Thursday, September 20, 2007

To Parity and beyond!

The Canadian and US dollar reached parity today for the first time since 1976. Some analysts predict it will soon outstrip the American currency.
"Fundamentally this country is head and shoulders above the United States on an economic basis."
So a mix of our economy rising and theirs staggering, really high commodity prices for our wheat and oil - and of course the fact that we aren't vomiting blood and treasure into a Mesopotamian quagmire makes a big difference. That and the housing bubble hasn't popped as bad on us as it did for them and we never had as big a sub-prime debacle.

I would argue that a big contributing factor is that with our mixed market approach we haven't fallen into the market fundamentalist trap that has beggared their infrastructure and destabilized their society with huge wealth imbalances. That and the old right wing dependence on massive deficit spending to paper over the deliberate wealth distribution upwards. They're one Chinese foreclosure away from complete paralysis.

We're headed in the wrong direction on all of these issues but the Americans are much further along on the road to ruin.

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