Reply #2: One thing you aren't considering...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

Our economy doesn't sit in a vacuum, which is to say that while our economy may be improving, other nations' economies might be as well. You may not have noticed, but as our economy started its slide, the value of the dollar actually improved against the Euro because the European economy, likely because the collective European economy was doing similarly poorly.

In other words, the value of the dollar is a better indicator of relative strength rather than strength in isolation. That our economy is getting better while the dollar is getting worse is less a reflection of the U.S. economy alone but rather a reflection of how well we're doing compared to other nations.