Conference kaosws::canada

Rob

I am glad that I am not the only one feeling this way. However,
the politics in Canada isn't any better. The politics of the PC's
are a shirt-tail away from Wimpy Bush (aka Ronnie's top gun on
crime) and Margaret Thatcher.

I was up in Vancouver the week before the American election and
the Canadian election campagning are just as bad if not worst in
the mud slinging.

cal hoe in Colorado Springs

	A joke that just got passed around here;

	Q: What is blue and hangs between Ronnie Reagan's legs?
	A: Brian Mulroney's tie.

	Anti-americanism is being played up by the Liberals (and NDP)
and it looks like free trade is sunk.  Free trade is not well understood
to say the least; the illusion that the Libs are playing up is that if 
we reject free trade, we have asserted ourselves and protected 
ourselves.

	In fact, we are at the mercy of the big southern neighbour as 
far as trade goes anyway, and without an explicit agreement, there is no
limit on the ways we can get screwed.  The healthy flow of trade is the
biggest reason for our good living standards, if we had to buy Canadian 
everything what would our living standards be?  (How many homes would 
have a VCR, if only Canadian ones were available? Who would want one:
remember Canadian colour TVs?) ;-)

	Comes a recession, up go the US tariffs, up go Canadian tariffs,
and it will cost $30 more in Canada for a shirt made in the states. 
With a deal, at least we have a commitment on what they can do to us
when their protectionists gain control (they are almost in control
already, even before any recession).

	Yr right -- dirty campaign here in the GW north.  That's the
cost of democracy, appeal to the lowest common denominator... 

Richard,

I rather see a dirty campagne then see a "packaged" campagne. I
can see that the trade agreement IS a give away. The part that
destroys the trade act is the way the American dollar is pegged.
If the deficit spending on large item military toys that the
Ray-gun-nomics folks wants to keep, the whole western world will
shirt-tail right behind.

Consumer-ism is good as long as the national economy is healthy
but the American consumerism doesn't keep the balance of trade so
we ended up owing debts to the productive suppliers whose economy
is protected buy their own laws to keep out American goods.

You said VCR's are cheap here ($200 US buys a pretty good
no-thrills VCR here; same unit in Canada is $279-$400). Even at
23% exchange, the $200 unit is still a bargain.

cal hoe

	I agree about dirty campaign is better than marketing consultant 
campaign.  You need a little sincer blood-letting before you can ever see 
which candidate is the shiftiest b***tard; The truth might even come
out if things get intense!  

	As far as VCRs, the Far East makes 'em all.  US-made VCRs have
gone the way of Canadian colour TVs -- they weren't fit to survive in a
(relatively) free market.  That means some of us lost jobs; now the Far
East countries are wealthier, and they are buying more from us, so we
are still at work.  They are becoming more "consumer" society, and we
will become a bit less.  As long as the US is smart enough to push the
dollar down in a case like that, the trade balance will tend to right
itself.  North Americans will see those Eastern goods become more
expensive, but our goods will look like better values from Japan. Let
them worry about materialism eroding their traditional values, we 
already had that in the sixties! 

    Peter Drucker says that the idea of a "closed economy" (for closed,
    read National) is really a fallacy and economies are now run by
    the global economy....an example is Reagan's fiscal policies for
    the last few years. He did everything to REDUCE THE DEFICIT! Shows
    you how much control countries have over their own economies, except
    in one area:
    
    Canada can link its economy to a strong one, therefore getting
    temporary boosts after events settle down; the global economy is
    going to do its own thing, anyway, so it's best to "get real" and
    open trade as much as possible early, therefore getting a jump on
    the rest of the world before it wakes up.
    
    Sorry this argument is not better constructed, I'm in a hurry....
    
    Tally-ho,
    
    Ray