurgence in its economy, it will buy more goods and services, many of them from the U.S. Our stuff is a bargain because it doesn't take as many renminbi to buy dollars. U.S. manufacturers take their renminbi, buy dollars and repatriot the money. They still make the same profit on the product and enjoy stronger sales, due to the weak dollar.

Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: The unmighty dollar

Comfort Zone Investing: The unmighty dollar originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In one of the strangest statements of the year, the head of the UAW Ron Gettelfinger said that he was not willing to give up on Chrysler as a part of the DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE:DCX) corporation. According to Reuters: "I've been around the process long enough to know that I'm not ready to concede that the Chrysler Group is going to come out of DaimlerChrysler."

The last anyone checked, the UAW owned no shares in Daimler and had no other blocking rights to the sale. Gettelfinger went on to say that, if Chrysler is sold, he hopes that it is to another car company.

Since a private equity firm has no ability to take out costs through cutting overlapping management, product development, and public company overhead, the only way to improve margins is through reductions in labor expenses. With Chrysler as part of a larger parent, the UAW can look to the Daimler balance sheet as a source of keeping union benefits and pensions funded. With a private equity firm as the owner, whatever assets and liabilities go with the sales are all the all the UAW can look to as the foundation of a favorable contract.

Most private equity firms like to go to the debt markets for the majority of the capital used in a buy-out. It is entirely possible that a purchase of Chrysler could put billions of dollars in debt onto it balance sheet. Not much for the UAW to chase there.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

UAW wonders about Chrysler sale originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.