Best business commentary

The dollar will bounce back, someday

The U.S. dollar is clearly on track “to test new depths this year,” says Andrew C. Schneider in Kilplinger.com, but there’s no “reason to panic.” The “steady drumbeat” of bad U.S. economic news is currently pushing large investors from dollars to commodities like oil, gold, and grain. And this will push the free-floating greenback below its 1978 “nadir,” hitting several “eye-catching” benchmarks along the way. But the dollar is “a proxy for confidence in the U.S. economy,” and as the cyclical economic problems here improve, the dollar “will rebound,” too. In the meantime, the massive dollar reserves held abroad will act as “a significant bulwark” against “panic selling.”

Parents and the new college try

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Students in the record-sized high school class of 2009 face a tough fight to get into their colleges of choice, says Sue Shellenbarger in The Wall Street Journal. But that doesn’t mean parents should drop everything to help them get in. “Today’s high tuition bills” do give “parents a big stake” in the admission process, but it is important to set “good boundaries” so mom and dad don’t get too involved. Some parents go so far as to give up day jobs to help “24/7,” but this can actually add to a student’s stress. As a parent, you can be “a cheerleader and coach,” and help your child set goals and visit campuses. But then you should “step back and give your child ownership.”