Summary: <p>Leave it to economists to spin a story about the strong dollar as a troubling sign.</p> <p>The dollar is strengthening faster than it has in nearly forty years: the euro-to-dollar exchange rate is almost back to 1:1. American tourists have more buying power overseas, imports are inexpensive, and acquisitions of foreign companies come at a cheap price. Just this week, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/fedex-makes-bid-for-tnt-express-1428384931">Fedex bought Dutch package delivery company TNT</a>.</p> <p>But a soaring dollar bill also means buyers abroad are less interested in expensive American goods. If history's any indication, a strong dollar can be an omen of economic downturns ahead.</p> <p>On this week's Money Talking, <a href="http://time.com/author/rana-foroohar/">Rana Foroohar</a> of Time magazine and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/josh_barro/index.html">Josh Barro</a> of The New York Times explore the roots and risks of our strong American currency. And then a look at the future of TV as HBO's hit show Game of Thrones becomes available to viewers without cable. HBO's new stand-alone app, HBO Now, launched this week, is just one in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/business/media/streaming-tv-cord-cutting-guide.html">series </a>of new platforms that's freeing content from cable providers and lets viewers watch traditional TV on a desktop in real time.</p>
