Up, up, she goes!

[fellowtraveller]

[/This is a very good sign for our Canadian economy, and for my trips to the US and abroad next yearQUOTE]

Wow, where to begin?

A high value for the Canuck buck relative to the US dollar has one very bad impact: our goods/services are no longer competitive with other countries or with US domestic manufacturers. That means Canadian factory closures, no exports, no jobs.

Enjoy your trip.

[maplesyrup]

Nonsense.

At one time the canuck dollar was worth $US1.10, and life was good in Canada.

So the rest of the population is supposed to suffer so that some fat cat business exporter can rest on his laurels. I don't think so.

Competition is supposed to be good, it is the mantra of the business community, the best thing in the world according to the capitalists, except when it is competition directly for them, that is. What a bullshit system.

[fellowtraveller]

If your argument is reduced to railing against capitalism, I don't think there is much to discuss.

I would point out though that the last ten or more years have been pretty good to excellent for Canada and many Canadians in terms of low unemployment, low interest rates, low inflation, increased levels of home ownership, disposable income and many other positive economic indicators.

Not coincidentally, our dollar was relatively weak as compared to the $US for that period(as were most of the currencies world wide). It meant that our goods were attractively priced for US buyers. It meant many jobs for Canadians. Not 'fat cat' Canadians, ordinary working people.

[maplesyrup]

Still climbing and canuck dolla now being recommended as a BUY by the big boys!

Canadian Dollar Reaches 11-Yr High After Ivey Index Shows Gains

[maplesyrup]

What a bunch of pompous asses these accountants and economists are.

Canada has a minority government, right. But that was supposed to mean instability, people losing confidence in Canada, etc. Look at our rising dollar. People love this minority government - it is the best thing to hit Canada in 25 years. What a bunch of buffoons these money people are.

[maplesyrup]

Now we're rockin'. Canuk dolla traded at $US80.03 yesterday. This is lookin' mighty fine to me.

Loonie trades above 80 cents US

[caesar]

So the rest of the population is supposed to suffer so that some fat cat business exporter can rest on his laurels. I don't think so.

Not only some fat cat exporter; for one our lumber industry AND the workers it hires. Many other industries will find it harder to compete as the dollar goes up in Canada. Technology, is one of the exemptions

[maplesyrup]

Well with the price of oil holding its head above $US50. a barrel, Alberta should have lots of jobs in their debt-free society.

[August1991]

This may be good for Alberta but if the high price of oil drives up the Canadian dollar, it won't be necessarily good for the rest of us.

The problem is known as the Dutch Disease:

Dutch disease is an economic phenomenon in which the discovery and exploitation of natural resources deindustrializes a nation's economy. In the given scenario, the value of the country's currency rises (making manufactured goods less competitive), imports increase, exports decrease, and productivity falls. The phemomenon was first observed in the Netherlands in the 1960s, when large reserves of natural gas were first exploited. There is now a substantial body of research on the topic.

[maplesyrup]

A lot about a high Canadian dollar is psychological, with a higher dollar you ask the average Canadian and they will say they feel better. Well what's wrong with feelin' good! It can do wonders for health, productivity, relationships, etc. Often significant factors are frequently left out the equation.

For example when David Suziki first enrolled in an economics course in university he asked what the costs were for the damage to the environment for an economic project. Suzuki was told by the economics professor that environmental costs were not assessed, that they did not enter into the equation.

You do know what Suzuki's next step was, don't you?

Suzuki withdrew from the economics course.

Canada's business schools have failed us, and shame on them!

[playfullfellow]

The higher Canuck Buck cna be both good and bad but in the long run, it does more harm to our manufacturing industr than good. Sure, you can go holiday in other places and pay less but what does that matter if you are unemployed. Short term, the higher buck wreaks havoc on the ag industry. Sales drop, commodity values drop, stockpiles increase, value drops more and more farmers go under. Bigger companies buy these farms at pennies on the dollar and wait for the next high prices and ride the wave. Pretty soon you will have about 10-20 companies own the majority of all ag industries and then they will dictate what prices you pay domestically.

[maplesyrup]

Canada Dollar Eases From High, Bonds Up With Oil

Good time to buy canuk dolla!

[maplesyrup]

Canuk dolla now $0.8049 US.

What did I say it would be by Christmas?

[kimmy]

Well, I do sometimes buy computer crap online from the US, so I guess in theory a higher exchange rate is a good thing for me. Except the bank seems to rip you off on the exchange rate for credit-card purchases, so it might not make much difference anyway.

Aside from that, the high dollar doesn't affect me. But if I worked in the manufacturing field, I wouldn't be planning any major purchases...

-kimmy

[maplesyrup]

Canadian dollar is flying over US$.82 this morning.

Let's have a contest. Let's forecast when will we see parity with Yankee Dolla.

[maplesyrup]

At least one bit of good news today - Canadian dolla is at US$0.825 the highest it has been in 12 years.

I forecast it will be worth 85 cents US by Xmas.

[kimmy]

You're right, syrup! This is terrific news, at least for those who live in Vancouver.

As the rising dollar destroys Vancouver's film industry, unemployed actors and production staff will rush into low-end service-industry jobs. The result? Line-ups at your local Starbucks should get shorter! Woo-hoo!

After a record-breaking 2003 with production revenues valued at C$1.4 billion ($1.12 billion), B.C.'s industry is suffering a 25% drop in shooting days and a similar rise in unemployment numbers, according to Susan Croome, the province's film commish.

Croome says there is no dollar figure available yet, but the industry here expects B.C.'s production revenues this year to slide below $800 million for the first time in three years -- with no relief in sight.

Link:

In Reel Trouble

-kimmy

[maplesyrup]

kimmy......do a poll of Canadians whether they want a higher Canadian dollar or not, and you will get the correct answer. Spare us the opinion of some special interest group that you are stomping for.

[kimmy]

Yeah, sure, syrup. I'm "stomping" ( ) for the BC film industry because I actually give a crap. The truth is, I don't. I thought maybe pointing out the disasterous effect the rising dollar is having on jobs right there in la-la land where you live might wake you up to what the rising dollar really means.

I guess I was too optimistic.

The truth is, I am not in an export industry, so the high dollar has no direct effect on me. High or low, it doesn't directly affect me.

For many, many Canadians whose jobs depend on exports to the US, whether it's Ontario factory workers or BC forestry workers or Vancouver film production staff, the high dollar is going to hurt.

Who does the high dollar actually help, Syrup? Have you ever thought about that?

Here's who the high dollar helps:

-Canadians who want to invest in the US. (ie, rich Canadians.)

-Canadians who want to spend 6 months a year in Florida or Arizona. (ie, rich, retired Canadians.)

-Canadians who own NHL teams. (super-rich Canadians.)

That sounds more like a special interest group to me...

If Canadians are happy about the high Canadian dollar, it's because either they don't understand that it putting their jobs at risk. (or because they're planning a trip south. woo-hoo! Vegas!)

A lot of people (not naming names ) see "Rising Canadian Dollar" and have the mistaken idea that it somehow puts more money in their pocket. *bzzzzt!* Wrong answer!

-kimmy

[Guest eureka]

The rising dollar also keeps makes imports from the US less expensive. It brings us more for our resources that th Americans cannot do without.

The rising dollar also helps us with our trade to other parts of the world and helps to keep down inflation. It is not the dollar that is rising: it is the American dollar that is sinking. A trend that we will probably see for some time as the Bush doctrine drops the US further into the tank.

Watch for higher interest rates and inflation in the US. Watch for the "Bush" recession.

[maplesyrup]

Gee.....you left out ordinary Canadians who may want to occasionally travel to the US for a couple of weeks vacation, or who may want to purchase the occasional product from the US. I weonder why!

I see Tom Daschle got defeated. Good. He was the major US politician blocking our beef exports to the US.

As I have said many times, there is basically no difference between Reps & Dems. Dems are slightly less stone age, but barely.

[kimmy]

Gee.....you left out ordinary Canadians who may want to occasionally  travel to the US for a couple of weeks vacation, or who may want to purchase the occasional product from the US. I weonder why!

Tsk, tsk, Syrup. You want to talk about jetting off on American vacations while your fellow Vancouverites are losing jobs? You're the last person I'd have expected to be so selfish. Mr Layton will be very disappointed when he hears about this.

And surely, as an avid Canadian nationalist, you would agree that Canadians should travel within Canada, rather than heading for the United States? Which is better for Canadians? To spend their vacation experiencing the history of Old Quebec City? Witnessing Canadian Democracy in Action in the National Capital Region? Contemplating the majestic solitude of the Rocky Mountains? Or stuffing their weird purple money into strippers' garter-belts in Vegas? Buying cheesy Mouse souvenirs in Disneyland? Buying drinks for under-age co-eds in Fort Lauderdale?

You do raise a good point, though. Tourism is another Canadian industry that is being adversely impacted by the high Canadian dollar. Just on the heels of war and terror threats and SARS, now the exchange rate is another factor keeping Americans from bringing us their money. Americans are discovering that thanks to the exchange rate, Canada isn't the great bargain it used to be, and they're not visiting as frequently. And, Canadian tourists are taking advantage of this opportunity to spend their money in the US instead of Canada.

This Canadian Tourism report shows that even a 5% rise vs the US dollar has a negative effect on Canada's tourism industry and a 10% rise costs us in the billions. And at present, the rise is not 5%, not 10%, but 23% and still growing.

I don't know what can be done about it... as Eureka points out, it's not a rise in the Canadian dollar, so much as a fall in the US dollar... but the effect, as far as Canada-US trade goes, is the same. And overall, the bad effects outweigh the good by a lot. I can't for the life of me imagine why you're so amped up about this. You're acting like a teenager cheering for his favorite sports team. The dollar isn't a sports team. Peoples' jobs are being hurt by this. For Canadian workers, the people you care most about, this is not a good thing. The only people who really benefit from it are people who have plenty of money and want to spend it on American things.

This excerpt from a NY Times article points out some of the bad things that happened to us last time the dollar rose, and explains why people are worried about it this time around.

While a stronger Canadian dollar benefits people and companies here by lowering the cost of imports and foreign travel, the loonie's rise is causing mostly anxiety in a country heavily dependent on exports. The Bank of Canada said Thursday that the currency situation posed a risk to growth, Bloomberg News reported.

Memories are still fresh of the Canadian dollar's last run-up against the United States dollar. When the loonie peaked at just over 89 cents in late 1991, it caused a wave of factory closings, weakened tourism and shuttered stores in border towns as Canadians flocked to the United States to shop.

While crossing the 80-cent threshold is unlikely to recreate that situation immediately, many economists expect it to force some changes.

(emphasis by me.)

Link: New York Times article

I see Tom Daschle got defeated. Good. He was the major US politician blocking our beef exports to the US.

Well, at least some good came of yesterday's election.

-kimmy

[Newfie Canadian]

Dollar hits 83 cents. Bad for trading and tourism.

“For years we've remained competitive by having a currency that was pretty well below fair value,” BMO Nesbitt Burns senior economist David Watt said. “It helped keep our exports competitive. Now the Canadian dollar's gone as a competitive aid. It brings up a lot of implications for the Canadian economy.”

http://ctv2.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/st...BN/ctv-business

[August1991]

That's a good quote, you old Newf.

The Canadian dollar should neither be high nor low. It should be at its "just" value.

When a price falls/rises, there are winners (to varying degrees), losers (to varying degrees), people who don't care (no effect) but overall, the world is better off.

The Left fundamentally does not understand this idea. Maple Syrup, for example, lives in a world of 80,000 years ago where the strong defeat the weak.

For Maple Syrup, a strong "Canuk dolla" means Canada is "Numbuh Wun".

In fact, the great thing about a price is that it forces people to reveal the truth. Force? Maple Syrup has voluntarily broadcast to all that he is self-interested and greedy (despite his claims to the contrary).

I suspect MS gets his cheques in Canadian. He believes he'll always get them. And he believes he'll be able to buy something with the cheques.

[Guest eureka]

Would you say that, say, J.K. Galbraith does not understand the idea? I could name a few others even further to the Left than him who have quite respectable reputations as economists.

In fact, I would have a harder time finding names on the Right who understand anything other than that they would be winners and the losers would also be winners in some after life.