Someone on another message board I frequent (the same one I mentioned in another thread, who claimed to see YouTube videos from California of people buying food from roadside stands, and with Euros or silver because no one would accept dollars) runs a small business in Canada selling a product can only be supplied from the United States. He says that his business is being hurt because the dollar is being pushed upward, “heavily manipulated by the government and banking cartels,” raising his costs.
Now, the value of the dollar isn’t something I’ve seen a lot of in the news these days. What’s happening with it? Is it being “heavily manipulated,” no matter who’s doing it? If someone is doing so, what should they be doing with it?
The US dollar is down (and getting downer) against most currencies, including the Canadian dollar. If it’s being manipulated, it ain’t to take advantage of Canadian businessmen.
The US dollar is actually quite strong nowadays. It’s much stronger against the Canadian dollar than it was (1.27 CAD per USD now vs. parity a year or so ago). The USD is quite strong against the euro and the pound. It is down a bit against the yen, though. I often hear people saying how bad the dollar is, but I can’t figure out where they are getting this idea.
You will hear this stuff all the time north of the border. If the CND is going up, it’s bad because it hurts exports. If it’s going down, it’s bad because it hurts imports. It doesn’t stop at currency either–if a chicken sneezes in Alberta, you’re going to be hearing about poultry bans and farmers hurting because of it. Softwood lumber, tariffs, shipping delays at the border–you name it and someone is bitching about it.