After Decades 1 Canadian Dollar > 1 American Dollar

[PerpetualHeaven]

Here is the linky (http://digg.com/business_finance/The_Canadian_Dollar_is_Officially_Worth_More_than_ the_American_Dollar)

Yee-haw. I'm so going to America this Christmas. I'm going to cancel all my pre-orders and buy everything from there. God Bless America. :woop:

For you Canadians that don't know, Bioshock here would cost 80 bucks. Buy it in America, it would be 63.50 (or like 55 bucks used).

[Turbo VDuB 44]

God damn....took you guys long enough:p

Now if only we can catch up to the worth of the Euro

[Minty]

And the pound still kicks both your asses :p

[TheRealist50]

And the pound still kicks both your asses :p

Hey! don't get too comfortable. We are coming for you next...fear the Canadian dollar and all its might.

I'm totally gonna punk everything I want off ebay now, Score!

[PerpetualHeaven]

God damn....took you guys long enough:p

Now if only we can catch up to the worth of the Euro

It's because the American dollar got weaker as the Canadian dollar got stronger. You won't catch up to the Euro if the dollar value of american currency decreased. :P

[Zef]

Isn't this one of the signs of the apocalypse? Now Canadians can reverse all of those jokes about them having a crappier currency than the dorrah!

[CovertDog]

It is nice have all them lame jokes about the currency put to rest, but it is a double edged sword. Canada is a net exporter, which means when the currency is low the economy booming. This spike is going to hurt the economy and the value will lower an the Americans can again atleast have something over us.:p

[codedigital]

It's scary when the Loonie's get stronger!

[PerpetualHeaven]

Ah well, I'm just excited about all the money I get to save. Michigan is my second home. I always go there and buy stuff, even the clothes are a lot cheaper. Now that the currency is equal, Shopping spree. :woop: and I only live 2 hours and a half from the border too.

[Adam Miller]

And the pound still kicks both your asses :p

Beat me to it. Amen.:)

[TheLazyWolf]

Yeah its strange, economics, and i cant say that i understand it. Even though the dollar is worth only 1/2 a pound and now less than 1 canadian dollar, it still has more purchasing power, in its native country, than either of the other two in their respective countries. But yes it is a good time for all you Canadians And Brits to visit the US and buy a bunch of stuff for cheap. Weve been doing that to Mexico so fair is fair.

[Shinobi273]

lol this thread reminded me of that crappy Barbwire movie w/ Pamela Anderson. Canadian dollars only. hahaha

[JJ UK]

And the pound still kicks both your asses :p
and may it continue to forever more ;)

[Zef]

The value of the pound will plummet once Chuck gets his ugly mug put on all of our currency, I'd much rather have someone else adorning my cash than him, perhaps a popular televisual celebrity chosen via a faked BBC phone-in poll presented by unpopular televisual Irishman Patrick Kielty.

[Most Frantic]

I work at a bookstore in Canada and people keep coming in and demanding to pay the American price for the books. It's quite annoying.

[aussie_warrior117]

Watching the Simpsons taught me how the Canadians took American money for granted but that joke is put to rest. Australia is lagging behind a bit but slowly getting there. About 1AUD to 83 US cents. If they could lower the price of games here I would be happy. We get ripped off compared to America but the ones I feel sorry for are the English, Microsoft is leeching you compared to the rest of the world.

[Kaens]

For you Canadians that don't know, Bioshock here would cost 80 bucks. Buy it in America, it would be 63.50 (or like 55 bucks used).
I only took one economics class in college, so bear with me here. I'm not saying that your original statement about the dollar being weaker in the US is not true, but doesn't the weaker one require more of to purchase the same amount of goods?

So in your Bioshock example if you do a 1-1 comparison then the US would be stronger since it requires a lot less of them to buy the same game. So I believe your example shows how you guys are getting screwed because you are still paying the price that was set when your dollar was weaker. The link you had showed the values virtually equal so the cost should be the same, but it's not, you're getting screwed.

[Maka]

I only took one economics class in college, so bear with me here. I'm not saying that your original statement about the dollar being weaker in the US is not true, but doesn't the weaker one require more of to purchase the same amount of goods?

So in your Bioshock example if you do a 1-1 comparison then the US would be stronger since it requires a lot less of them to buy the same game. So I believe your example shows how you guys are getting screwed because you are still paying the price that was set when your dollar was weaker. The link you had showed the values virtually equal so the cost should be the same, but it's not, you're getting screwed.

In a way we are getting screwed. We still earn the same money, and things still cost the same. For any kind of change to happen, it will be at least another year . But if we were to go to the States then we can buy everything we want for super cheap. So, it does benefit us like that... And of course eBay has never been the same since...

[lostmotiv]

its great having an equal dollar for online purchases and going across the boarder but has anyone tried to buy a book or magazine? even with equal dollars the canadian sale price is still easily a few dollars more. Not to mention candians who sell on ebay to americans are making less then they previously did. So i guess theres a pos and neg to this.

[Cyrex]

while the world is finally starting to use one system. I know that sometime in the Next 30 years most of the countries of the world will have the Euro as the Main currency and after about 50 years it should be standard in the world. In about 30 years everything will be on the metric system and the US will finally secede to the ways of the SI (about time). Also we will narrow the world down to speaking about 5 different language's in Chinese, English, Spanish, German and Indian. Hopefully we can get everyone to learn English as a young kid, or we will have to learn Chinese since it doubles the amount of people speaking English. Point is the world is moving closer to standards systems

[BlaZiN cdn]

Well it's about time. I think I'm going to have to go down to the USA to do shopping more often.

[Sanction]

In 50 years I will rule the world. Beware.

:uzi:

[drno]

Bah, who still uses the dollar in America? I pay with pencil shavings, legal tender at any and all domino's pizza resturants and target all-purpose markets (thats what it says on them anyway.)

[infinite-Haze]

I've waited years for this. I can finally save 30 cents on Halo 3.

[PerpetualHeaven]

I only took one economics class in college, so bear with me here. I'm not saying that your original statement about the dollar being weaker in the US is not true, but doesn't the weaker one require more of to purchase the same amount of goods?

So in your Bioshock example if you do a 1-1 comparison then the US would be stronger since it requires a lot less of them to buy the same game. So I believe your example shows how you guys are getting screwed because you are still paying the price that was set when your dollar was weaker. The link you had showed the values virtually equal so the cost should be the same, but it's not, you're getting screwed.

Well I was reading around and it seems like our products should be getting cheaper if the Canadian dollar maintains the same strength level. I'm assuming there won't be any massive drop in the Canadian currencies strength. This is how I understand it. Like before, the Canadian dollar was always 10-50% for every American dollar (i.e. 1=1.10-1.50) and that's why our products were more expensive. Now that the dollar is stronger, it's like we're getting the shaft. But the prices can't change over a day. It hopefully does in the next year or something along those lines. But for now, my shopping must be done in America or else I'm actually paying way too much for all my products.

its great having an equal dollar for online purchases and going across the boarder but has anyone tried to buy a book or magazine? even with equal dollars the canadian sale price is still easily a few dollars more. Not to mention candians who sell on ebay to americans are making less then they previously did. So i guess theres a pos and neg to this.

Yeah it takes time. But if you think about it, everything will eventually become even in price. How much ever it costs us for a video game, will be the same as Americas. For Canadians, it'll make a huge difference. On paper we're paying more but we've been paying this amount forever. The change just recently happened. To be honest, America always had it nice by having cheaper products especially in houses. Hopefully soon the price drops start happening. I don't know how the process works though. I'm going to need to look it up.

I've waited years for this. I can finally save 30 cents on Halo 3.

What? Halo 3 CE is 79.99 and comes out to 91.19 in Canada. In America that would be 74.19. How is that 30 cents?

[TheLazyWolf]

Goods will always be cheaper in the US than in Canada. It is due to the number of people living in the US and our GNP (gross national profit.) When i was in school, Canadas GNP was equal to that of California. In other words, our large number of people with money will always mean that we get our goods for cheaper. Combine that with the fact that we have pretty much 0 import tax, which as i understand it, the Brits have to pay quite a bit on any luxury item. The downside for us, is that unlike Canada and the UK, we don't get healthcare.

[Shinobi273]

When you say GNP, is that the same as GDP? If so, there is no way Canada makes as much as California. California ranks on the top 10 world producers (that would be countries, Californa has more production than most countries in the world). I suppose the other 49 states are just to sweeten the pot.

[PerpetualHeaven]

Yes, but if you've taken economics, GDP is not a good sign of how great ones economy is. California's GDP is high but around when Arnold was running for governor, the state was having serious problems and those problems are finally beginning to diminish. You must also note that things like crime and illness can cause the GDP to rise. Pretty much anything cause the GDP to rise. It's not a good indicator of economic wealth.

Here's an article on why GDP isn't a good indicator of economic wealth:
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2005/05/why_gdp_is_an_i.html

Also, take a gander at this article:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070918/dollar_parity_070918/20070918?hub=TopStories

Read some of the comments to. It seems as our prices should drop eventually but who knows when. We may or may not eventually pay the same amount as Americans do for their products. Our dollar is pretty much equal. One fellow did point out that there was a 3% increase in Mercedes cars in Canada compared to no increase in America. This also smells bad for the Canadian companies who refuse to drop their price to match the new strength of the loonie. Why would I buy a Toyota Yaris (awesome MPG) here for 14-15,000 here when I could probably get the same car for 3000 less?

But someone also commented that foreign investors are looking at Canada better since America has had a hard time sustaining a positive strength on their currency. This loss in strength may be good for Canadian consumers, but it isn't that great for the American economy and also has some ups and downs for the Canadian economy.

The whole thing is some what of an issue but hey whatever. Prices will have to eventually drop. There is no way they can't or that's completely F'd in the buttocks. Until then, the bulk of my shopping (TV, Laptop, Computers, etc) will be done in America.

edit: Opps I said GDP not GNP :D But basically the same ordeal. The prices will eventually have to drop to the same. There's no way it really couldn't (or at least similar prices).

[Wolf]

Goods will always be cheaper in the US than in Canada. It is due to the number of people living in the US and our GNP (gross national profit.) When i was in school, Canadas GNP was equal to that of California. In other words, our large number of people with money will always mean that we get our goods for cheaper. Combine that with the fact that we have pretty much 0 import tax, which as i understand it, the Brits have to pay quite a bit on any luxury item. The downside for us, is that unlike Canada and the UK, we don't get healthcare. It's probably a fair trade-off. It's great that open heart surgery costs something like $100 in Scandinavia, but a slice if pizza is going to cost you $10, and you're going to buy a slice of pizza significantly more frequently than you're going to have open heart surgery.

[Bluntman428]

Yeah, well, Canada's still just America's hat.

[TheLazyWolf]

Valid points.

Shinobi- GDP is Gross Domestic GNP is Gross National, i *think* the difference is one refers to the amount of trade done total and one refers to the amount of trade done interstate.

Perpetual- Things will still be cheaper in the US than in Canada, because like i said we suck on healthcare, and in exchange our government taxes luxury( as in anything besides food or clothing) items such as gasoline a very small amount compared to other developed countries. Thats why we consume so much of them. Its funny cos many many Americans now do what you are doing with Canadian RX drugs that you are talking about doing with video game stuff. It works out for the people smart enough to do either;)

Wolf- Sounds good in theory the problem is for people who need 2+ prescriptions a month and have to pay between $200-700/month. I do definitely agree that Pizza > heart surgery.

Bluntman-- My favorite post in this thread.:p

Wolf- In theory that sounds pretty good. The problem is for people that need 2 or more prescriptions a month, and the total cost is

[infinite-Haze]

What? Halo 3 CE is 79.99 and comes out to 91.19 in Canada. In America that would be 74.19. How is that 30 cents?
Like I mean the normal both 59.99. Canadian dollar=1.005 cents rounded up to 1.01 cents. So well if 59.99 I save 10 cents per 10 dollars. so it'll actually save 70 cents but you get the pic.

[PerpetualHeaven]

What? Halo 3 CE is 79.99 and comes out to 91.19 in Canada. In America that would be 74.19. How is that 30 cents?Like I mean the normal both 59.99. Canadian dollar=1.005 cents rounded up to 1.01 cents. So well if 59.99 I save 10 cents per 10 dollars. so it'll actually save 70 cents but you get the pic.

That's assuming if the normal version of Halo 3 was 59.99 in Canada (which it isnt), then yeah you would save 70 cents but that would be obsolete anyways because Canadian tax is double most state taxes.

Perpetual- Things will still be cheaper in the US than in Canada, because like i said we suck on healthcare, and in exchange our government taxes luxury( as in anything besides food or clothing) items such as gasoline a very small amount compared to other developed countries. Thats why we consume so much of them. Its funny cos many many Americans now do what you are doing with Canadian RX drugs that you are talking about doing with video game stuff. It works out for the people smart enough to do either

I don't expect prices to be exactly the same but a price drop has to happen or companies are making too much money off of us which then creates problems for Canada. I believe the finance administration or whatever they are called in Canada has been calling for price drops on all items.

If it doesn't happen, that smells trouble for Canada. With the dollar surpassing or equaling the American dollar is a great thing. Canada has to act properly on it. It's not like oh the dollar was just made equal. yippee. Anyways, this is what I understand at least from everything I've read. There are pros and cons to this but hey, until retailers in Canada drop prices, Canadians will take advantage of buying power in America.

[CovertDog]

Yeah, well, Canada's still just America's hat.

Actually, Alaska would be Canada's hat (although it is worn to the side) and that would make the rest of the US our bottom.:p

[TheLazyWolf]

Actually, Alaska would be Canada's hat (although it is worn to the side) and that would make the rest of the US our bottom.:p

That explains why your police are called Mounties...

[infinite-Haze]

That's assuming if the normal version of Halo 3 was 59.99 in Canada (which it isnt), then yeah you would save 70 cents but that would be obsolete anyways because Canadian tax is double most state taxes.
Halo 3 Normal Edition is $59.99. Although they have 13 percent tax.

[PerpetualHeaven]

Halo 3 Normal Edition is $59.99. Although they have 13 percent tax.

Nope. Go check Futureshop.ca, Bestbuy.ca, and Ebgames.ca. They all have the normal edition listed as 69.99 for Canada. Also, it's 14% tax but one percent is pretty minuscule anyways unless you're a giant corporation.