On the way to truly being a third world country

[oneoff]

Now that it costs an extra 40 cent to get a US buck; contemplate that when the Canadian dollar drops another 10 cents it will be 26 more cents than today to acquire that Us bill.

And when the Canadian dollar reaches 50 cents it will take a loonie to get a green back. Its also 34 cents more to do so than if it was valued at 60 cents against the US currency.

At the rate of a penny drop per day/Canadian dollr versus the US currency it would take a little over 20 days for this to happen.

And this exchange difference certainly shows up in everything imported into Canada.

Unfortunately; experience shows that everything produced in Canada is subject to exactly the same "inflation"/no benefit for a weak currecy.

As proof of that I invite anyone to check into the current price of OSB 4*8foot sheets of common building materials. Its gone up some 30% in the last weeks; and I'm pretty sure that all our softwood lumber products really don't have to be brought in from outside our country.

You'll pay well over $11.00 now at major suppliers for what was available weeks ago for less than $8.00

[ajl]

Canuckistan is a third world country. We used to produce oil and debt. Now we just produce debt.

[chuckChuck]

We lost a lot of jobs in manufacturing for exports because of the high dollar. We might get some of them back.

As farmers are exporters this makes Canadian farm products more attractive.

We have a petrol dollar. A low dollar has advantages and disadvantages. Canadian goods and services are now reasonably priced compared to a dollar near par.

It is unfounded to believe Canada is becoming a third world country because of a fluctuating currency. That is unless you live on many Indian reserves where conditions are truly third world.

The real problem is we are very dependent on resource extraction. Why not add more value to our resources and diversify our economy? Commodities always go boom and bust.

Why not have a more innovative country by making higher levels of education a priority. Advanced education is becoming too expensive for many families.

There are still tremendous opportunities in a knowledge based economy.

[oneoff]

Advanced education gets you a job in McDonalds in a economy where you are winding down business sectors....such as oil for those who care to notice.

Third world economies is where you can't sustain the value of your currency; as displayed by not enough business activity to hold up the exchange rate of coins of the realm.

Investors flee the stock markets in search of more stable investments. And the Toronto stock exchange suffers greater losses than the alternative exchanges; pension plans can't pay out what was anticipated and major problems are created that just won't go away.

You get your pick of foreclosed vehicles that appear on auction lots. And you could pick up literally a whole drilling rig at Ritchie Bros for $10,000 or so.

I don't call that a vibrant economy and with oil near $35.00 today; its just possible that soon you will see the inability for even the most efficient producers unable to be in the black.

And such depressed prices mean there is practically no new drilling taking place except for what has to be done for various reasons that have nothing to do with the value of what might be produced.

Now that's the oil industry predicament. The predicament of the supposed alternate solar and wind generation is that it should compete somewhat with crude with not much margin. That will be another nail in oils coffin as technologies that can't survive on their own get subsidies...and brand new taxes are imposed to make them somewhat viable

Until a province like Ontario cancels their electrical "subsidy" for alternate generation. I understand that happened recently. Perhaps someone can confirm or deny that statement

And agricultural prices plummet. Even calf prices off by a substantial amount. And just who has seen across the board grain commodity prices as the exchange rate dropped from 1.30 ish to 1.40 ish in the last short while. Somebody else sucks that off everytime.

Bah Humbug.

[boarderbloke]

oneoff, Priced some USD's this afternoon, bank wants 142.25CAD/100USD

Anybody is their bases improve this week??? All that currency exchange difference went straight into the pockets of graincos.

[sawfly]

low $ is good, is it not what built the strength that led to the last boom.

yes oil was a big part. but

if not for our low $ , canola would be 7$.

how come the OSB manufactures can capture the exchange plus. and we as farmers can't.

because in our wisdom ,we have signed on to an all powerful middle man ( grain .co.s)

they did not used to be all that powerful ., but with Harper every one gets a monopoly, seed co. / chem / fert.
grain co. /railroad.

everyone except the farmer.

third world banana republic, is right.
Govt, owned by the banana company.
making laws for the banana co.
don't you feel sort of ganged up on.
how do they decide who gets to **** us first?

[biglentil]

In 1970 Canada held 750 tons of gold. They sold most in mid 90's for around 250 an ounce and invested in foreign instruments. Now Canada holds 3 tons or about $5 worth per capita.

[burnt]

Oneoff - I have heard nothing of any existing contracts being cancelled or rewritten. The original solar gen terms are for 20 years @ .80/kwh!! Being fed back into the grid at what - .13 cents?

Maybe my fellow Ontarioans can add some light to your question - if they have the energy. Heh, heh.

You want of hear a bit of irony?

A farming "friend" of mine was complaining bitterly to another mutual acquaintance the his electricity bill is crazy high and climbing.

He has 6 10KW solar panels on his farms.

But it appears that he failed to make the connection...

[15444]

Burnt is pretty much right. 80 cents in the initial round of the program, and then downgraded to 68 cents after they thought maybe 80 was 'just a bit too much' - even though they were buying electricity from Ohio for $1.40/kWh. Still guaranteed for 20 years though in either case.

As far as 'crazy high' bills go, it's a matter of perspective. For me, over $400 a month is 'crazy high' - I aim for between $200 and $350. One neighbor says anything over $200 is 'crazy high. Have other neighbors show me their hydro bills and they just shrug their shoulders if the bill is $700 or $1000. One fellow thought his was 'crazy high' - went from $900 to $1200 a month. Happy with $900, but $1200 put him in shock. The crew would be hitting me with the paddles if I got one of those bills.

[chuckChuck]

Subsidizing green energy projects in Ontario was done to kick start an industry, create jobs and capacity.

Ontario power rates are in the middle of the North American range. Manitoba and Quebec ares some of the lowest because of renewable and greener hydro sources.

The auto industry, the aerospace industry, Bombardier, etc all get subsidies, tax breaks, etc. These are well established industries that have a lot of jobs attached.

Agriculture also gets subsidized in this country. Including a lot of support for supply management with tariff protection and a cost of production formula.

So when you bitch about subsidized industries include your self in the guilty list.

[Flatlander]

how to become a third world country? Sell your AU, #79 on the table, print your money on paper or some commonly found alloy, back it only with a promise or maybe a selfie. Wait a little while. Done

[oneoff]

My definition of subsidy is when you take more out than you put in.

And governments and their appointees picking winners and losers certainly is a lever to see that an agenda is successful.

[dalek]

Ontario didn't cancel anything, they stopped taking applications for new projects because they had so many projects in the queue that they couldn't process them in a reasonable amount of time. There is also a problem in many areas where there are more applications in progress than there is capacity in the local grid and they needed to play catchup.

[farmaholic]

Agreed oneoff, there is no way I've received more taxpayer money than I paid.....end of the story.

The problem in this ****ing country is there are WAY TOO MANY SOCIALISTS ON THE TIT. Every time I hear someone is on workman's comp because of a lame reason but can't take another job because, blahblahblah... my ****ing blood boils. Welfare because its a "family tradition". Subsidized this and that. The cycle of poverty. Here's a good one....disability, you may be "somewhat" unable to perform your previous job but does that mean you're too stupid to be retrained or do a desk job? Too ****ing easy in Canada. Entitlements.... should you ever be able to take more from the system than you contributed?

[Hamloc]

The most important point is realistically we took a wage cut of 40%. 10 dollar canola buys 40% less than it did 3 years ago plain and simple.