coltsneckbob

I know we want to avoid politics here......and I think I am avoiding that, but I wanted to share my thoughts on solving the budget limit impass. One big sticking point that is purely political in nature is when should the cap be revisited - just prior to the 2012 election or after. Since this is purely a political issue and not truly a fundamental factor of the budget it should not even be an issue.....but of course it is.


I have 2 solutions:


1) Flip a coin to decide which plan date to use. The "loser" does not lose face because after all it was chance/fate. The winner doesn't win anything, but does get their plan implemented. We can get an NFL ref to do it. BTW a coin toss is often used in in some countries when there are ties between candidates running for office.


2) Media and others might make "fun" of a coin toss (as silly) since it is rarely used in USA politics. So I have another suggestion. One party should just a the magnanimous gesture and say "OK, I am going to be the adult here......it is not worth the potential economic upheaval if we default - we concede to the other party's date". Frankly I think this will earn so much goodwill from the voters that it will make the issue of conceding moot.

Lady72nRob71

What is officially done if the coin lands on its edge? I once had this happen to me during a tossup...

MDchanic

As an added bonus, the side that tends to claim a closer affiliation with God can content itself that it was He who made the final decision .

- Eric

coltsneckbob

Well in order prevent this we flip the coin on a hill. Good thing you thought of this!!

Lady72nRob71

Be sure to add speed bumps.
When we had tossed it landed on the floor and rolled 10' across the kitchen floor, bumped into the cabinet bottom and stopped - on its edge...

442much

Uh oh! Here come the Canadians, moving into your neighbourhoods. The Canadian dollar closed at $1.06 USD today. I know so many people that have gone to the US and bought houses lately. Houses in the states are cheap and our dollar is climbing.

In FL, CA, NV and AZ I hear that they have realtors that just deal with Canadians looking for southern property. One friend of mine bought two condo's in Scottsdale, another friend bought in Palm Springs and even another bought in Phoenix. Flights are cheap and they go every few months.

On the news here, the pundits say that the US will resolve the situation and won't default. It's not just the US situation that is driving up the CAD $. Apparently every natural resource that we have, everybody wants so our $ has climbed up against the Euro too. Being your largest trading partner, what hurts you, hurts us. So here's looking for a solution. Perhaps I'll plan a trip....

z11375ss

Whatever these knuckleheads do it won't be enough. Sheesh, what a way to run a country. Try it at your house. You'd last a year, maybe. And I'm blaming both parties.

citcapp

Simple answer that will never happen. Toss the bums out and start over with an all new government. None of them have earned our support or respect, nor do they care about the common folk.

Now which Mod will be closing this thread? Whoops I am one

MDchanic

+1, but not in a political sense .

- Eric

coltsneckbob

I just returned today from a business trip to Quebec. I was shocked, shocked I tell, when they told me the Canadian dollar was worth more then the USD.

Allan R

No disrespect, but where have you been? The Canadian $ has been worth more than the $US for more than a year. Economists say that it will continue stronger than the $US for quite some time to come. But if it makes you feel any better we don't get a lot of benefit from it up here. There is no such thing a 'fairness' or 'economies of scale' that make sense up here. We just have different leadership that allows us to get raped, pillaged and taxed to death and we're supposed to like it? Pretty soon I think people will have had enough and a civil rebellion will happen in a 'civlized' first world nation.

Ken (442much) is right though. Having a strong dollar hurts our trading abilities. We still don't see any fairness when it comes to big ticket or even small ticket items. eg: a book in the US costs 7.95; here in Canada the exact same book costs 11.00. I can build a brand new 2500 sq ft house here for a paltry 657,000.00 I could build or buy the same house in the US for about 280,000.00. I believe you can write off your mortgage interest as part of your taxes. Not here. A brand new Buick LaCrossein the US costs around 35,995.00 The same car in Canada? Only 41,985. And this doesn't include the 'delivery fee, dealer prep fee, tax (and or licensing in some areas). Do you really wonder why we wouldn't take advantage of a higher dollar when we can? When I was buying a lot of my resto parts from the US back in 2005, 2006 etc our dollar was worth about 67 cents against the US$. So I paid though the nose for everything including shipping. So even with our dollar being stronger, we still get screwed by other processes including manufacturing, shipping, gov't, and the BS brokers who can't stand to see equity between US and Canada.

I fully appreciate the significance the $US has on the world economy and specifically the US economy. But that's the way it is. I notice that on ebay, there are a lot of sellers who won't even let me bid because they aren't willing to ship or do business with Canadians. Their loss. We put our pants on just like you, suffer in the cold and heat like you, pay higher than necessary costs and taxes somewhat like you, work hard for a living just like you. Only difference is we're supposed to be polite and accept getting screwed? I don't think so.

This post is solely my opinion, and reflects my right to free speech. So if you're offended by it deal with me - not other Canadians who may not feel the same way. I've been offended far worse by the inequity that has existed in the past to let it even bother me now.

oldcutlass

Hmmmm so much to respond to!!!
1. HEADS I win TAILS they lose!
2. Thanks to the Canadian dollar I sell cars to Canadians again! One leaves tonight!
3. Those poor Canadians, unlike here in the states they can't default on thier house! They will still have to pay for it!
4. WE ARE DOOMED!
5. WE ARE DOOMED!
6. WE ARE DOOMED!
7. WE ARE DOOMED!
8. AS in the word of old Clayton Williams, it's like rape you might as well lay back and enjoy it!!!!!!!!

cutlassjoe

I married a Canadian and have lived in Windsor for 21 years. I loved it when the Canadian dollar was $.65. It made payday a lot nicer. Now it has gone the other way and it hurts on payday alot...We are right across from Detroit and the price differences are crazy. I buy milk at a local grocery store for $2.49 a gallon while it's $4.29 for four litres. Same with beer. I can buy a case of Molson Canadian in Detroit for about $17.00 with deposit over in Windsor it's a little over $30.00 a case. The prices have not adjusted down in Canada and I don't think they will...Canadians are very nice though.

And don't even get me started on the gas price difference....

Allan R

I think we are too . But I think sooner than later the prices will HAVE to start adjusting down. Otherwise no one will want to buy anything locally and that will kill local business faster than a 12 gage in a racoons mouth.

Aw, c'mon that's a favorite topic. Just don't forget to adjust the US gallon is only 3.78 litres. Even at that though Americans only pay 95 cents a litre compared to the (low price) $1.14 or (high) 1.42 per litre we pay. And if you really want to make comparisons, adjust for the price difference of the dollars.

Assuming that your tank needs 60 litres - or about 15.8 US gallons that would make it about $US 57.00 to fill my car in Detroit compared to $Can 67.80 in Edmonton. In reality the $US 57.00 has 6% less purchasing power than the $Can - so that would be $US 53.58 for the fill. The equivalent ripoff in Edmonton has 6% more purchasing power, so the fill would actually be valued at $71.87. Wow, that's totally fair isn't it?

Windsor - where you live - (avg 1.27/Litre) would cost 76.20. How about BC? It would cost $79.00. Yeah, I say bring on the discussion about how it's the same gas but needs to be cheaper in the States because of ??? what again??? Let's see, we have 'dirty oil' that everyone seems to have issues with, except paying less than we do to use it? Give me a break! WTH??? I like being raped by the gas companies It must really devastate them knowing they could make a difference to help stimulate the economy by lowering prices for a change. No, that would cut too deep into the obscene hundred million dollar salaries of the CEO's. No one is worth that kind of money - it's a boldface lie to make people think they are.

Oh yeah long weekend time. Gas just went up here by 9 cents /litre - that's the equivalent of 34 cents a US gallon. Don't tell me there's no collusion.

And the same gov't that's supposedly helping it's people through stimulus spending will NOT lower gas taxes to help the average everyday schmoe get to work and back, with a little to spend on basic bread and milk. Revolutions have started for exactly the same reasons!

jensenracing77

i agree to some degree. there is plenty of blame to go around to most and on both sides but there are just a few that do really care and are trying. there just isn't enough of them yet to be heard. i think that will change in the next several elections.

coltsneckbob

I did notice that even factoring in the exchange rate things were more expensive in Canada. One thing in particular was food. However, perhaps that is why, in general, I found there were few fat Quebecians.

Allan R

Don't let them hear you call them that They call themselves Quebcois (Kay beck kwa). Want to stir the pot next time you're there? Tell them Quebec has no right to independent sovereignty. Then duck or run for cover. After they finish chasing you down, they might have run off some of that fat

oldcutlass

Don't worry, Obama released all that oil from our reserves on to the world market, those prices are comin down!! YEAH RIGHT!! And with all the money we are spending on jobs and housing, we will be in hi cotton really soon!

Don't get me started!!! Lets talk about religeon next! Can we, huh, can we?

coltsneckbob

Thanks for the warning...."Kay Beck kwa"......eh! However, I am not likely to be back there any time soon. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Oldsguy

I find it simply amazing that everyone has remained so civil in this thread. Good on ya all!

MDchanic

That's because it's hard to disagree with the thesis: "The entire government is such a bunch of egotistical morons that it gives both egotists and morons a bad name."

- Eric

ps: along these lines, anyone interested in having his faith in government utterly destroyed should read The March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman, written about thirty years ago.
She was a gen-you-wine historian, and this book documents instances, over thousands of years, in which governments, when presented with choices they could make between actions that were obviously stupid and self destructive, and ones that made sense, and were well aware of what a bad idea the stupid ones were, chose the stupid decisions anyway. Shows you how little things change. Well written, too.

442much

You're talking about a minority. Hell there are movements in Alaska and Vermont that want to join Canada, doesn't mean everyone there does.

I read in the local paper here when Quebec and QUEBECers were celebrating the 400th anniversary of Quebec City that they didn't want Paul McCartney to put on a concert because he was English. The local Edmonton paper said "Quebecers Tell McCartney Stay Home."

Of course Paul came and 400,000 people danced, sang and had a good time. The next day the papers said that it was actually 18 seperatists that didn't want him there. Anything to sell papers and inflame the population.

In WWII, a small town in Quebec supplied more soldiers per capata than anywhere else in Canada, but all you'll read about is how they were against conscription. Look up Leo Major, a Montrealer who took a Dutch city single-handedly from the ****'s to stop the Canadian Army from bombing it and destroying its beautiful buildings and churches.

When I was overseas I noticed how cheap things were. However facturing in the local economy shows that it's about right. Here the average Canadian gets paid more than the average American so our prices on things are about the same as the American price for the money Americans make. We also have higher taxes in some cases, like gasoline for example. However those taxes along with others in the US will have to go up if the US wants to get out of this mess. The US debt load is unsustainable and increasing the ceiling without changing spending habits will just add to the problem. Something has to change and I'm betting the average American won't like it.