Nobody will accuse me of being smart with my money. The smart money this year is supposed to be doing "staycations." So what do I do? I left the country – for a full two weeks. Except for trips into Mexico or Canada, it was the first time in many years I had left the country.

What’s the view from another continent? I think people are beginning to feel sorry for Americans. And these weren’t Europeans saying this. These were Australians, who generally still like the United States. It was, after all, the U.S., not Great Britain, that came to their aid fending off Japanese aggression in World War II.

Through friends Maya and Michael Luria, we arranged to stay with their long-time friends Doug Merritt, a former developer and now consultant in Brisbane, and his wife Pauline. They have two 30-something daughters we also met.

Perceptions by others intrigue me. The Merritts have been to the U.S. on several occasions. They’re looking forward to their next trip here later this year - especially now that the Australian and U.S. dollars are within pennies of one another. Doug Merritt said the last time he was in this country the Australian dollar was worth about 55 cents U.S.

Politics stepped into one conversation. Merritt said the perception in Australia is that it’s a foregone conclusion Barack Obama will be elected come November. I was surprised. After all, Australia is where media-mogul Rupert Murdoch, of Fox News Channel fame, got his start. He still owns many Australian newspapers and TV outlets.

Some of the presumption may be due to the fact that the party of conservatives in Australia has splintered since losing its leadership role in last year’s elections. They had been in power since 1996.

As an example, check this direct quote from the first paragraph of an article on conservative parties in Britain and the U.S. that appeared in the July 14 edition of The Australian: "How do you fix a broken society? As conservatism tries to find its moorings after the long wilderness years in Britain and the debacle of George W. Bush’s presidency in the U.S., this is becoming a question."

The article goes on to focus on how Londoner David Cameron, leader of Britain’s conservative Tory Party, is setting an example for fresh conservative thinking.

There is opinion around the world that policy coming out of Washington, D.C., over the past seven years has hurt many Americans, especially when it comes to the economy. Indeed, business publications write the only major nation facing bona fide recession now is the U.S.

Alba Egger, wife of Inside Tucson Business reporter Ed Egger, just returned from several weeks touring Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Holland. She found that although prices have increased there, Europeans don’t view their economic conditions to be as dire as it is in the U.S. I found the same to be true in Australia.

The conspiracy theorist in me suspects the reason Americans are being encouraged to stay at home this year is that our government doesn’t want us to see its decisions have made us worse off relative to other countries.

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