USA Dollar Needs to Go Down

I bet there are a lot of you that think there is no way the USA dollar should go down any further. Matter of fact you probably think it is too low. WELL IT DOES NEED TO GO DOWN!

The USA dollar has been inflated for years which wasn't a problem during the tech' hay days. Then everyone was reducing costs dramatically but the field is relatively level again. Everyone has cut cost through technology, there isn't much left to benefit from.

So now it often gets down  to cost of labor. If the USA dollar is high the labor cost is high and companies move elsewhere. If it is low costs are lower and companies hire in the USA. Pretty simple. It also applies to all the products USA exports & imports... A lower USA dollar makes imports(stuff USA buys from others) more expensive and exports(stuff USA sells to others) cheaper. This inherently creates jobs and fuels the economy.

If the USA dollar stays up USA business can't sell their products to others and others can dump their products on the USA market very cheaply making it even more difficult for USA to grow.
Is this a perfect solution... Absolutely not. This means a lot of people have net-net less buying power. However, it would drive business in the USA.

It is obvious to me that the USA government wants the dollar to stay low. They could easily step in and stabilize it but they choose not too. On the other hand they want a controlled reduction not a free fall. You can see this in the USA government moves and in reverse for the Canadian and other governments(warn against gaining to quickly).

If the USA government was smart they were buying other currencies to assist in devaluing the dollar. Then later when the dollar gets really low, pay off all the debts(they are all in USA dollars), then buy back the dollar by selling the other currencies they bought previously and drive the dollar back up. That would be a very sneaky move that would gain them a lot of money and may even bring them out of the currently inevitable financial collapse.

Again these are my rants, you can have your own ;)

Obama - 1st Year From a Canadian's Perspective

Originally published on 2009-12-07
I am amazed at how quickly Americans have forgotten where they were when Obama took office just 11 months ago. The republicans had put the country to the brink of collapse( I blame them most because they are the ones put in place to ensure everyone else doesn’t do what they did). The USA was crashing taking the rest of the developed world with it. The potential for all banks crashing if something wasn’t done was almost 100%. If the banks crashed everything else would go with it. USA money would be worthless and unemployment could easily hit 75%++. Some countries had already taken over their banks due to the spin-off of the USA crash. To top it off the weak car companies were finally forced to bankruptcy looking like that sector was going to be destroyed which would take the USA in to a depression situation for sure. Of course there are the miscellaneous things like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Health Care, Unemployment.. the list goes on.

The final piece that I wish wasn’t there but do have to recognize is he is black. This undoubtedly has and will create difficulties within his own country. On the other hand I think it helps him in International issues.

This is the toughest position a US president has ever walked into by far in my opinion. As “a world leader” this US president has a responsiblity to think of more than his own country(although USA is his priority). Especially with whole countries like Iceland going bankrupt due to investments in USA. Previous presidents could say screw everyone else, he can’t.

So now you can remember SOME of the mess let’s look at where USA is 11 months later… The banks are making money and paying back their loans(made money on that one), the car companies went through orderly bankruptcies and came out leaner and meaner(might get money back), the unemployment appears to be peaking at 10.2%(no where near 75), AIG’s possible impact has been dramatically reduced(they alone were going to make everything collapse), housing market is stabilizing in some markets(at least not free-falling), the dollar has depreciated enough to start making USA exports competitive(was way over valued to make US products competitive) and possibly reduce cost of payment of debt. unfortunately (or fortunately – sell more USA products), imported products cost more.

That alone would be enough for most countries to praise the president. But Obama has done this while dealing with Health Care, Iraq and all the other issues noted above. The guy has been in power for 11 months and accomplished more than virtually any other president in their entire tenure. Cut the guy some slack. USA is lucky it is not in a depression and to avert a depression and start coming out of the crash within 11 months is awesome.

Are things perfect? Absolutely not. USA has just averted probably it’s worst crisis to date and all some are saying is “ARE WE THERE YET?”.  USA is not going to fully recover for years(if ever) but maybe you should be thankful that you are not where you were going to be if republicans were still in power.

Why not try asking some of the republicans why they didn’t do anything before? It was obvious to all of us, why didn’t they see and address the problem? They took the easy way out because they wanted votes, that’s why. Anyone with any legal/accounting background could see big problems coming. I am quite sure there were some staff in the offices telling them what they were putting in place was crazy. However, they got a lot of votes by implementing ways for people to buy houses they could not afford. There are a lot of people who were fine in their old house but were told they could sell their house and get bigger/better so they did, only to find they lost the house because they could not afford the upkeep of the new house.

I hope Obama moves to Canada after serving the USA and runs for Prime Minister. Many Canadians I know(including me) would vote for him.

My personal opinion on the reasons for the crash are multi-folded.

• I think the car companies were a problem that was going to happen anyway…Just happened sooner with the crash. 
• The US government created ways for people that could NOT AFFORD a home to get one, then instead of realizing the problems actually added more ways people could get homes they couldn’t afford.
• The real estate system for figuring out ways that people who could not possibly afford the house could buy it(knowing full well people would be kicked out of their house later). 
• The stock market packaged up these obvious bad debts and promoted them as safe and backed by the government(sort of) so they could sell them.
• The ratings agencies rated these junk assets way above their true value.  
• Everyone for assuming the price of real estate would never go down.
• People bought homes they knew they could not afford. Real Estate system played their dreams perfectly.
• Everyone else(like me) sat around and let them do it!!!!! WE KNEW BETTER!!!

There are a lot of pieces to this problem that didn’t occur in other countries, but they still crashed.  Mostly because of investments directly or indirectly in USA and USA’s sudden drop in purchasing their goods… countries like Iceland,China, Europe, Australia and especially Canada(85% exports go to USA). Countries that emulated some or all of the US model for real estate really got hit and they can’t afford or get a trillion dollar loan.

How many of you knew that something had to give when they came out with sub-prime and other loan options. Sure prices of houses were going up but that was an unrealistic supply/demand issue driven by the ability of those that could not afford houses to buy a house. The whole market was a farce. Without the artificial housing there is no need to build/sell all the products related to housing(a lot).  However, how many thought it would get as bad as it did? I didn’t… I thought it would be more localized to the USA and not as bad as things were at the worst times.

Gun Control... Wake up United States!

Updated 2009-11-25
At this time virtually any large USA city has 2+ times more murders than the entire country of Canada. Yet gun control is still not a major issue in the USA. I hope posting it on the blog will drive more communication on the issue.

Published 2001-09-10
A touchy subject… As a Canadian citizen I can tell you that gun control works. The mentality that we need guns to protect ourselves from others only ensures that everyone has guns. I know that if I had a gun available “at the moment” the possibility of me using it in rage or personal defense is conceivable. Please understand, I think anyone in rage/defense can do things they would not normally even think about, so to me anyone could pull a gun. Now I consider myself a reasonable person who is not likely to do this kind of thing, but when I think about someone that is not quite so stable carrying a gun I get very nervous.

As a Canadian I don’t even think about “Do they have a gun?”(except for Police). Currently I live in Toronto, Ontario, a city with approximately 3 million people living in a diverse multi-cultural environment. Comparable to many major cities in USA yet our homicide rate is far lower. We live next door to Buffalo/Detroit who both have less people and many more homicides. WHAT CAN YOU ATTRIBUTE THE DIFFERENCE TO??? Funny thing is that I would expect everyone in USA to be on their best behavior knowing everyone else has a gun… Instead it seems to bring out the more “macho” attitude.

I think being a cop is tough in Canada… I would not be one where anyone can carry a concealed firearm or where firearms are so readily available. No wonder cops shoot so many people in USA.

I have lived in the country and know the value of a rifle(groundhogs are pesky critters), I also like to use guns for target practice(fun). In no way does gun control stop these things. It helps control them. Key benefits of gun control is it reduces the availability of guns. Most gun controls are targeted to stop hand guns, and AK47 type assault weapons(or bigger). I know that some of us would just love to play with one of these but in Canada we understand controlling guns can save our lives! Just a little more important to us. It would probably be cool to have your own tank or nuclear bomb but I know that if I can have it so can everyone else. In these cases I would rather no one have it. I know it is not perfect and we should all be able to do what we want… but we have a responsibility to the society as well.

“Guns don’t kill people, people do”…
Atomic bombs don’t kill people either but you don’t see me saying everyone has the right to one.

“The Constitution”…
Wake up! That is how gun makers and criminals are sucking you into stopping gun control. Do you really think with your basement full of weapons you are any match for the military of the USA? Canada is no match for one of their aircraft carriers… If the military was put in place the first thing they do is disarm everyone so where are your guns anyway. This part of the constitution was written during a very different time and meant to cover situations that no longer exist. Please, give up the guns, for all of us.

There will always be someone who wants to own a tank. It is up to those with a little more sense to say wait a second, I don’t think it is a good idea for anyone to own a tank… At least not unless it is controlled so we know you aren’t going to shoot us.

Don’t believe me…
Here is statistics from StatsCanada on Homicides occurring between 1966 and 1999 in Canada. We are not as good as many European countries on a per capita ratio but are no where near USA. For that matter all violent crime is reduced with gun control. I think that our violent crime statistics would drop noticeably if USA installed some form of gun control. We still have approx. 30% of homicides using a gun… We just have a lot less homicides.

Don’t even think about how many less robberies and other non-violent crimes would be committed with gun control. Just think… less jails, less costs, less crime, less murders, less fear… LESS GUNS!  

Is your “target practice” worth the cost to society? Speak up… send email and letters to your congress.

If you want to do something good with a gun…

CHARLTON HESTON comes to mind

I will never watch his movies again! He personally set back gun control immeasurably.

Of course this is my opinion…. I could be wrong.