LJ,
Nice post (especially on some of the assumptions on selling real estate!), which I think, if I have read you correctly broadly concurs with my thinking that all sides are guilty of pushing their own point regardless of any link to the reality of the situation. It was once explained to me that rather than considering currency levels as an abstract concept, think of them as the share price of the nation. In that sense it becomes slightly less abstract and you can start to understand how in the long term much more of the future is in our own hands, so things really could go either way. Of course, that doesn't sell copy or lead to fat fees, so it won't ever become the prevailing line of thinking.
Of course, it could mean utter disaster, and if you are correct on the L85 upgrade and barring any urgent requirement (I'm not sighted to any of that stuff), that's the sort of bizarre decision making that will cost us in the long run.