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Loonie rises againt the Euro


Pierre the Great

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A great thing about dollar parity is that it is finally opening people's eyes to the fact that consumer goods are so expensive here compared to the USA. No longer can governments hide behind the populations lack of ability to convert currency, now there is actual public debate on why poultry, dairy, booze, cars, and just about every good are so expensive here. Supply management systems that allow uncompetitive canadian businesses to bilk the canadian consumer through taxes, supply quota systems, and tariffs on import are now under the public microscope, demand to do something about them is growing.

:clap::clap:

The days of making big profits on Canadians I hope are over. I have no problem with corporations making a healthy profit. Don't gouge us and this never comes up.

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Agreed. Pierre sounds like a bleeding heart liberal who believes the government should simply hand out cheques to everyone because he "knows" all 63000 jobs are minimum wage. Trust me, you can't hire anyone in Alberta at minimum wage rates anymore...even Tim Hortons is paying WAY more then they do elsewhere.

Everyone needs to understand that the poverty line in Canada is not calculated based on the wages needed to pay for the necessities...it is higher then that as it's based on a proportional amount vs. the average. If Canada calculated the poverty line in an income needed to buy the necessities of life then it would be much lower then it currently is represented. Yet we still have bleeding hearts crying out "gimme more"...because apparently the job of the government is to pay for their "wants" rather then them actually having to work a little overtime like everyone else.

Pierre thinks he has to work 50 hours to make ends meet? You have internet, probably a cell, probably more then a cheap car, probably an above average place to live...you work 50 hours to have luxury items you don't actually "need". You want to acquire more wealth...make sacrifices.

the biggest job growth in BC and Alberta is minimum wage type jobs. Tim Horton's hires 12 year olds down the street, Mcdonald's pays you 6 bucks an hour for your training which lasts 6 months then promptly fires you.

Someone making 40k in Vancouver and now Calgary, and their partner making 40k, can't afford a home, car or decent apartment.

It's called workers rights, and most canadians don't have any.

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the biggest job growth in BC and Alberta is minimum wage type jobs. Tim Horton's hires 12 year olds down the street, Mcdonald's pays you 6 bucks an hour for your training which lasts 6 months then promptly fires you.

Someone making 40k in Vancouver and now Calgary, and their partner making 40k, can't afford a home, car or decent apartment.

It's called workers rights, and most canadians don't have any.

when you engage in rampant hyperbole, people will ignore what truth your point might hold.

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The Social Inequality in Canada is just as bad as the US or even worse in a lot of cases. For example one man owns all of BC. Jim Pattison. Canada has little thieftans. Where Pattison for example owns all the fishing licences, boats, nets, everything. He owns all the media outlets on the Island, the grocery stores and so on.

All the newspapers and media are owned by one company. Hardly free speech and democratic.

Gordon Campbell threw a party in Germany for the german workers building the new BC Ferries ships. Instead of building it in Victoria, where it would have been cheaper, and helped the local economy much more. He decides to help his business interests, then the BC tax payer has to pay for federal government importing fees in the millions. lol

I'm trying not to sound like Robin Hood, but seriously its crazy.

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how am I using hyperbole?

Those are two people I know.

You need more people?

http://www.ccsd.ca/pubs/2002/olympic/indicators.htm

just an example

your stats don't equal your claims.

I am completely uninterested in your anecdotal "evidence."

The Social Inequality in Canada is just as bad as the US or even worse in a lot of cases. For example one man owns all of BC. Jim Pattison. Canada has little thieftans. Where Pattison for example owns all the fishing licences, boats, nets, everything. He owns all the media outlets on the Island, the grocery stores and so on.

All the newspapers and media are owned by one company. Hardly free speech and democratic.

Gordon Campbell threw a party in Germany for the german workers building the new BC Ferries ships. Instead of building it in Victoria, where it would have been cheaper, and helped the local economy much more. He decides to help his business interests, then the BC tax payer has to pay for federal government importing fees in the millions. lol

I'm trying not to sound like Robin Hood, but seriously its crazy.

more hyperbole.

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PTG, it is important for you to understand that I am a liberal. When I voted in Canada, I was NDP. I care about social issues, poverty, oligarchies and monopolies, price fixing, bad labour practices, etc. I care about civil rights, social freedoms, etc.

When you make outlandishly hyperbolic statements, you hurt the liberal argument. You allow people the opportunity to make fun of liberal ideas. You let people call liberals cranks and nuts. You let people toss around terms like left and liberal as if they were insults. I think the liberal philosophy of society and government is sufficiently strong that we need not obscure our position through bile and hyperbole - it makes us look like the right wing demagogues you and I both despise, like O'Reilly, Coulter, Kristol, D'Souza. I don't want to be associated with these kind of people.

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i'm not making outlandish statements.

you just don't believe me.

Nobody does.

That's fine.

If one man calls you a donkey, ignore him. If two men call you a donkey, think about it. If three men call you a donkey, buy a saddle.

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Same could be said about Canadians and Harper....

USD is not a stable currency. Its years of being "stable" are over. Ditch America, go to the Euro, let the US fall into despair, stop delaying the inevitable.

anyone else starting to get the idea that PTG's next home will be in europe?

he lived in the US, trashed on the government, only praised Canada ... moved to Canada

now

he lives in Canada, is starting to trash on the government, only praising the EU ... move to EU???

maybe Manchester? isn't that where Killer Carlson lives? ;))

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the biggest job growth in BC and Alberta is minimum wage type jobs. Tim Horton's hires 12 year olds down the street, Mcdonald's pays you 6 bucks an hour for your training which lasts 6 months then promptly fires you.

Someone making 40k in Vancouver and now Calgary, and their partner making 40k, can't afford a home, car or decent apartment.

It's called workers rights, and most canadians don't have any.

If your friends can't afford to live on 80K per year they don't know how to budget. Apparently your idea of living is one built on high end luxury without concern for a budget...and business owners should pay for that.

Consider that 80K a year, in Alberta(with lower taxes then everyone else in Canada), should be able to allow you to spend $1400/mo on rent and utilities, $400/mo on groceries, $1000/mo on cars, $600/mo on spending, $400/mo miscellaneous and the rest to savings...which should be about another $200-$800 or more(a solid savings rate). Their marginal tax rate is probably between 32%-40%...so they should be clearing 48K to 55K a year, or 4K to 4.6K per month. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that they're also under the age of 32...which means their incomes are likely increasing at a good rate per year. Now, also consider that not everyone is going to earn the same wage and NOR SHOULD THEY. People have different skills, work ethics, drive and ambition. So, if your friends want to get ahead then they need to carve out their own niche and do so...not depend on the government(ergo other taxpayers) to prop them up because they can't.

There have been numerous articles written about how Tim Horton's has, in some areas, paid people as much as $17/hr with benefits over the past couple years. That's a lot of money to pour coffee, no offense to them but that's a pretty low skill set and they're making as much as some skilled trades people in the rest of Canada. It's as simple as supply and demand.

Relative to the rest of the world, and even most industrial nations, workers have a tonne of rights in Canada...how anyone can figure they don't is beyond ridiculous and, frankly, the onus here is on you to prove they don't. Try telling everyone why Canadian workers have no rights...I'd love to see that argument.

As for the minimum wage jobs...most job stats, everywhere, are heavily tilted to minimum wage jobs but keep the absolute "all" jobs comments in check. Who do you typically see working at McDonald's and Tim Hortons? I'm not talking all of them, but the typical McDonald's type of employee...most of them are probably 15-23 years old and still in school...I could be wrong but I don't believe I am. If anyone has a stat to show otherwise I'd gladly admit I'm wrong.

Jim Pattison does not own all of BC. Far from it. But why do you begrudge a smart business man from building his business to all it can be? He has created thousands of jobs, sure some are minimum wage due to the retail nature of SOME of his businesses. However, many of his jobs are well above minimum wage. And this doesn't include the trickle down to related suppliers and industries who are earning incomes because of his business savvy. In all probability he pays high business tax rates and high personal tax rates.

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trickle down economies never work

and these two people want to own a home in Vancouver.

anyone else starting to get the idea that PTG's next home will be in europe?

he lived in the US, trashed on the government, only praised Canada ... moved to Canada

now

he lives in Canada, is starting to trash on the government, only praising the EU ... move to EU???

maybe Manchester? isn't that where Killer Carlson lives? ;))

probably its where I belong anyway.

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Pierre, your low wage jobs are only part of the hiring going on in Canada. The truth is in the last three months 126,000 public sector jobs added (mostly health care + government) and 11,000 private sector jobs. The private sector jobs were mostly in the services industry. Last time I looked Government and Health care are decent paying positions.

The bad part is that the government is growing leaps and bounds and some of the public sector jobs will not be there if the reform/alliance/neocons get a majority in an election. They will cut positions to make tax breaks for the wealthiest Canadians.

IF there ever is a resolution in Iraq and their economy takes off, Oil will drop in price, Canadian dollar will drop, alberta will make more money (rising $C is offsetting oil price rise) and manufacturing in Ontario will have a big sigh of relief.

You are correct that there are more low paying jobs, however you have to provide a big picture.

Our economy is baffling all the so called expert economists (no such thing as far as I am concerned).

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I read the Globe and Mail comments pages way too much, which isn't true of Canada, its all paid people, and vicious. Reminds me of Fox News, makes me not want to live here in so much hate. etc.

But if I went to Europe I'd get angry over the move to hate on immigrants. So I'm pretty much stuck, just shouldn't watch the news a lot. Still beats living back in the states, some place I physically can't live anymore. Eh, I'm probably just tired of school at this point, just want break to get here so I can start next semester.

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Pierre, your low wage jobs are only part of the hiring going on in Canada. The truth is in the last three months 126,000 public sector jobs added (mostly health care + government) and 11,000 private sector jobs. The private sector jobs were mostly in the services industry. Last time I looked Government and Health care are decent paying positions.

The bad part is that the government is growing leaps and bounds and some of the public sector jobs will not be there if the reform/alliance/neocons get a majority in an election. They will cut positions to make tax breaks for the wealthiest Canadians.

IF there ever is a resolution in Iraq and their economy takes off, Oil will drop in price, Canadian dollar will drop, alberta will make more money (rising $C is offsetting oil price rise) and manufacturing in Ontario will have a big sigh of relief.

You are correct that there are more low paying jobs, however you have to provide a big picture.

Our economy is baffling all the so called expert economists (no such thing as far as I am concerned).

Cutting public sector jobs means, potentially, lower taxes for everyone. Which, in theory, means more consumer spending and healthier businesses. Thus many of the lost government jobs would be replaced by a healthier private sector.

Further, oil is traded on a common currency, the USD. A drop to oil prices will hurt Alberta significantly. The dropping CDN dollar vs. the USD will potentially help to off-set the drop in oil prices but I would be highly skeptical of saying that they will make more money...if anything they'd start losing profit...which, for the left wing guys like Pierre who see that as "no big deal", means less capital expenditures, less construction, and many jobs lost.

When workers have fair protections and fair wages(and are not overpaid like the UAW/CAW) then big business makes more money, is more healthy, will spend more, expand faster and create more jobs. Thus stimulating the economy. I've never understood why the Unions, NDP and some Liberal party people don't get this...instead they want to tax more, add more programs, have big government supplying non-government products/services only to prop people up and thus choke the competitiveness and productivity out of our economy.

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George and his taxcut. :blink: Good job. I was worried about this.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/11/07/d...r-overseas.html

Also a new subprime question was raised sinking the Dow Jones this morning lowering the $USD, and most likely investors buying and selling the $CDN quickly for a fast profit. Currency trading is big business and I just don't have the $$$$ to get aboard that volitile market to make it worth while.

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Further, oil is traded on a common currency, the USD. A drop to oil prices will hurt Alberta significantly. The dropping CDN dollar vs. the USD will potentially help to off-set the drop in oil prices but I would be highly skeptical of saying that they will make more money...if anything they'd start losing profit

A little education about fundamentals as many people get this wrong:

Alberta

Every one-cent increase in the loonie removes $123 million from the provincial treasury over the course of a year.

For every year-long $1 increase in oil prices there is an additional $139 million in revenue .

So to say a drop in the dollar is minor is incorrect. The Alberta Conservative government does not like the US$ dropping as it hurts its revenue.

I invest in the oil patch so I had to do my homework on this.

Edited by InsaneAVSfan
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A little education about fundamentals as many people get this wrong:

Alberta

Every one-cent increase in the loonie removes $123 million from the provincial treasury over the course of a year.

For every year-long $1 increase in oil prices there is an additional $139 million in revenue .

So to say a drop in the dollar is minor is incorrect. The Alberta Conservative government does not like the US$ dropping as it hurts its revenue.

I invest in the oil patch so I had to do my homework on this.

Consider that our dollar is also rising BECAUSE oil prices have risen to such record highs. I'll admit that it's not entirely due to rising commodity prices in general but my point about it being minor was more about the correlation between the strength of the CDN dollar and the rise in commodity prices. Basically, I was saying a drop in oil prices would hurt more then a drop in the dollar. Which your numbers seem to support...of course the drops to a dollar and oil would not be as linear as 1 cent and 1 dollar evenly.

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Consider that our dollar is also rising BECAUSE oil prices have risen to such record highs. I'll admit that it's not entirely due to rising commodity prices in general but my point about it being minor was more about the correlation between the strength of the CDN dollar and the rise in commodity prices. Basically, I was saying a drop in oil prices would hurt more then a drop in the dollar. Which your numbers seem to support...of course the drops to a dollar and oil would not be as linear as 1 cent and 1 dollar evenly.

My mistake... :hockey:

I thought you were talking just about a oil vs dollar comparison.

Living in Ontario I would like to see both drop (Ducking as jetsniper throws an oilrig at me)

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