" Do you guys know how many presidential candidates actually address the problem of the dollar weakening and have a plan to stop it?

One. "

" I see it every day. I've counselled my clients (and myself) to increase their international allocation in their portfolios. "

" GiveMeLiberty has a good point too. I am trying to manage a 1.3 million materials budget. A fair-sized chunk of it goes for subscription to journals -- newspapers, magazines, standing orders of reference works, scholarly journals and other publications which we call "serials" in the Library. If the price of books goes up, you just buy fewer books. But at the beginning of each year, the Library has to commit to continuing each subscription or we have cancel it then. Once committed, we have to pay -- but as the re-subscriptions trickle in over the course of the year, the price is way over the estimated increases (even though we estimated high this year) -- most of this is for foreign subscriptions where the dollar is not worth nearly as much as it was. Even with estimates of as much as 13% increases in price, we are seeing re-subs coming in at twice that. We can review the lists of journals to which we subscribe to pick out unused or lesser used titles to cancel for next year, but we are stuck having to pay for what we've got this year. Believe me, you don't have to tell me about the effect of the dollar's weakness on the cost of things! "

" Wake up guys.

The price of everything is going up because the US dollar is worth less and less. The value of all these goods are not changing, nor is the value of oil. It's easy to say "The price of oil trickles down to all products", but do you really think that is why your bread price went up 30%?

Lets assume the dollar was stable: Even if the transportation fuel cost on your $0.69 loaf of bread was $0.30 (it's not), then the price of oil would have to double in the same time as it took for your bread to go from $0.69 to $0.99 (it didn't). Fuel costs do play a role in the price of goods, but not that big a role to add 30% to a loaf of bread overnight.

The problem is that you measure your costs in US Dollars, which are worth less and less every day.

10 years ago you might've made this joke: "We spent $100 Canadian on the hotel in Toronto, so in real money the hotel was like 53 cents, haw haw haw." An exaggeration to be sure, in US dollars that hotel cost you about $60 10 years ago, today, that hotel which is still $100 Canadian will cost you $115 USD. That's right, the Canadian dollar, long the butt of many US jokes, is worth more than our dollar is, and our dollar continues to sink. "

" I've been expecting the prices for stapls foods to go up -- the cost of oil "trickles down" to nearly everything. As it costs more to put fuel in the tractors to plow, plant, cultivate and harvest food, and more money to run the machinery to process it, and more money to truck it here and there, the price will go up. Someone recently gave my fella a second-hand bread machine, and, boy is that nice! We both know how to make bread by hand, but it's very nice to be able to just throw all the ingredients into the hopper, set the settings, press the button and forget about it. Maybe this year when he sells his wheat to the mill he'll get a few bags back instead of selling it all and we'll just make all our own bread. I'd like to talk him into getting a few chickens as well.... "

" When prices go up, the grocery stores aren't pricegouging, they are raising the price because their costs went up. They could not get away with price gouging as their shoppers would go elsewhere. It's called competition. I would like to see you open a grocery store. You wouldn't last for 6 months at most. It's a tough business and requires a lot of work. It takes more than a big mouth to run a business. "

" There seems to be a following for Lt. Langler in The Citizen. Two Cents (earlier printed versions) and a letter to the editor. Let's all hope that Lt. Langler will get his appeal. That will open all his records to the public for all to see. Yes, serving your country is nice, but standing outside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and/or working detail at Camp David isn't as big as spending time in Iraq. Now those men and women have done some wonderful country service for all of us Americans! And sitting in an office as a Lt. giving orders to subordinates - isn't as prestigous as sitting in a tent in Iraq commandeering a troop of soliders for this war they are serving in to keep our country free. Those are the real heros here - not a Lt. sitting out at the PSB (or use to). "

" Dear Justventing....I'll bet it kind of makes you wish that you did a little more in life so you'd be able to enjoy some bread during your later years huh? "

" Please accept my sincere apology "interested". I misread your post. I have this wandering eye and it takes a rigorous "shake" to bring it back into focus every now and again. I've been meaning to get that sucker looked at but with the high cost of health care and all, it's simply not an option at this time. I'm truly sorry. "

" Yikes- Perhaps you ought to read my message a little better... I didn't have to slam on MY brakes... the person driving the Pacifica did. I failed to mention that I was following that person for quite some time and he/she did not use their turn signal once. I don't care how unfamiliar one is with an area- if you're making a turn- use your turn signal. "

" Dear Interested....perhaps you should not follow out-of-state drivers so closely that it requires you to "slam" on your brakes. People from out of state are typically not familiar with the area. "

" I went to a downtown grocery store to buy some bread. What has happened? A small loaf of bread is 99 cents now, last week it was 69 cents. What’s going on? It must be nice to own a grocery store, prices go up, and they just raise the price to maintain their level of profit. Customers on the other hand do not have a choice, they have to pay the higher prices but do not get the luxury of a higher income every week, and most income stays the same. Again it must be nice to own business; maybe I’ll try and start one. "

" Very well written, Karl and Farmer's Gal. If the Citizen is to have us believe that the "majority" of people don't want TWO CENTS in the print media, they should prove it with their on-line poll. "

" Dear Mr. or Mrs. blue Pacifica driver from Pennsylvania, Perhaps in Pennsylvania you might not have to use your turn signals when you are turning but it is a law here. In case you're wondering why I blared my horn at you (seeing as how you looked so darn confused) it is because you slammed on your brakes and turned right w/o using your turn signal. You might want to warn the drivers behind you that you are planning on turning- that would be the polite and safe thing to do- besides, it IS the law. "

" Congrats to the people that did a WONDERFUL looking rehab on that gothic victorian a few doors down from Cayuga Museum same side on Washington - I have always admired that house. Having rehabed two old vics ourselves, its great to c there are others that appreciate Auburn's old architecture. "

" Weeeeeell-spoken, Farmer's Gal; I would love to hear the REAL reasons for ending the publication of Two Cents. YOu know, sometimes the weight of one, two, or even a few people can tip the scale against an issue like this, whereas the majority of supporters of Two Cents--whom I FIRMLY believe are in the majority--were caught flat-footed and did not even get a chance to "vote" as it were. There was no real plebiscite posted where the people who really enjoyed it could voice their opinion--I mean, how can you judge a social issue like Two Cents without even asking to hear both sides? The naysayers who didn't want to read it were probably not even participating here, so where was the foul? They didn't have to read it if they didn't want to--personally, they could take the entire "Sports" section and just eliminate it--I never so much as look at it unless there's a story about motocross in it--which is like, never! It had to be coming from some public official that the Citizen is "protecting". I say we march on Thursday? Can we borrow some pitchforks and scythes? "

" The parking kisoks are a waste of money. It's the 21st century for goodness sakes! It should take dollar bills and give you change back if you don't want the whole dollar worth of parking but most would! Then to have to walk back to the car to put the ticket inside - then OKAY City of Auburn, it's YOUR responsibility to keep those sidewalks clean and around the curbs and kisoks so people don't fall and get hurt on packed snow that's turned to ice. If the City had thought this out - it would have been good! Now there can be lawsuits for broken appendages to offset the cost of parking. Why would that attract people to go downtown? "

" You know, I once met a fella in a bar close to the southern border of Cayuga County who was telling how he called in to the Two Cents phone line regularly. He was an older fella, with no computer but rather subscribed to the print version of the paper. I wonder if The Citizen realized what an almost symbiotic relationship there existed between print readers and online readers in terms of Two Cents? The comments posted by the editors in Two Cents for discussion by the online readers all come from non-online sources, while the comments formerly posted in the print version came from both online and non-online sources. (I seldom see the print version, but once or twice when I did, I saw bits of my posts there -- and I enjoyed knowing that more people than just the usuals online would see them). There needs to be some more full-bodied compromise because without comments being printed in the physical newspaper, the "seed" comments for the online version have just about dried up -- those folks are probably feeling disenfranchised and discriminated against for not being techno-savvy or not having money to have internet of their own or whatever. This situation really shows up the Digital Divide, the digital haves and have-nots. "