Cool checks into the economic situation is the barometer of inflationary vs. deflationary. Consumers are often confused about the times they are living in and make poor economic choices.
Deflationary times means it costs less to buy goods and services. The purchasing power of the buck increases and is able to buy more.
Opposite of inflation is deflation and with deflation, most assets decline in value. You see the cost of your home decline in value as well as gasoline. Corporate equities, mutual fund shares, insurances and pension reserves and equity in non corporate business decline.
There is only one exception; the United States Dollar goes up by definition. The opposite is true. When the cost of goods and services goes up the guage of value of the dollar shrinks.
When the value of the buck goes up in the United States inevitably it goes up against other currencies. When the dollar buys more, its value is rising and acts like a magnet.
Everything is costing less. The accounting of a particular currency has nothing to do with how their economy is doing. The value of a currency is base on how it compares with other currencies. You can't evaluate a currency in isolation.
If you see your United States Dollar buying more, it means the state of value of the buck is increasing. The dollar increases against foreign currencies as a market basket of value and it also buys more goods and services as a whole abroad.
The coolest, cool personal checks for the safest place to have you money in deflationary times in Treasury bills. The least ugly investment worldwide is U.S. currency.