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Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
a large portion of Canadian compainies have been sold to US investors in the past, its very rare to see a truely independant canadian corporation...since US investors own these corporations up here, In my mind, the US economy "should" drive the Canadian economy...in this backwards situation i have to only wonder how long this will last, as how much longer will Americans want to pay out larger sums of money into canadian wages...if a $12/hr CDN wage was only $8.00 US short while ago...now that wage is suddenly $13.20 US for the sake of the canadian economy I think we need to see a bounce back the other way...it doesnt matter to the investors if they are pulling in more coin its all about whats being paid out the other way....and the truely shitty thing, once the investors get used to higher sales figures in retail, i dread to see the prices skyrocket after the US dollar goes back the other way...like i said companies are already refusing to lower prices to accomodate our rising dollar.
and in other news...my dad gave me like $200US for my daughter when she was born I held onto it cuz the dollar had started to dip back then...now 3 years later its only gotten worse...i feel bad cuz it kinda was a bad gamble for me to take with her money 
when i got it it equaled nearly $300 cdn, now its like worth $180 
Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
polluxlm wrote:Our country has also flourished in the last 90 years as well.
In reality that's a half truth. 90 years ago one person could support a large family on his income, today 2 persons can support a small family with 2 incomes. It all seems very flashy with our big SUV's, flat screen tv's and nice clothes. However, none of that would have been possible if it weren't for the near slave workers producing these things for us in third world countries.
So yes, we have nicer and more things today (shit you don't need btw), but the reason for that is not a healthy economy. Most of it is simply due to a decrease in production costs through exploitation and advances in technology.
Set up a graduated income tax,
100% of that money goes directly to down payment of the national debt, or to be more precise, the interest on the national debt. Why is there interest on the creation of money? It's just a total waste benefiting those with primary access to new money before the inflation hits in (the government and the federal reserve banks).
built a limitless roadway & railroad system, built millions of homes each decade, gave rise to corporate America & increased job growth( http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Stats_unempl.html ). In the 1930's the WPA was paying people to dig holes & work on parks, because there were no jobs the government had to give them jobs (which it should make people do who are on welfare but that's a whole nother story). America came a long way under FDR's regime, and has hardly looked back since.
Again, all of that is true, but you need to consider all the different factors contributing to this, and few of them are sustainable in the long run. Take the Roman Empire as an example. For the most part of it's existence the wealth increased in Rome, but as any historian will tell you it was not because of a healthy economy. It was based on plunder, slave labor and exploitation. A closer look at our economy will reveal som frightening parallels.
11 recessions is nothing, it's part of the process, a give & take. But overall our countries been pretty fucking good since WWII ended in 1945. Sure it had it's setbacks, but relatively speaking compared to other countries, we've been very strong & fortunate.
Part of the process? According to who? Sorry man, but that is a lie. Recessions happen because the economic system is in an imbalance. Think about it; 300 years ago 20 persons could produce food for 21 persons. Today 20 persons can produce food for thousands of people. So why are we not living the life of leisure, playing golf and maybe punch in a couple of hours a day? Because the system is stealing from us. There is no sound reason for us to pay 20$ for something that cost 10$ a couple of years ago. The reason it happens is because the government and the FED spends way more than the country can produce. This causes money to lose value constantly. And since we, the common man, are last in line we lose the most. Just so the government can spend money on war, overpriced projects, bureaucracy, tax cuts for the rich etc. etc.
We live well, but it could have been a hell of lot better.
Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
As a Canadian business student, I need more time to address all the issues in this thread (as there are many), but I'll just dip on the NAFTA issue for now. James, NAFTA was enacted in 1992, while US/Canadian Free Trade was enacted in 1990. Both happened before Clinton's time; they go back to Bush Sr. days.
Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
polluxlm wrote:As a Canadian business student, I need more time to address all the issues in this thread (as there are many), but I'll just dip on the NAFTA issue for now. James, NAFTA was enacted in 1992, while US/Canadian Free Trade was enacted in 1990. Both happened before Clinton's time; they go back to Bush Sr. days.
Actually the US/Canadian agreement was enacted on January 1, 1989, which puts the ball in Reagans court. He left office January 10th.
Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
Backslash wrote:As a Canadian business student, I need more time to address all the issues in this thread (as there are many), but I'll just dip on the NAFTA issue for now. James, NAFTA was enacted in 1992, while US/Canadian Free Trade was enacted in 1990. Both happened before Clinton's time; they go back to Bush Sr. days.
Actually the US/Canadian agreement was enacted on January 1, 1989, which puts the ball in Reagans court. He left office January 10th.
I knew that, but didn't want to offend any Reagan-lovers in this thread. 
Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
Canada has always been a major ally of the US. I don't think there are any issues between agreements reached between US and Canada. NAFTA was the killer, as it started the outsourcing of the US manufacturing base to Mexico, and of course China during the Clinton years. There is no policy enacted during the Reagan years that has led to the downfall of this country. I know liberals always love to bash him, but they have no real ammo. He saved this country from a major economic crisis and bluffed the Soviets into bankruptcy. He single handedly built the US military into the most dangerous war machine this planet has ever seen. Not too shabby compared to the records of the presidents who came after him.
Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
polluxlm wrote:Canada has always been a major ally of the US. I don't think there are any issues between agreements reached between US and Canada. NAFTA was the killer, as it started the outsourcing of the US manufacturing base to Mexico, and of course China during the Clinton years. There is no policy enacted during the Reagan years that has led to the downfall of this country. I know liberals always love to bash him, but they have no real ammo. He saved this country from a major economic crisis and bluffed the Soviets into bankruptcy. He single handedly built the US military into the most dangerous war machine this planet has ever seen. Not too shabby compared to the records of the presidents who came after him.
Reagan is still the guy responsible for signing the papers that preceeded NAFTA. The fact that this happened in his last week in office is very telling. He could easily have refused without political consequences, so the best case scenario is that he was duped into signing it.
In fact, I think there's more than enough ammo to seriously question the conventional perception of the man. The bankruptcy of USSR began the moment they became enemies of America. The might of Soviet was always based on slave labor and terror. The infrastructure was so bad that it's a miracle they lasted as long. So that process can't be attributed to any President since it was continous effort spanning decades until one had to crack.
He had authority, and for that he deserves respect, but in the long run he did nothing except continuing the established policy. I can't see how spending trillions on the military had good effects on the economy. I rank him alongside Clinton, a nice face and a charming personality. Good for public relations, but in the end nothing special.
Re: Canadian Dollar vs US Dollar
We definitely disagree on the Reagan legacy. Had he never existed, the world would look entire different today, and not for the better.
Reagan is still the guy responsible for signing the papers that preceeded NAFTA. The fact that this happened in his last week in office is very telling. He could easily have refused without political consequences, so the best case scenario is that he was duped into signing it.
That is certainly a possibility. I don't know if you have read any Reagan books, but I have read quite a few, and its widely known that the last year of his presidency he was already in the early/mid stages of Alzheimers. The fact he was a very talented actor and could memorize scripts after one read played a huge role in the world not knowing how bad off he was getting.
In fact, I think there's more than enough ammo to seriously question the conventional perception of the man. The bankruptcy of USSR began the moment they became enemies of America. The might of Soviet was always based on slave labor and terror. The infrastructure was so bad that it's a miracle they lasted as long. So that process can't be attributed to any President since it was continous effort spanning decades until one had to crack.
Reagan killed the Soviet Union. It would still exist today without his presidency. He bluffed them into bankruptcy. He told them he would outspend them regardless of the cost. They were going broke so fast, Reagan(and then Bush) were having to give them billions in aid just so they could feed their people. The big killer was the Star Wars bluff. At the last Reagan-Gorbachev summit, Gorbachev offered to dismantle ALL Russian nukes if Reagan would abandon Star Wars(known as SDI). Reagan immediately said no. That summit nailed the coffin shut on the USSR. Two years later, it no longer existed.
He had authority, and for that he deserves respect, but in the long run he did nothing except continuing the established policy. I can't see how spending trillions on the military had good effects on the economy. I rank him alongside Clinton, a nice face and a charming personality. Good for public relations, but in the end nothing special.
I rank him WAY ahead of Clinton. Reagan was elected when the country was on the brink of disaster. When he left, we were literally the most dominant country on the planet and were untouchable. Clinton walked into a party when he was elected, and pretty much rode the Clinton boom(just a huge credit card handed to the nation) while he was in office.
As far as Reagan spending trillions on the military in an era of peace, it was a strategic move. It was to exert US dominance over the globe(mission accomplished), prevent the Soviets from gaining any ground(mission accomplished), bankrupt the Soviets(mission accomplished), and to create a shitload of new jobs after the Carter fiasco(mission accomplished).
One of the things I liked about him was his aura. He was 70 the day he was elected, yet no world leader would stand up against him. I know his acting ability played a role in this, but its amazing how an old man who was not power hungry begging for wars was looked at as a war monger and feared(and respected) all over the world.
Did you know american kidnappings and murders overseas were at an all time low during his presidency? Its because he said if something happened to an american in any country, he would not leave them there and would use any force necessary to bring the american home, dead or alive.
Now thats leadership.
One other thing, the value of the dollar peaked while he was in office. Its been going down ever since.
