Twenty dollar bill refused-I hope someone is paying attention.

[bermudat]

Hubby is doing contract work in Vancouver, BC. He was surprised when he tried to use a $20 bill to pay for

something and it was not accepted. 'That's only worth 18 Canadian' he was told. For folks who do a bit of

traveling, you can remember when the almighty dollar was accepted in Canada and Mexico. No one in the

bush administration is addressing the falling American dollar, the rising inflation in the states or the

ballooning deficit. Democrats should be using this issue at every opportunity to beat the repugnantcans

down. This should be used to counter any issue of national security. Bringing our country from a surplus to

a recession in 7 years has put this country in peril and should be the first thing out of every democrat's

mouth whenever they're in front of a microphone/camera.

[derby378]

1. It took LESS than 7 years to bring us to a recession...

I think the surplus evaporated less than a year after Herr Decider stole the White House.

[Bandit]

8. You do know the difference between "Budget Surplus" and Surplus don't you?

We never had a surplus when Bush* came to Power. Clinton's last term there was a "Budget Surplus" but the USA was still very deeply in debt, over five trillion dollars in debt. Since Bush* has come to power that debt has almost doubled. It is at about Nine Trillion dollars and Bush* nor any Republican since Nixon have ever submitted a balanced budget

[derby378]

10. Dude, this IS Democratic Underground, after all...

Your point is well taken, but I was already aware of the state of the National Debt when Clinton left office. The budget surplus, however, could have shored up Social Security and Medicare, funded improvements in our infrastructure (possibly preventing that interstate bridge collapse in Minnesota), or even paid down a little bit of that debt to begin with.

But no, Bush and the Repukes squandered it all on smoke and corruption. And now the US dollar is worth less than the Canadian dollar. Wheeee.

[lynnertic]

16. the Surplus woulda helped a whole bunch wrt Katrina as well. n/t

[LiberalAndProud]

2. Maybe Canadian dollars will start showing up

on this side of the border.

[aquart]

11. Do NOT toss those Canadian pennies and quarters.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. I have some loonies in the drawer

:-)

[NightWatcher]

3. I know a 'birdie' who gets paid for consulting in the Carribbean

and this year, this same 'birdie' is getting the money deposited into the Cayman National Bank and is taking it in Euros when last year it was dollars.


I would highly recommend that you "diversify" and look into a stable currency. If/when the dollar crashes the whole world will suffer but you might be able to survive if you can get out of the States.

[Kittycat]

4. Now I'm wishing I kept that canadian "funny money" from back when I was a kid.

*sigh*

[mike_c]

its worth a little more than that, at least at official exchange rates....

I get $20 USD = $19.69 CAD, so the $18 figure is an error. Still, the writing seems to be on the wall for the US dollar.

[Bandit]

9. Probably not in some shops.

I realize that the discount rate between banks might be what you say but merchants can charge more for the hassle of dealing with it..

[Deja Q]

5. Last I checked, the US and Canadian dollar were about equal in value.

I'm still pissed at the coin machine and laundromat clothes washer for not accepting Canadian quarters.

[lynnertic]

17. hey you're right

http://www.x-rates.com/

According to this Feb 29 $1US = $1.02CAD

So I take back what I said before. it was ME who hadn't checked in a while.

[rockymountaindem]

6. That's wrong

1 USD = .985 CAD

[spooky3]

22. yep, would be worth $19.59

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

[FlyingSquirrel]

25. Maybe he was figuring it would be worth $18 by the time he made it to the bank.

;)

[spooky3]

31. good point :-)!

[LSK]

34. give it a few months

[bermudat]

7. When I read about supermodels demanding payment in euros,

I didn't know what the big deal was or why it was making the news. Also read about American entertainers

overseas requesting payment in euros. Who knew they were more knowledgeable about currency than our

Treasury dept.

[Tindalos]

12. It's not unusual.

It's an extra hassle. Most places in Vancouver I've worked refused US$ even when the exchange rate was high. The policy was "no foreign currency", and accepting US$ was simply a courtesy. We got tired of people expecting us to fall down and worship them for waving a greenback under our noses. No one from anywhere other than the US would expect their currency to be accepted in another country. I guess all I can say is, welcome to reality.

[warren pease]

13. Last time I was up there, the Canadian $ was worth about $.66 US...

In one of a series of failed US evacuation attempts, in 1999 and again in 2000 my wife and I were up in BC, actually the Southern Gulf Islands -- Galiano, Gabriola, Salt Spring, Pender, Mayne -- looking at houses in the $200K US range, which was $300K Canadian at the time.

There were a bunch of places in that price range, most with expansive water views and a bit of land around them. One in particular was perched on a bluff about 200 feet above the water on the west side of Galiano. Designed by an artist and built by people who didn't screw around, this place would have been a 15 on the 1 - 10 scale of housing perfection.

My wife's a fabric artist/designer/writer/lecturer/etc. and the full basement would have been the perfect set up for her. I'm a freelance writer and also work at home, and this place had all the quiet and privacy I could ever want. Plus, it had a large, mature, raised-bed vegetable garden with full drip irrigation system, a detached garage, beautiful trees hosting tons of birds and squirrels, and so on into housing nirvana.

The other consideration that has determine location for the last dozen years is cat safety. We've got two who have have always lived in rural or semi-rural areas and literally have never seen a two-lane road or more than one car at a time, usually doing about 5 MPH. I wouldn't live anywhere that their inexperience could get them killed.

So this place met all the criteria -- exceed almost all of them by a considerable amount -- and we fucked up and didn't pull the trigger. We were going to go back home and "think about it." I don't know what there was to think about. Turns out some smarter people didn't think twice and bought the place at first glance the following weekend.

So that's the story of how I blew a perfectly good evacuation plan, failed to act quickly enough on the perfect place -- which is probably worth at least 500K or 600K US now, maybe more -- set us up to endure the entire Bush regime and whatever vile deeds the bastards have in store for us over the next 10 months, and generally changed our lives substantially for the worse, imo.

Oh, and I was going to comment on your post when nostalgia robbed me of my senses. The idea of democrats rushing to a mic and pounding home a consistent message that defies GOP doctrine and calls bullshit on corporate media at the same time is right up there with the notion of hiring militant vegans to staff a new steak house. The so-called leadership is so completely lousy at framing an issue or presenting a single, powerful, slogan-length message that it's no wonder nobody really knows what they stand for anymore. I doubt they do either, feeding as they do at the same slimy corporate trough as the GOPiggies.

Quick example: Remember SCHIP? The GOP would have called it the "Save the Children Act" or "Bobby's Bill" or some other manipulative garbage. Democrats? They push for something that sounds like a computer component and then wonder why nobody really gives a damn when Bushie vetoes it.

That's the dem leadership in microcosm. Inconsistent communicators, afraid of their own shadows, complicit in enabling the elite to rely on continuance of the status quo, betrayed by advisers who couldn't even get an entry level job at a third-rate PR firm. Really; who in hell would advise Pelosi et al against opening impeachment hearings on Cheney? Like they'd risk that lofty 18 percent approval rating by daring to take on a guy with a 9 percent approval rating?

But that's democratic math for you. The same faulty logic that advised Gore to only go for a recount in four Florida counties rather than state-wide, almost certainly costing him the election and dooming us and the rest of the world to untold damage and death and environmental disintegration and all the rest of the same old litany.

So yeah, I'd like to see them find their voices -- particularly if that means going head to head with the GOP's illogical, ancient and complete bullshit talking points and calling liars liars. But I'd prefer they keep their mouths shut if the best they can do is snivel and bitch and whine about how those bad men in the white house are just big meanies and bullies and they're going to send another strongly worded letter and see how they like it then and...

You've heard it all before, I'm sure.


Happy Sunday morning.

wp

[cascadiance]

21. As a DVD collector it used to pay to buy DVDs from Canadian sites...

When the exchange rate was the way it was, and they were priced lower there than here and no sales tax either. Now of course it's been quite some time since I bought anything from Canada's web sites.

The changing world and our falling dollar is going to screw us all in many ways before we get rid of these bums and probably a while after that!

[Elspeth]

14. Time for the Amero: the new North American Union currency

The proud US will now be screaming for it.

[lynnertic]

18. And Canadians, won't think it's such a great idea.

They have a Northwest Passage opening up in front of them, and a bunch of oil. They'll be happy with their own money I think.

[Elspeth]

19. I think so too...until they've been neoconned

Privatization will destroy Canada in the same way it has done here.

[lynnertic]

20. You don't think they'll see that?

I read canadian writers who say the same thing you do and oppose privatization attempts.

[Elspeth]

24. It's not about Canadians seeing it. It's about their ability to change it

...

[Rosemary2205]

15. The dollar must be in an absolute freefall??

First off, good luck finding very many merchants in the US of A that will take Canadian or Mexican money. So the fact our neighbors were ever willing to be paid in our money is really a testament to how valuable our currency once was.

What this story says to me is that foreign merchants are afraid of taking our money on today's exchange rate and by the time they get to the bank on Monday it's worth so much less that they lose money. Instead they want us to pay for the exchange ourselves and pay them in their own currency -- the bank takes the risk instead of the merchant.

[Heywood J]

23. Not really.

"So the fact our neighbors were ever willing to be paid in our money is really a testament to how valuable our currency once was."

As someone who lives in a border area (both sides), it's more convenience than perceived value when a merchant takes the other currency - it gets you more customers. Most stores here in western New York seem happy to take Canadian money if you ask them, even the toll booths on the highway. Almost all border cities are the same way.

[uppityperson]

26. I'm amused at stores in USA that won't take Canadian money since it's isn't worth as much.

And I'm in WA.

[crimsonblue]

27. The dollar may have been too high

I mean, the dollar was at a very lofty position for a long time, which benefited banking and financial interests, but greatly hurt manufacturing and other industrial businesses. This is because of NAFTA and global trade. Having a high currency rate hurts a country's exporting abilities and improves its importing. This is because the high price of the dollar made a part made in the US comparable more expensive than in a country like China, which purposely keeps its exchange rate very low so as to increase its exporting ability. and wow and that was a long sentence. the end

[Catchawave]

28. I worked in a little gift shop in Upstate New York

about 12 years ago and had many Canadian tourists come through. I was told if someone hands you a Canadian $20 bill, they are only handing you $13, so I had to make change accordingly.

Payback is a bitch :evilgrin:

[Sabien]

30. well, you weren't in the USA...

reminds me of being in Montreal on business las fall - a new acquaintance tried to buy drinks at the bar with American money, "I didn't think it would be a problem - American money is good everywhere isn't it?" oh my. I picked up the tab and paid with LOONIES.
:crazy:

[Zywiec]

32. Exactly. The arrogance of some is amazing

I've seen that shit pulled all over the world. As if the store wants to take your dollars and then exchange them at the bank.

When you're in another country, try paying in the local currency and quit perpetuating the ugly American stereotype.

[One_Life_To_Give]

33. Gas was just under 2EUR/gal in 2000

Not much more expensive today. Unless your using those greenbacks.