The "O" in O, Canada
Published by Human Head on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 3:31 PM.FT.com / World / US & Canada - Canadians angry over ‘loonie’ prices
With the currencies at one-for-one, consumers no longer need to do any arithmetic to work out that the conversion rate on foreign exchange markets is not the same as that on store shelves.The "O" is the O-face of multinationals as Canadians take it up the tailpipe (as all peoples are and will). Will their prices come down now that the two currencies are on an even plane? If you think they will, shoot me an email and I'll send you some pictures of my antique snowballs being showcased in a museum in downtown Hell that are coming up for sale.
Thus, the price of Alan Greenspan’s just-released memoir, The Age of Turbulence, is listed on the dust-jacket as C$26.45, but just US$20.99. Similarly, the cover price of the Financial Times is $2 in New York but C$2.50 in Toronto.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at the Bank of Montreal, calculated last week that the prices on a random sampling of goods were an average of 24 per cent higher in Canadian dollars than US dollars.
Consider the recent half-point rate cut by the Fed. Yes, the one that sees them "not worried" about inflation.
Canadians aren't going to see cheaper goods, ours are going to go up to their level. Doesn't it feel great to be brought into the Great Global Village?
