Don't get me wrong: I think the concept of money was a wonderful invention. For example, it'd be a little hard for me to barter in cows as an owner of a tenth-floor, 800 sq ft apartment. Live, whole cows are pretty hard to divvy up when paying for services such as a monthly cell phone bill too. People's faith and use of a government-backed IOU system is brilliant.
It's just a little harsh to see how currencies stack up. At the beginning of May, the Canadian dollar was worth well over a US buck. At the moment one is closer to the value of less than US 0.97 only. I have set aside a portion of my networth in money from across the border. The Canuk version has slid over 6% in value since I bought a whole chunk of 'em. That means I've made money if I were to sell at this moment. Somehow or other that doesn't make me feel very good though.
Here's a US / Canadian dollar chart for May 2012.