So the US and CAD dollar is the same now!

[top 0]

I personally think this is bad for the economy, and might shut some big operations down, what do you guys think about this, any pro's and con's about it?

[mack 44]

Atta boy, Bush.

[ktang 34]

It's bad for Canadian exporters to the US for sure, and better for US firms who regularly import to Canada.

It's also bad for Canadian hockey players, because we've gotten used to the Canadian hockey gear prices' being 30% more than the US hockey gear prices.

Did anybody hear a popping sound?

[mrusse01 0]

It is generally bad...we are a nation that thrives on exports, mainly to the United States. A weak US dollar means exporters are getting less buying power back in exchange for their good and services.

Businesses that import from the US, or pay costs in US$ dollars will love it though, as will consumers who can cross border shop. It will take several years for the retail level prices to catch up though...see the current costs of a Stealth in Toronto versus Detroit.

The US dollar is extremely weak right now, not just against the Canadian, but against almost all currencies. Why? The subprime lending debacle, a tanking real estate sector, a fruitless and costly 'war on terror' (the first war in history to be waged against a noun), a sluggish economy, falling interest rates, the list goes on. If you want a good (although I think overly pessimistic) read on the situation check out 'Empire of Debt'...doesn't paint a pretty picture for the US empire.

[mack 44]

The "let's make more of it" theory isn't working well, either.

[Gongshow11 1]

school costs less as canadian goes up....keep it coming

[willy0314 0]

Atta boy, Bush.

+1

so putting the country into debt with china for trillions is a bad thing then?

[LkptTiger 1]

Even as a conservative/Republican, I have to say it:

In order to answer that question, you're going to have to first ask the current administration to define the word "bad."

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

We had the same thing at home for a while. Living so close to the border between Ireland/N. Ireland, we were affected by the punt/pound fluctuations. The pound was always stronger, but then for a while the punt really strengthened.

These things will usually right themselves, may take 5 or 10 years, but they do. With us, it was all back to pretty much normal within a year, maybe less, but you are dealing with much smaller populations and economies.

From a hockey standpoint, this is a cap nightmare waiting to happen.

With all the new jerseys and such this year, I would expect the cap to take a signifigant jump because of revenues generated from that.

Now, if between now and the end of next season, the US dollar regains its strength (which it may or may not do, we don't know) and the canadian dollar recedes to previous levels, and slower merch sales the year after the new jerseys, you could see a big drop to the cap number.

If the canadian dollar goes from a 1:1 ratio with the USD, to a 1:1.25 or 1:1.30 ratio, with the canadian market generating around 40% of revenue, thats going to bring the cap down millions.

Which will have a huge impact on teams ability to retain their players.

But, this is all speculative, just my ramblings

[mack 44]

Ireland's rich, just like Tron.

[LkptTiger 1]

Dice game?

[Jason Harris 31]

Republicans are fiscally conservative, right? Running on the platform that too much government and excessive taxes are bad for our economy?

I read an article a couple of weeks ago that 70% of the accumulated debt in US history has occurred during the Reagan and two Bush administrations.

There just seems to be a disconnect to me.

[Chadd 916]

Republicans are fiscally conservative, right? Running on the platform that too much government and excessive taxes are bad for our economy?

I read an article a couple of weeks ago that 70% of the accumulated debt in US history has occurred during the Reagan and two Bush administrations.

There just seems to be a disconnect to me.

Bush is not even remotely close to being a fiscal conservative. His platform was "I love jesus" and "lookout for the terr-ists".

[mack 44]

They're just bad with money. Papa bear f'd the economy, Clinton comes in and cleans it up, Dopey then rapes it.

[bobovski 1]

Bush is not even remotely close to being a fiscal conservative. His platform was "I love jesus" and "lookout for the terr-ists".

Don't forget the whole idea of "compassionate conservatism" has was pushing in 2000. What a load of crap.

[lawryde 0]

Our entire monetary system is BS ever since they removed gold and silver backing of it back in the 1930's. The dollar is on the downward spiral, and the stupid fed just decides to lower interest rates and pump trillions more dollars into the economy, thereby devaluing all currency already in the system.

Read this explanation of fiat currency system (our system of money). It's a real eye opener.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money

[Jason Harris 31]

Considering the US and its economy effectively skyrocketed since the Depression, as well as had numerous expansions and recessions, it might be stretching it to suggest our dollar's been screwed since they untied it from gold/silver. I remember articles (I believe in the mid-90's) claiming the US dollar was too strong, and if steps weren't taken to weaken it against other currencies, it could plunge the global economy into recession. The point, of course, is all the currencies fluctuate against each other, and economists will debate where the sweet spot is.

The bottom line is I find it troublesome that our government can't find the political will to run a balanced budget, let alone a surplus to lower our debt. I'm confident buyers and traders of currencies factor our fiscal health into the value of the dollar.

[lawryde 0]

Considering the US and its economy effectively skyrocketed since the Depression, as well as had numerous expansions and recessions, it might be stretching it to suggest our dollar's been screwed since they untied it from gold/silver. I remember articles (I believe in the mid-90's) claiming the US dollar was too strong, and if steps weren't taken to weaken it against other currencies, it could plunge the global economy into recession. The point, of course, is all the currencies fluctuate against each other, and economists will debate where the sweet spot is.

The bottom line is I find it troublesome that our government can't find the political will to run a balanced budget, let alone a surplus to lower our debt. I'm confident buyers and traders of currencies factor our fiscal health into the value of the dollar.

Did you read about fiat currency? It's based on nothing. All society in the past that has gone from a hard currency (gold or silver based) to a paper system with no backing has eventually imploded. All our currency is essentially debt. The only thing backing it is confidence. If that confidence gets substantially eroded then it becomes worthless.

[Chadd 916]

The bottom line is I find it troublesome that our government can't find the political will to run a balanced budget, let alone a surplus to lower our debt. I'm confident buyers and traders of currencies factor our fiscal health into the value of the dollar.

There's no benefit to a politician to have a balanced budget. In order to balance the budget, you have to raise taxes or cut funding to some programs. Higher taxes piss off most people and cutting funding for programs piss off the people who have an interest in those programs.

Find some selfless, forward-thinking politicians and perhaps the budget could be balanced. I think you might have better luck winning the lottery every day for the next 10 years though.

[D3nZ 0]

Bad for exports, good for imports and no changed for costumers, prices in the US are still lower in America then in Canada, as for now no changes but we could notice stuff in the next months if the loonie stays this way. Good thing I live on the N-B and Maine border and one of my friends gave me his grand-father's address so I can ship stuff there and bring it across the border. Yesterday on CBC a guy from Vancouver who was buying a new car in Washington state would still save 5000$ after paying the taxes at the border.

[sweetblazer 0]

It's passed it right now. I REALLLY want to go shopping in the states right now.

[Jason Harris 31]

Did you read about fiat currency? It's based on nothing. All society in the past that has gone from a hard currency (gold or silver based) to a paper system with no backing has eventually imploded. All our currency is essentially debt. The only thing backing it is confidence. If that confidence gets substantially eroded then it becomes worthless.

Yes, I read about twenty-five years ago in college.

We've had numerous recessions and periods of unprecedented economic growth since our dollar has been uncoupled from gold/silver. When we've had a slower economy, our dollar has sagged; when we've been steaming, our dollar has become too strong against other currencies. All of that makes sense, since currency exchange rates are a reflection of the confidence that traders of currencies hold in the different countries' economies. If we stop rolling over multi-billion deficits and racking up trillion dollar debts, our dollar will improve.

In other words, regardless of political orientation, we need a sharper person in the oval office.

[Jarick 5]

Presidents submit budgets but Congress approves them. To lay the blame solely at Bush, Clinton, Reagan, or any one president is folly.

If you look at the economy, you see stagnant growth flirting with recession for the last several years but with inflation. That is borderline stagflation, though not to the extent experience in the 1970's. You could blame it on poor fiscal policy (controlled by Congress, not the president) or you could blame it on poor monetary policy (controlled by the Federal Reserve independent of other branches of government). But you're ignoring two significant and in my opinion bigger factors:

First is the introduction of a supply shock to the economy. Stagflation occurs when prices rise (inflation) and output (GDP) drops. The only real reason this can happen, since in general you don't experience one without the other, is a supply shock. That is a massive reduction in the supply of a vital good to society, which in effect raises its price dramatically. Anyone with a 2nd grade education and a driver's license can spot that oil prices have risen nearly 400% since 2002. It's safe to say that oil is a major resource and that kind of increase will damage any economy.

Second is the rise in real incomes for Americans leading to increased imports. Higher disposable income has led to a glut of dollars and Americans hate saving money. So they want to spend it, and it just so happens China and lots of other companies with lower costs of production are making stuff for us to buy left and right. But we don't buy with American currency, with buy with Chinese, increase demand for Yuan relative to the USD and therefore decreasing the value of the American dollar. And since everyone trades with everyone else and the US runs a big trade deficit, our currency keeps falling compared to everyone else's.

Now the other two factors, massive deficits by Congress and the president and short-sighted economic policy by the Federal Reserve, no doubt contributed to the slide of the dollar, but I'd argue that the first two had a bigger impact. So in my opinion, regardless of who's in control of whatever party or office, there are other reasons both foreign and domestic for this "problem".

Likewise, the "solution" is to allow the dollar to slide, then Canadians and the rest of the world will find US products and services (where we run a trade surplus) more attractive and demand for US dollars will increase. And if the Fed would either tie currency to gold or silver and quit flooding the market with dollars and someone in Washington grew a pair and balanced the budget (for real and not pretend balancing like what goes on), we'd make some progress.

[sabre09923 0]

Just wondering, but what is our (the US) national deficit ATM?

[Thockey17 1]

Something like 9 trillion.