Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Our economies not doing well; here's the test.

If you want to know what is going on in the US and Canadian economies and what your chances are of business growth; look to your news stand; not the TV!

You don't have to be a voracious reader! Look at the thickness of the Monday Morning "US Today" or any of the major Canadian Papers. 

In good, financial times the US Today can be an inch thick as it sits folded on the new stand. Canadian Paper, Monday AM will hold a pretty solid 3/4" thickness. 

These days however these same papers are as thin as a nickel for the most part.  That means the Economy is crap. 

The reason for this very accurate barometer of the economy is advertisement or the lack of it. Not only the pages it fills in a paper but the revenue it represents to buy articles from other organizations!

Become aware of the economies of scale between Canada and the US and/or other trading partners. Alberta and Canada's heavy discounts on our oil are skewing the fundamentals of economy! 

Example. 15 years ago when I was a lot more active than I am now I could look at the Monday morning news and pick up the exchange rate between Canada and he US my principal interest. 

If the exchange was 14% (representing the Economies of scale) I knew I was in for a good week, lots of freight moving both ways. However if the exchange dropped 1% to 13% I knew the week was a goner. That 1% meant the Canadian$ was 1% stronger and the buyers in the US shut down their purchases. This left no loads out of Canada and a sharp increase of loads into Canada as suppliers took advantage of the 1% 

We have been running on nickel thick sized papers for years now. The Conservatives discounting of the oil, our major export, has skewed the Canadian Dollar to an irrelevant position now no more than chewing gum for the mind. 

That said, we have to get up every morning and give it our all if for no other reason than something may fall into our cup.

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