Parity

In his book The Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need By Dave Barry, Dave Barry makes the astute observation that "…no matter where you go, no matter when you go there, there is one thing for certain; the dollar is getting weaker."

Granted, these words of wisdom were penned (or typed or worked into a word processor or whatever) well before we had the current addled-minded administration in the US. After hearing of the near collapse of the economy, and watching the dollar fall to all-time lows against the pound sterling and the euro, it should not surprise me (but it does) to hear that the Canadian Dollar was at parity with the US Dollar.

Other than having the opportunity to spend Canadian Dollars as if they were US Dollars at the touristy shops in Buffalo and Niagara (and other border towns in touristy areas) I have never before seen the US Dollar and the Canadian Dollar at parity. Heaven help us all! I hope the next administration are not so fiscally irresponsible as to be able to turn record budget surpluses into record deficits!

I guess I can no longer consider Canada to be North America's largest garage sale. See what a little fiscal ineptitude can do for an economy?

Wherever you are today, I hope you're having a good, fiscally responsible day!

Don Bergquist – 21 September 2007 – Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK