Word: lira
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Note: If you know for a fact what you'll be doing 12 months from now, don't bother reading this. Parties are raging and goodbyes (to say nothing of bodily fluids) are being exchanged like lira for euros. We approve whole-heartedly of this Bacchanalian excess and hope that each of the next four days and nights prove wilder than the one before. Nonetheless, it's impossible to wade through all this raucous merriment without sensing tension when well-wishers turn sullen and mutter under their breath as arch-enemies pass by, or when two friends stand aloof because...
...brewing in Europe, and it could hit you right where it counts: in the pocketbook. On Jan. 1, the currencies of 11 European Union countries will be officially replaced by a central monetary unit called the euro. It will take three years for the old deutsche mark, franc and lira coins and bank notes to disappear, but in less than two months their values will be pegged to that of the euro. And savvy U.S. investors are moving to take advantage of investment opportunities offered by the new currency...
PAUL SONG, V.P. of Sotheby's coin department: "The Italian 50,000-lira note, because of all the zeros and the portrait of Italian sculptor Bernini. The first time I visited Italy, I went to the Capitoline Museum and gave the guard a 50,000 note for 5,000 and was ripped...
...tinny, aren't they?" his wife replies. "Maybe you should spring for a Sterling, or if that's too rich for your blood, at least a Lira--a Lira convertible, perhaps...
...late summer of 1992, a time of great pressure on European institutions, he did so with a vengeance. A remark by the president of the German Bundesbank about possible instability among European currencies encouraged Soros to start the attack. First he short-sold the Italian lira, which tumbled. Emboldened, he took on sterling, sending the immense power of his funds, billions of dollars' worth, against the British pound. He shorted, betting that the pound would not be able to hold its value against other currencies traded within the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which seeks to fix the value of European currencies...