Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Gas Prices Will Feel The Brunt Of Falling Loonie

Canada’s falling loonie is good news for exporters but bad news for consumers, who face higher prices as the dollar loses its spending power on global markets.

That’s especially true when it comes to gas prices. Economist Philip Cross, formerly StatsCan’s chief economic analyst, crunched the numbers to see exactly what a falling dollar would do to prices at the pump. Here’s a chart of Cross’ findings, compiled by the Globe and Mail:
gas price chart
Cross found Canadians’ average annual gas bill of $2,394 would jump $239 with a 10-per-cent slide in the loonie (the loonie has fallen about 10 per cent in the past year). A 15-per-cent slide in the loonie would mean a $359 increase in the price of gas, while a 20-per-cent slide would raise prices by $479.
Cross recently wrote a report for the Fraser Institute arguing that Canada’s economy won’t benefit from a falling loonie as much as some analysts think.
It’s been speculated by some that Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is deliberately talking down the loonie, in the hopes of spurring Canada’s relatively lacklustre export sector.
But Cross argued this won’t work. A low dollar may have helped exports in the 1990s, but manufacturers have adapted to the high dollar and a slide in its value won’t make as much of a difference this time around, Cross wrote.
Many analysts expect the loonie to keep falling, with TD Bank forecasting an 85-cent loonie by year’s end. Some observers are more bearish on the currency, with at least one predicting a 70-cent loonie in the coming years, levels not seen in a decade.
The loonie was trading at 89.73 cents U.S. as of Wednesday morning.
Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca/
Author: The Huffington Post Canada 

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