Common Loon

It is the time of year when the namesake of our version of the American greenback heads south, leaving the sparkling pristine waters of the northern clime for the murky ponds of the warm south. Unfortunately, it looks like the Loonie is heading south as well. Flying high at 1.08 of the American dollar earlier this year, the bird dove to a new low of less than 80 cents this week.

Those businesses that relied on a low Canadian dollar for their export market might have been smiling again except the Americans have stopped buying. Lumber companies remain closed; mining companies are shutting down; and the Snowbirds are tightening their belts as they start heading south like the loon. The relative comfort of a near-par exchange rate enjoyed in the past years will be replaced with Canadians scrimping on their spending and being known as skinflints once more.

The recession in the US will inevitably slowly creep north as it spreads around the world but it still boggles the mind how the Loonie can dive so deep, so fast. It is, of course, all a result of the stock marketeers continuing to suck the blood money from our pockets. Having at first conned investors into the shell game on endlessly rising real estate values, they then brazenly went after the banking system, who being at least as greedy as the stock market pirates are, jumped on the bandwagon with the subprime mortgage scheme. The last of the dominoes to fall were the governments who then gave public money to the scoundrels. The stock markets are now bouncing up and down like a ping-pong ball as the manipulators try to find the last drop of blood from wary and weary speculators.

Our economy, still based on the resource sector, is easy prey when a recession strikes and as companies cut back production, our economy weakens. The Americans could help us out a little if they were so inclined. Americans need to start driving again. Dubyah had encouraged them to shop more, but that will only help China. What Americans need to do is drive their cars. Burn more of our gas. As their biggest supplier of crude, we need them to buy more of the one commodity we have that is marketable now. They could easily forgo a few tanker ships of crude from the middle east. I mean, does Dubai need more money from Dubyah’s friends?

The Americans may be trying to fence off their second largest supplier of crude, but the Mexicans are having enough internal problems sorting out their drug smuggling problem to worry about their gas pipeline north. The Americans ought to remember that we have a much longer border to wall off and they should keep us as friendly neighbours. All they have to do is make us a preferred vendor for their oil. And maybe a little nickel and wood while they are at it.

Perhaps when the Americans get their election sorted out on November 4 they can start thinking about their economy and that of their closest neighbours and trading partners. This is assuming they can come up with a clear winner on November 4. According to the early polls, the $150,000 the Republicans spent on Palin’s wardrobe is not working. Of course, there are 16 States that do not allow Advance voting, so the early guesses may be off the mark. There are already accusations of voting irregularities and the people in Florida are just starting to vote. Listening to some audio clips of a few Floridians, one wonders about letting these people near a vote tabulator. From the clips, it seems a number of them are worried that Obama might be a closet Muslim and for a country that prints ‘In God We Trust’ on all their money, this seems to be an issue! I suppose the Muslims have a different God than the Christians and Jews.

Maybe that is the problem with our Loonie. If we had entrusted our monetary system to a God instead of ourselves, things would be working out better for the Loonie. On the other hand, those folk down south are the ones who led the world into this current economic mess. Things may get better in six months when the common loon returns north. Trust in the loon – it will return.