The Canadian Dollar is Trading at US $99.85 (Or So)
Early in my Gnomedex talk, I made a little joke about currencies:
This [telegram]was sent in 1954, and at the time it cost about $2.50 Canadian. That’s about $2.57 in US dollars. Yes, our currency was stronger until about 1960. I don’t know if you’ve looked at exchange rates lately, but we’re coming for you.
Yesterday, the Canadian and American dollars achieved parity for the first time in 31 years.
That’s kind of shocking, isn’t it? I remember a time in the eighties when the Canadian dollar was worth about US $0.70. What a difference a war makes, eh? Yes, I know that’s not the only reason, but I liked the sound of it.
I’m trying to rack my brain for stuff we should order from the US that one can’t get in Canada. I’ve got nothing. But, then, I currently have a paucity of possessions.
Here’s a blog post from the National Post that summarizes and links to sundry American responses to our monetary equality.
September 21st, 2007 at 7:56 am
Ugh. It’s not good for me. All my US sales are now worth much less than they were a year or two ago.
And I know several software companies that have taken a hit on their margins.
But it is nice to see parity, from a nationalist perspective!
September 21st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
$99.85 eh? The Canadian dollar is worth 100x the American dollar?
September 21st, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Yeehaw, Williams-Sonoma, here I come.
Quite seriously, while you can order online pretty much the same variety of items you can order in the US, the street-level retailing experience is richer and deeper there. We don’t have Nordstrom’s, and we don’t have anything nearly as good as Nordstrom’s, either. It makes the weekend trips to Portland that much cheaper and more fun.
In related news, I’m always amazed at how quickly Canadians back up and apologize, or even say “it’s bad for Canada” at news that is actually GOOD for Canada and bad for the US. It’s like we don’t want to piss off the boss. Forget that.
1812 2.0 goes to Canada!
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:23 am
Andrea: Heh. Whoops.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:29 am
It will stay like it is for most of summer before it gets better. Look at news and other things aroud you and it tell the story. The war does not help in any way and houses are just not selling like they should. Look back at 30 years ago and it to tell the story. Be careful in what you invest in or you will go bust for sure. Your thruly J. B.