cannuck Posted January 18, 2021 Report Posted January 18, 2021 I work on both sides of the 49th, but by choice live on this side of the border. While I do most of our business down there, I constantly try to find competitive opportunities on this side. It isn't easy, because the way we as a government and business environment deal with cross border transactions hobbles the ability to be in business at all, never mind competing with US or others. The US prohibition on interstate barriers to trade means that to purchase supplies, one freely seeks out the best deal and it arrives on your doorstep for "$xx" in a day or two. American manufacturers and distributors add one full layer more in the supply chain by selling to Canadian distributors, who seem to feel they can do really silly things with the price since they often have an exclusive distribution agreement (that would be very hard to enforce in the USA). The inspiration today was looking for a cheap pipe tap for a one shot job. I found it in the USA for $141.00 from Home Depot ($180.00 Cdn) that would land it here for probably $220. When I tried a Canadian only search, the EXACT tool came up from WalMart for $300.00!!! That is pretty much what I see when I have to buy one specific tire that I get in the US for $250US retail, but have to pay $400 Cdn wholesale up here. And on it goes. Every time we take a piece of equipment from Canada to do work in the US, we encounter HUNDRED$$ in brokerage fees to do the border each way, not to mention the time it takes and the cost for shipping/receiving to administer and the risk of getting drivers, techs and/or engineers stranded at the border if some documentation isn't right. Bottom line: there is nothing at all "free" in our Free Trade agreement(s). 1 Quote
GrittyLeftist Posted February 23, 2021 Report Posted February 23, 2021 It "freely" allows the super-rich to plunder our economies so that they can "freely" move that wealth to overseas secret bank accounts and "freely" choose not to pay taxes on it. Yay freedom! 1 Quote
Michael Hardner Posted February 24, 2021 Report Posted February 24, 2021 2 hours ago, GrittyLeftist said: It "freely" allows the super-rich to plunder our economies so that they can "freely" move that wealth to overseas secret bank accounts and "freely" choose not to pay taxes on it. Yay freedom! The rich don't need freer trade to get reduced taxes. Free Trade is just an agreement between ruling classes - so just get the internationale labour syndicates going on social media and you will be all set ! Quote Looks like someone has a new patronizing catch phrase ! Michael Hardner
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