US dollar .35 of a cent away from being at the lowest point since '70 vs. Canadian Dollar

[Yukari Yakumo]

Today: 0.9663 USD = 1 CAD

6/25/1976: 0.9628 USD = 1 CAD
This is the lowest point for the dollar since the Canadians ceased fixing the exchange rate to the US Dollar in 1970. Today, the US Dollar is less than half-a-cent away from sinking past even that point.

Is there anything the Chimpenfuhrer touched that hasn't turned to shit?

[LakeSamish706]

1. What I'm waiting for are people (US citizens) to say enough is enough...

and truly begin to do something about this! Until that time comes there will be lots of bitching, but no actual do-something.

[lvx35]

22. I'm afraid we are already strapped in to this roller coaster...

Basically, this is the brilliant plan to pay off the massive debt Bush has accrued: Devalue the dollar until its so worthless we can a candy bar costs $1000 dollars, then pay back China in the new worthless money.

[bonito]

2. I wonder what the Mexican peso exchang rate has been

Since the necon takeover?

[midnight armadillo]

18. fluctuating around 10 pesos/$

No major trend there over the past year.

[Double T]

3. BUT, the economy is doin' great and the obscenely filthy rich have never been happier.

Can't wait till ALL of their billions are worthless; paybacks going to be a bitch, unfortunately ALL of US will suffer.

[fenriswolf]

5. actually by now most of the filthy rich if they

are smart have probably changed currancy or purchased a large amount of gold for financial stability, sucks for us who are dependant on the currancy but what can we do? start asking our employers pay us in euro's?

[Double T]

6. Take EVERY paycheck and go to your local bank and convert it to Euros.......

or ANY OTHER currency YOU choose. Problem will be that once the US dollar completely tanks, other currencies will go with it.

[fenriswolf]

10. and see the euro's you recieve decline every week

because the dollar is declining, not a very good long term policy as it beats inflation by a week.

[skids]

29. Well, I'm no fan of the Euro...

...but it seems to be holding up much better than the dollar.



http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/EUR/hist2007.html

[Spazito]

9. Your own VP is investing in foreign currency/markets...

that sure shows confidence in the government's policies, eh!

[Double T]

11. And I'm certain as soon as his term is finished he'll be moving to Dubai, UAE.

[Spazito]

12. Could be, given Halliburton is already there....

and he is someone without a soul, an ethical bone in his body and cares naught for the United States.

[RB TexLa]

17. You don't have to be rich to take advantage of currency trading

And the best movement recently has been with the Yen against the Euro.

[lovuian]

4. Thank you Bush and Congress

we are a third world country

[Lisa]

7. bizarre -- I just noticed on PayPal that they've finally readjusted their conversions

First time since I started using it that the Canadian dollar is worth marginally more.

Weird to think that I might actually get more for these coupons (which are printed on the same kind of paper as actual currency) than I would for US money!

[Spazito]

8. I must admit it is amazing to me that it is the Canadian dollar vs

the US dollar that seems to ring the alarm bell with many instead of what, to me, would be much more alarming, that of the Chinese and Japanese governments reducing their purchase of US debt and moving to other currencies instead.

Has it not occurred to anyone that the Canadian dollar was being kept artificially low against the US dollar by the Canadian government and the US dollar being kept artificially high by the US government and, now, both are beginning to reflect their real value?

I say this because: Canada kept it's dollar low to increase it's exports to the US when it was competing with the domestic US market. With outsourcing by the US and diversification of Canada's markets to Asia, etc, that need to keep the dollar low is no longer essential.

It began, imo, when credit BECAME the engine of the US economy instead of manufacturing, the "old" mainstay.

[Monk06]

13. The Canadian $ has been a floating currency since the seventies.

The Alberta Oil sands and $90.00 crude is driving
the $CDN up.

US dependency on OPEC light oil and $US 9.0 Trillion
in debt is diving the $US in the opposite direction.

[Spazito]

14. It has been a floating currency for sure but the way in which the

dollar has been artificially devalued by our own government in order to keep it below the US dollar is by the raising and lowering of interest rates which reduce or increase the purchase of our currency both domestically and internationally.

[Monk06]

19. By definition the value of a floating currency is determined by market forces. The Canadian

does not and can not control the exchange rate
against other currencies accept in situations
where currency speculators attempt through large
margin buys to drive the value up or down.

In such situations changes in the interest rate
are used as a temporary defensive measure.

This is never an effective strategy over the mid
to longterm because it is alternatively inflationary
and deflationary.

The long term strategy for maintaining fair and stable
exchange rates in Canada has been a ten year policy
of budget surpluses and debt reduction. That and
huge oil reserves account for the strength of the $CDN.

When you look at US budget DEFICITS and SOARING DEBT
compared to Canadian budget SURPLUSES and SHRINKING
DEBT the reasons for the rapid rise of the $CDN vs
the $US are very clear.

To repeat again. The value of the $CDN is not determined
by government policy intervention.

[Spazito]

20. Interest rates determine the value of the return of their investments

currency and otherwise. When interest rates are low, foreign investment goes elsewhere, to countries that offer a higher rate of return. When interest rates are high, the value of the return is high.

I would disagree with your contention the value of the Canadian dollar is NOT determined by government policy intervention, that is a fallacy. We may not have the equivalent of the PPT in Canada but government intervention is a common occurrence as opposed to a rarity, the Bank of Canada is NOT a body totally separate from the government.

[Monk06]

26. As I said before the Canadian government does not set the exchange rate

the market does.

The Bank of Canada is quasi-independent but
the Canadian government appoints the Governor
of the BoC.

The BoC is the central bank that, with government
advice can make changes through interest rates
to the Canadian money supply (M1)but the BoC Governor and
the BoD of the BoC have the last say. It also acts
as the lender of last resort to the Chartered Banks
during periods where they suffer excessive loan defaults.

In the world market due to the small size of the Canadian
economy compared to the rest of the G8, the Governments
power to control exchange rates through interest rate
adjustments is limited.

[Spazito]

33. The Bank of Canada sets the interest rates which, in turn,

affect the value of the dollar and whether it becomes more or less attractive to foreign "buyers". It is not the only action that affects the value of our dollar but it IS an intrinsic part of it when it comes to the US vs the Canadian dollar. In terms of the value of the Canadian dollar versus other currencies, I would agree, the power to control is less and more limited in it's scope.

My original post was specific to the Canadian and US dollar and not to the Canadian dollar versus all other currencies.

[AdHocSolver]

15. The mainstay of any economy is manufacturing - that is, labor adding value to natural resources.

Outsourcing manufacturing to other countries is a tactic guaranteed to impoverish the country that eliminates manufacturing from its economy.

If you have nothing to sell in exchange for what you buy, you have to buy on credit whatever you need to sustain your lifestyle. What American corporations have done is literally sold the United States to Asia, Europe, and the Middle East oil sheiks like the Saudis. They have pocketed the proceeds and left the U.S. with no means of earning a livelihood.

The effect is identical to that of a thief stealing your credit card and going on a shopping spree leaving you with bills to pay that are beyond your means, and then sending your job overseas.

The capitalists have been covering up this mass thievery buy borrowing money from the same people that they just sold America's assets to. The buyers will continue to lend the U.S. money until they reach a situation that tells them that it is no longer in their interest to lend us money. We are approaching that point now. The first condition that will cause the buyers to stop giving us credit is that the U.S. no longer has anything of value to sell them (since they already hold all of our assets that are worth buying). The second condition is that the buyers of our assets now have sufficient markets outside of the U.S. where they can sell their manufacturing output and make profit without needing to do business with the U.S. (the rest of the world now having a sufficient manufacturing base of their own, and countries such as China now having sufficient internal markets with which to trade). Because the U.S. capitalists sold off our assets, there is not enough internal manufacturing to allow us to do business within the U.S. The notion that the Chinese must continue to lend us money in order to sell their goods is nonsense. The Chinese have large internal markets and they are starting to do business in growing markets in Latin America. We are so screwed.

Kevin Phillips, in his book "Wealth and Democracy" describes how every great empire of the past has gone through this scenario until it collapsed. Becoming wealthy through trade and commerce, then creating and maintaining huge armies and fleets to colonize other lands for cheap labor and natural resources, draining their treasuries to maintain the colonies and hold onto them as new powers arose to challenge the empires hegemony. This is the story of the Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, the French Empire, the Dutch Empire, the British Empire, etc., etc. The U.S. is not immune to history.

[Spazito]

16. Well said, I could not agree with you more!

It is interesting, when I read that Levi (the jeans company) had outsourced it's manufacturing was when I realized the danger the US was in, why Levi was the catalyst for me I really don't know but I guess I always assumed some corporations actually had loyalty to their country of "origin" and it's citizens and when that turned out not to be the case it was a real eye-opener which caused me to re-evaluate the premises upon which I had based my assumptions.

Your post is excellent, imo, in succinctly pointing out the facts.

[earth mom]

21. Levi Jeans held out for a long time. The cheap competition just got too much for them.

Sad. They are our families favorite jeans. :(

[Spazito]

34. I was very saddened as well when they made the decision to

outsource their manufacturing, I had always identified with the Levi Jeans company as being the quintessential American "symbol". Their advertising was very successful in that aspect, imo.

[earth mom]

35. Me too. nt

[Usrename]

23. I agree wholeheartedly with your post.

The specific ailment that is affecting us at this moment is that every time the Fed tries to prop up the housing collapse (caused by predatory lending in the past few unregulated years) they cause dollar to shrink even smaller. China will quit lending us money when the dollar shrinks so low that our consumers can't even afford Chinese products.

[Gregorian]

24. I have this argument with a friend.

We're both mechanical engineers. He has a small manufacturing company. And he just got back from China. They got a large order on machines.

However, over the years I've been saying what you just did. And he has been saying that it's good that the dollar is dropping, because now we can start to manufacture again, and the world will be buying from us. He even seem to think that manufacturing is on the rise here again. I don't believe a word of it.

He also thinks mortgaging yourself to the hilt is smart. And I also differ with that. My father and I ran a company where we owned everything including the building we were housed in.

I guess it's late, and I'm rambling a bit. But I'm just noting that there are distinctly different kinds of thinking on the economics of business. The funny thing is, my friend considers himself conservative, and my dad and I are far left. I understand the conservative concept. But I think it's far less practical, and more theoretical. It's odd how the conservative theory behaves in a manner that I would call anything but conservative. More like risky and dangerous.

But as for manufacturing, we poured it down the drain. I see some great things happening in this country. But they're almost all insignificant. Bicycle design and production for example. It's booming. But what fraction of the economy is bikes? And even the manufacturing of most bikes is done in China.

I know it's not that simple. If Chinese labor is cheap enough, then we can use them to our advantage. But oil costs are making it more expensive to ship products around the globe. And the standard of living in China is moving upward. They are not all slave labor any longer.

What do we have to offer? It doesn't look like much. I hear the Chinese love our junk food. I guess we still make Cheetos.

[tom_paine]

32. That is a very deep and thorough analysis and I wish I could rec it!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[FloridaJudy]

25. Why is everything I see in stores

Still priced higher in Canadian currency? The book I bought in K-Mart yesterday was labeled $5.65 US and $6.95 in Canada. I think the Canadians are getting a rotten deal here. I wouldn't blame them if they boycotted our crappy stuff.

[tuvor]

27. The value of the Canadian dollar has been increasing vs many other world currencies.

Today my Canadian dollar will not only buy more US$, but guess what?

It'll also buy more pounds, more euros, more pesos, more rupees and more yen than it would have, say, a year ago.

Maybe the reasons it's doing what it's been doing lately aren't entirely about bush.

(By the way, thanks a lot for comparing our currency to "shit".)

[unblock]

28. your exchange rates are backward. 1 USD = 0.97084 CAD

Saturday, October 20, 2007

1 US Dollar = 0.97084 Canadian Dollar

1 Canadian Dollar (CAD) = 1.03004 US Dollar (USD)

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

[Canuckistanian]

30. And here's the good part

Since China's currency is pegged to the dollar, that makes THEIR goods cheaper to sell around the world.

Are there any more defenders of outsourcing besides the company executives?

[Xenotime]

31. Every other currency in the world is doing great

The Amero is probably the only solution. We had better do something so we look good to the International community before the world just start ignoring us.