Germany's answer to Business Week publishes a mixed metaphor cover (shouldn't that be a euro stomping a greenback?) that nonetheless reflects one of the hottest topics in the European press of late. Der Spiegel, meanwhile, has a dollar folded into a paper airplane nose-diving to a fiery death.

OMG! Now you can buy 1.47 dollars with a euro (at this writing).

Gideon Rachman, blogging for the Financial Times, writes up four potential political consequences Uncle Sam might face with a weaker dollar, none of them bound to be very popular with Republicans, especially the prospect of foreign companies flying in to buy up symbols of American power like, say, Rockefeller centre. But didn't the Japanese buy that already in the 80s?

Rachman also points out the effect on a country's collective ego of holding a strong (or weak) currency, "It cannot be nice for New Yorkers to have lots of chavvy Brits and Europeans, staggering around their shops, chortling about how cheap everything is. And those Americans who travel are experiencing severe sticker shock in Europe. People feel all macho about their currencies. The Germans used to love the strong D-mark. The Brits felt that the slide in sterling reflected their decline as a nation. Will similar concerns spread in the US?"