Just in time for me to go to TX for a week, ha! Imagine the possibilities. If this holds out, I might actually be able to buy a book printed in the US for a decent price one of these days.

Comments?

You are coming to TX??!! Goodie goodie! LOL

It is actually sad that the US economy is doing so poorly that the Cdn dollar equals the US dollar.... :(

You are coming to TX??!! Goodie goodie! LOL

It is actually sad that the US economy is doing so poorly that the Cdn dollar equals the US dollar.... :(
I agree.I went to Canada in the 80s and you got an exchange and then your change.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~mgol1/Idiocracy_Money.jpg

$1 CAD, after another 500 years of Idiocracy.

Remember the Social Security debate?  How all of us on the "right" were describing the "trust fund" as being composed of "worthless IOUs"?  This is what we were talking about.  Of course those bonds will be paid -- in that you'll get as many US dollars as you were originally promised.  But just because the government can crank up their printing presses, doesn't mean their paper's actually worth anything.

Go on.  Look at a five-year chart of the CAD vs. the USD.  Or any other freely-traded currency vs. the USD.  Or the friggin' CRB index.  Gold at $270 is now $720.  Oil at $30 is  now $82.  The commodities are worth as much as they were always worth.  It's the US dollar -- and your salaries, savings, and your value as anything other than an extractor of commodity resources -- that is worth half as much as it was five years ago.

Now playing: Adam Freeland, We Want Your Soul

http://home.roadrunner.com/~mgol1/Idiocracy_Money.jpg

Go on.  Look at a five-year chart of the CAD vs. the USD.  Or any other freely-traded currency vs. the USD.  Or the friggin' CRB index.  Gold at $270 is now $720.  Oil at $30 is  now $82.  The commodities are worth as much as they were always worth.  It's the US dollar -- and your salaries, savings, and your value as anything other than an extractor of commodity resources -- that is worth half as much as it was five years ago.



You are saying that the value of the dollar as compared to other currencies has declined by a ratio of 82/30 or 720/270?  I remember when gold was trading for 800, so by "my numbers" the dollar has increased.  Oil and gold prices have beem more affeted by factors other than strength of the dollar, although definitely it has had a significan impact.

What you are seeing here is the product of two things.  (a) The trade deficit, which over time will cause an excess of US dollars to be held abroad and, yes, reduce its value (or conversely increase the comparative value of foreign currencies) and (b) A large federal deficit, which makes it easy for foreigners to "park" their dollars as T-bills.

The weak dollar makes US goods comparatively "cheaper" on world markets and maked imports more "expensive".  That's part of the normal trade economics.  Let balance of trade get too far out of whack and currency valuations will start working to right the ship.

I can remember back in the 1980's when Reagan was catching flak from the left for a "STRONG dollar" policy, which made foreign gods cheap and exports expensive.

My opinion... the federal deficit is the boogie man here.  Take that away and foreign countries are forced to spend their dollars in the USA on USA goods, and that "rights the ship"...

In the past, whether ut US dollar was "strong" or whether it was "weak," the US was still the richest single economy in the world and the dollar was still most influential.  American capitalists could turn a weak or strong dollar into profit for themselves.  But what if the Euro becomes permanently more influential than the dollar and the EU becomes the richest single economy? 

I think that's where the US will start to realize the party's over.  We haven't dealt with anything like that since before WWII and we probably don't have the stomach for it anymore!
::)

I saw this on the news, and holy hell was I excited.  It was like $1.01 i believe, wasn't it?

Wow. The Canadian dollar is now equal to the US dollar. Pretty amazing, when you consider that only five years ago in 2002, the Canadian dollar was trading at an all time low of 62 cents.

This is probably a result of weakness in the US economy combined with high resource prices for things like oil and natural gas. With Canada being so strong in natural resources such as oil, the Canadian dollar has profited greatly from the huge increase in petroleum prices over the past few years.

I'd like to say this is a good thing for Canada, but it really isn't. Sure, it might be nice that imported goods and holidays to the US are now cheaper, but when you consider that Canada, on the whole, is an exporting country, this really hurts the Canadian economy by making the country's exports less competitive. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in Canada have been lost in the past few years. Plant closings and factory layoffs happen on a regular basis. Probably the only people in the country who are making any money are the oil drillers in Alberta. I guess we're all going to have to move to Alberta if we want to get jobs.  :(

I heard on the radio it's dropped to 99.8c or something like that.  That's still pretty good

Meh, this is just the first kiss. It will reach $1US again, and probably surpass it for a while. Some exporters are going to take a hit here, but they were rolling in cash in 2002. Most commodities are bought and sold in USD and then profits are converted back to CDN. So your pig farmers, for instance, won't be so happy. But on the other hand, imports become cheaper, airline tickets even for domestic Canadian flights become cheaper, so will gas probably (a little, since most gas in Canada is imported despite all the Albertan exports), and the tourism industry will see a big hike (for outgoing Canadians, not incoming Americans). It won<t last forever, so enjoy it while you can, and/or crine while you must. As for me, I just happen to be Stateside for a week spending my CDN$, so personally I'll be happy to not take such a hit on the exchange.

You are coming to TX??!! Goodie goodie! LOL


Do I know you?

Do I know you?


Just from here is all...  :D