Dollar hits $.93 in Canadian dollars

[opebo]

This is ridiculous. Canada's not even a real country

Interestingly, despite its shortcomings, it is a far superior country to the United States - at least from the perspective of the common citizen.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

This also no doubt sucks hard for opebo. The dollar is now at just under 32 baht. I believe it was well over 40 and around 45 awhile back.

Its not good for me, but the weird thing is I make a good portion of my income in baht now that I'm working.  Also living upcountry has greatly reduced my expenditures.

But yes, it is disturbing that the bad policies of the Republicans have led to this massive impoverishment of the american people.

The Federal Reserve put in by Wilson, a democrat instead of a real central bank like every other nation is why the 2006 dollar is worth about 4 cents of a 1913 dollar.

[MODU]

Here's one for you (and shows how little we the domestic consumer are really impacted by this):

A friend of mine is migrating to Canada since her US green card application is delayed AGAIN.  Earlier this year, her entry fees were going to total $8000.  As of right now, it's up to $10,400 due to the exchange rate. 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Federal Reserve put in by Wilson, a democrat instead of a real central bank like every other nation is why the 2006 dollar is worth about 4 cents of a 1913 dollar.

Compared to 1913. the U.S. dollar has held up far better than the British pound, the French franc, the Itallan lira, the Portugese escudo, and the Japanese yen. (Assuming that the fixed conversion rates to the euro for the franc, lira, and escudo to the euro are used.)

Among European currencies, only the Swiss franc among can be said to have retained its value better in the period since 1913, so I fail to see how your dig about real central banks has any merit unless I misunderstood you and you meant to praise the Federal Reserve for not being one.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

I was doing a dig at the federal reserve for not being one.

[Hash]

Earl is right on saying that this is big news up here. Very big news.

[© tweed]

Fed's going to cut interest rates because the economy is stagnating so that will further assrape the dollar.  it's gonna be a fun few years, boys.  saddle up.  either Greenspan knew what he was doing or knew when to get out.

[David S]

This is kind of a good news/bad news story. The bad news is that the dollars decline relative to other currency makes foreign- made products more expensive. The good news is that it makes American-made goods more competitive in the global market. That's good news for manufacturing jobs here.

This story also presents me with another opportunity to tout the value of gold. Paper currencies lose value because governments print them with wild abandon. More dollars chasing the same amount of goods and services cause prices to rise and the currency to lose value. Since 1913 the paper dollar has lost about 95% of its purchasing power. But governments cannot produce gold out of thin air so it retains its value well.  One ounce of gold was worth about $20 in 1913. Today its worth around $840. Its purchasing power has roughly doubled.

[opebo]

The Federal Reserve put in by Wilson, a democrat instead of a real central bank like every other nation is why the 2006 dollar is worth about 4 cents of a 1913 dollar.

I was referring to the bad policies of the last few years, Straha.  Inflation is fine - irrelevant really - as long as the standard of living of the lower class is going up as rapidly as possible. 

Paper currencies lose value because governments print them with wild abandon.

No, David, the proper formulation would be 'paper currencies lose value when governments print them with wild abandon'.  Your statement suggests this is inevitable, of course it is not. 

Also I see no evidence for the idea that printing = loss of value, regardless.  Japan 'printed' or created huge amounts of 'liquidity' into a deflationary environment for well over a decade and their currency kept increasing in value.  I suspect that creating currency from nothing is a vital part of managing the form of State control known as 'capitalism'.

[David S]

The Federal Reserve put in by Wilson, a democrat instead of a real central bank like every other nation is why the 2006 dollar is worth about 4 cents of a 1913 dollar.

I was referring to the bad policies of the last few years, Straha.  Inflation is fine - irrelevant really - as long as the standard of living of the lower class is going up as rapidly as possible. 

Paper currencies lose value because governments print them with wild abandon.

No, David, the proper formulation would be 'paper currencies lose value when[/b[ governments print them with wild abandon'.  Your statement suggests this is inevitable, of course it is not. 

Also I see no evidence for the idea that printing = loss of value, regardless.  Japan 'printed' or created huge amounts of 'liquidity' into a deflationary environment for well over a decade and their currency kept increasing in value.  I suspect that creating currency from nothing is a vital part of managing the form of State control known as 'capitalism'.

Generally the reason nations switch from prescious metal to paper is because they want more money than they can get by taxing the citizens so they print paper money which they can create in unlimited quantities, but this always ends badly as inflation destroys the value of the money. Our founders had such experiences during the revolutionary war. They created the continental dollar which was strictly paper, backed by nothing. Eventually they became totally worthless and were the inspiration for the old saying ; " not worth a continental". Having this experience fresh in their memories our founders wrote gold and silver currency into the constitution. To show how serious they were about it they established the death penalty for any mint employees who tried to cheat the precious metal content of coins. ( Coinage act of 1792)

[opebo]

It is amusing that you think that some metal or other has more reliable valuation than the gun out of which the whole system of value grows.

[David S]

It is amusing that you think that some metal or other has more reliable valuation than the gun out of which the whole system of value grows.

Opebo what are you smoking these days? I just proved to you that gold holds it value far better than paper dollars and yet you still seem unable to tolerate that idea.

As for the power of guns I absolutely agree. That's why I have a bunch of 'em.  And that's why the founders protected the right of citizens to own guns in the 2nd amendment. But this is a strange comment coming from you since you seem to be very opposed to civilian ownership of guns. I doubt that you have any. What the hell is your point?

[Verily]

It is amusing that you think that some metal or other has more reliable valuation than the gun out of which the whole system of value grows.

Opebo what are you smoking these days? I just proved to you that gold holds it value far better than paper dollars and yet you still seem unable to tolerate that idea.

Despite the decline of the dollar, gold has been losing value against the dollar. It dropped a whole $2.30/ounce just today.

[ottermax]

Yay! Canada!

[Person Man]

Canada is looking like an attractive place. We need to be working on creating new goods, not trying to sell old ones.

[Storebought]

Canada, for all of its First World pretensions, is just a primary goods exporter -- gold, wheat, timber, electricity, and above all else, oil. Its current currency appreciation is the result of the commodity price boom caused by the weak dollar.

The US can slow (but not stop) its dollar exportation simply by extracting oil off its own coasts, since that is the commodity that the US loses the most cash on, besides its ongoing binge with Chinese garbage.

[Gabu]

Canada, for all of its First World pretensions

That's cute.

[Storebought]

Canada, for all of its First World pretensions

That's cute.

Isn't it?

But I will revise what I said about Canada's exports. Yes, machine parts and tools make up the largest sector of Canadian exports, but energy is right behind it.

Statistics: Canadian National Statistics Agency

[opebo]

The US can slow (but not stop) its dollar exportation simply by extracting oil off its own coasts, since that is the commodity that the US loses the most cash on, besides its ongoing binge with Chinese garbage.

Ah, yes, right-wingers funny excuse for another environmental disaster, which would benefit only a small interest group.  This oil would be a tiny drop in the bucket!

[Storebought]

The US can slow (but not stop) its dollar exportation simply by extracting oil off its own coasts, since that is the commodity that the US loses the most cash on, besides its ongoing binge with Chinese garbage.

This oil would be a tiny drop in the bucket!

You are (misleadingly) only considering oil reserves within the continental US and immediately off its coast. In this case, the oil reserves are shrinking.

Off the coast, particularly, off the continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico in the deep sea, the oil reserves are staggering. In fact, the oil that the US extracts from our shallow platforms is the result of seepage from the deep sea.

Considering that the Gulf of Mexico is already a highway, I have less concern for environmental factors (especially since platforms today aren't nearly as inefficient -- leaky -- as they were thirty years ago) than I do safety and engineering ones, since the open ocean is a rough place.

And the purpose of this is not to replace foreign oil, but to supplement our supply

[opebo]

The US can slow (but not stop) its dollar exportation simply by extracting oil off its own coasts, since that is the commodity that the US loses the most cash on, besides its ongoing binge with Chinese garbage.

This oil would be a tiny drop in the bucket!

You are (misleadingly) only considering oil reserves within the continental US and immediately off its coast. In this case, the oil reserves are shrinking.

Off the coast, particularly, off the continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico in the deep sea, the oil reserves are staggering. In fact, the oil that the US extracts from our shallow platforms is the result of seepage from the deep sea.

Considering that the Gulf of Mexico is already a highway, I have less concern for environmental factors (especially since platforms today aren't nearly as inefficient -- leaky -- as they were thirty years ago) than I do safety and engineering ones, since the open ocean is a rough place.

And the purpose of this is not to replace foreign oil, but to supplement our supply

Ah well I am not deeply concerned about the environment, but I had never heard of this 'deep sea oil'.

[David S]

It is amusing that you think that some metal or other has more reliable valuation than the gun out of which the whole system of value grows.

Opebo what are you smoking these days? I just proved to you that gold holds it value far better than paper dollars and yet you still seem unable to tolerate that idea.

Despite the decline of the dollar, gold has been losing value against the dollar. It dropped a whole $2.30/ounce just today.

Verily I don't see a smiley face so I don't know if you're joking or not. But looking at a one day change in anything is totally meaningless.
Relative to the dollar gold is up ;
4000% since 1913
84% in the last three years
30% year to date
3% in the last week.

[Platypus]

Yeah, the $A is at $US0.91, but it got up to $US93 a couple of days ago. Big change from about 5 years ago when it was at $US0.49.

[opebo]

Yeah, the $A is at $US0.91, but it got up to $US93 a couple of days ago. Big change from about 5 years ago when it was at $US0.49.

Parity is coming soon for you Oussies as well.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

For that to happen the Dollar would have to hit about .85 CDN, assuming the CDN dollar and Aussie dollar didn't change much. But that looks unlikely, as the dollar rebounded just now, and is up over .94 CDN. I doubt it'll beat the Canadian dollar before the end of the year though.