CAD > USD and dropping

As someone who grew up on the US/Canada border, I have always seen the Canadian dollar being a little lower than the USD. It seems the devaluation of the USD has been ramping up recently.

www.x-rates.com...



This is "good" in that it allows Canadians to buy US goods and services at a lower price, but also keeps USD from flowing as easily into Canada. Being "at par" has always signaled Canadian strength over the US dollar and I have to think at par and below have to continue into 2011 with the edge goint to Canada.

Price of items imported from Canada, including the 11% of the US's foreign oil, will be costing us Americans more - 7% more since February, 2010.

I've heard of many Canadians buying vacation properties, for cash, in some of the depressed markets such as Florida and Arizona. That's helping things a little bit and any foreign investment is greatly welcome.

Wait, who is buying U.S. property, Canadians or FRENCH-Canadians? If I hear one more "bon jour"......

It is strange having our dollar stay at par and above yours for so long.

There's probably a lot more people living close to the border, going down there for gas and groceries, for sure. Even though I've seen on other threads, American people worried about the price of gas and food, we are paying (where I am) the equivalent of $4.20 a gallon for gas (1.11 per litre), and $5 for a gallon of milk, $7 for a box of cereal. Food here is a lot more expensive from what I've seen.

As far as property purchases down there, I'm not sure. There used to be a lot of snowbirds buying up places in Florida, but I'm not sure if they still do that, with the political system in the US being such a mess. It's getting a little less free down there every day...actually a lot less free, and with a thoroughly nutty government.

Most people that I know, if looking for sunshine and warmth in the winter, are going to places like the Bahamas or Cuba now instead of anywhere in the states.

We still love the people, you guys/gals are great, but we're hating what the country is becoming, courtesy of your whackadoodle political system.

Thanks snowspirit for the good-words. I am from the Niagara Falls area (but living further away now), so I've seen a lot of the border crossings for various things. A lot of Canadians do shopping and gas purchase on the US side now, though I'm not sure how the border treats purchases abroad (do they allow bags full of mall purchases easily back into the country?)

True, food in Canada is more as are other aspects of living there. I work remotely with a lot of folks from Markham, Ontario (just outside Toronto) and honestly, I would love to live either in Toronto or possibly Ottawa. I've spend a good amount of time in both areas - enough to consider that it would be fun to work up there. Though when visiting and if the "locals" find out I'm from the USA, there is a tinge of "scoff" about me being from the USA now. A little bit of hatred or maybe mis-understanding. I have to think that news and rumor are stronger than actuality. Our major cultural problem has been the USA is the "greatest country in the world" (that's what our parents told us, and some of the government leaders). Greatest how? I never actually found out why.

I think things are going to get worse before they get better and you'll hear more about our woes in fixing government problems in each state, figure out how to balance budgets, figure out how to deal with world issues. It's like a new marriage all over again - you don't know what will or won't work and there are two sides to every problem. The country is hurting itself with each Democrat versus Republican "spat". The spending is out of hand and the worldwide deployment of troops is insane. One thing we just need to do better is to get along with each other but our media has everyone worried about something - or totally distracted with some rediculous tv show.

reply to post by bonaire


I think for people doing a lot of shopping in the states, that it depends on how much is spent, how long you have to stay down there, like a over a certain amount of dollars, you would have to stay there for over 48 hours or something like that. Plus everything would likely have to be declared and searched thoroughly.

I don't remember exactly, since 2001, they tightened up the border so much, that if you were a teen that got into the usual trouble and ended up with a bit of a police record, no matter how tiny, it was nothing but trouble to try to cross the border. Not worth it.

It's sad how America is being so divided; up here, we register to vote as a voter, and the rest is private. Down there, everyone seems to be defined as republican or democrat, keeping everyone fighting about something. And distracted.

When I watch the American news on TV these days, I just don't see any recovery down there soon. The government only wants to cut the spending on things that hurt the people in the lower and middle classes, and I've heard they're even cutting education which is just plain stupid. The kids there are already getting behind in math and sciences, and you need smart kids to be smart adults. Looking at some of the politicians these days, it's a really big issue.

The issues they're using as distractions also, like the gay marriage issue and in the military, and similar petty things, should be put aside until they put the country back together and make it work properly again. It makes one wonder what they're doing about jobs, and getting the jobs back into the country, and paying down debt, and fixing medical so everyone is covered, fixing infrastructure before bridges and roads start crumbling, energy independence, water woes, pollution, etc.

The politicians really need to stop fighting with one another, and learn to work together. I've never seen so much fighting between the democrats and republicans, and with everything that Bush got away with, it's looking more like a lot of racial prejudice, noticeably, with all the talk about a Muslim Kenyan Antichrist in the Whitehouse. :shk: I don't think it would have been any better if it had been Hillary in there though, it's the old white boys club. Although, it could just be another way to keep the public distracted.

If there isn't anywhere to cut spending, one would assume that taxes would have to be raised a little, at least on the very richest, or to make sure that corporations (the large ones) actually pay their taxes. Even 2% would probably make a big difference, but the government doesn't want to "hurt" those that fund their election campaigns. Way too much corruption to be fixed anytime soon.

I won't be surprised if we see more people coming north if the "administration" doesn't start administering properly.

I sure wish taxes could be straightened out. They just *lowered* taxes on the social security system for payroll deductions. This is a move for "stimulous" but it also mortgages the future. It's a telling sign that says the administration believes that things aren't that good. Why would they lower the amount they deduct from our retirement account for a system that is known to have a point of negative growth in a couple decades (right about when I retire!)

I'd love to move my family back to Niagara and then up to Toronto if I could swing it but I doubt it will happen. My wife wouldn't stand for it and my kids would probably be ok with it. I just don't have a reason to make the move even though it could be a healthy one for my career. Looks like I'm going to stick it out here on the homestead in the USA :-) Living near the Amish here in Pennsylvania is interesting. They have no real interest in what us "English" are doing, they know they will out-live and out-last our governmental crazies. They're interested in a strong community and value system along with self sufficiency. Though they do shop at Walmart on occasion (our Walmart has a horse-buggy hook-up area that can accommodate up to 8 buggies at a time).

Well, it's only fair.

The US dollar has been higher than the Canadian dollar for so long, it's your turn for a while.

Is this any surprise? Washington is printing dollars just to pay interest on the money they've already borrowed, cheapening them all.

For all the time i grew up i remeber the Cad was stronger that usd.
5% higher mostly...but even a dime better at times....
The first time it dipped below par i was shocked, it left me with the feeling wed been had somehow.....but too young to figure it out...
It would be the cats whiskers if we could simply remain at par, but with the natural resources going for more money these days, and food prices climbing too, Canadian money aint about to drop soon.
This bodes badly for ourr newly opened far eastern markets which were bringing a comeback of sorts to BC forest companies,as well as other resorce based industry.

www.cbc.ca...

Here is a graph showing our dollar against the USD since 1950.

I had to look it up, because I don't remember the dollar being up like this much before. Since 1978 the Cdn dollar has been lower, until a couple of years ago.

This morning it was worth $1.03 compared to the USD, plus our exports are up, not just the oil, and our economy grew more than expected over the last quarter.

We're doing something right up here...

Ugh. I need to rant. I don't know all the details, but this is an example of what I've heard a lot lately.

A few weeks ago, a couple who we know (wife's uncle and his wife) were laid off from their assembly jobs at a local factory (actually not real local, they drove 70 mi each way to and from work). Laid off is bad, right?

I find out today they got 1-year severace, which is good, and are relying on 1-year of unemployment insurance payments. They are not even looking for work. They are just going to hang out and enjoy the unemployment payments. I really don't know their financials but they are lower-paid folks who are in their 50s. They will be out of work for a year and then go looking - and we hear now in the USA that many firms don't like to hire unemployed people versus harder-charging employed people. Would I hire someone who I knew was "on unemployment for a year waiting for it to run out"? Probably not - shows no initiative.

I don't know all the details but knowing they are getting twice the income and relying on government subsidy and will just wait it out is pretty sickening in my work-oriented view. I'm going to work from college graduation (1986) until I retire (who knows when...). And we have people who plan on using unemployment (taxpayer money) and not even try to find another job until it's used up.

Originally posted by bonaire
Laid off is bad, right?

I find out today they got 1-year severace, which is good, and are relying on 1-year of unemployment insurance payments. They are not even looking for work. They are just going to hang out and enjoy the unemployment payments. I really don't know their financials but they are lower-paid folks who are in their 50s. They will be out of work for a year and then go looking - and we hear now in the USA that many firms don't like to hire unemployed people versus harder-charging employed people. Would I hire someone who I knew was "on unemployment for a year waiting for it to run out"? Probably not - shows no initiative.

Up here in Canada, they would have to use up their before tax amount of severence pay, before even collecting the unemployment insurance. The other thing is that our UI, is only 55% of the before tax income that was made working, so that leaves very little to live on. You end up with less than half of the previous wage. Plus, if a person makes too much through the year aside from UI, either before lay off or after, it gets taxed heavily at tax time. Up here, it isn't worth staying on, it isn't enough to survive. It makes it good incentive to look for more work.

I don't know all the details but knowing they are getting twice the income and relying on government subsidy and will just wait it out is pretty sickening in my work-oriented view. I'm going to work from college graduation (1986) until I retire (who knows when...). And we have people who plan on using unemployment (taxpayer money) and not even try to find another job until it's used up.

Yes, they are going to have a hard time finding work, there seem to be less and less jobs available. People are going to find out the hard way, that once the money is gone, they won't have the gas money or postage to even look for work. Plus when someone is in their 50s, its much harder to get a job, people would rather hire younger workers.

I dreamed the other night that I was back in my early twenties, and taking grades 11 and 12 again. In my dream, I had also decided to take carpentry in college, because I wanted to build my own house. It was such a good dream, I wish I was younger again.....