"North American" Currency?

[thebigman65]

Hello All,

This really isn't strictly a DVC subject, but I thought I would post it here as there is a good mix of members from the US, Canada, UK, and probably other countries.....

Recently, with the drop in oil prices the Canadian dollar has taken quite a hit. For me personally that is costing me much more to travel to the states....its good for US citizens coming up here....but for us....not so much.

My question is....how would any of you feel about a common North American currency based on the US Dollar? I am really interested to here a US point of view as well as people from other parts of the world, such as the UK. Specifically the UK's take on the fact they did not go with the Euro and maintain the Pound for their currency and the reason behind that?

I know....winter cabin fever....I need to go to Disney!....

 

[kittyab]

I would love it. We just paid for our passes yesterday and my hubbie was grumbling about the dropping Canadian dollar.

BUT I would not include Mexico in this deal, their peso is really low to the USD.

 

[Mousewerks]

I personally would prefer to return to gold standard that is not regulated by any government. That is, the market would decide what a gram of gold would buy or maybe an oz of silver.

 

[Agent P]

A currency union with out a political union would be begging for a disaster, see EURO and Greece for live action example.

 

[DougEMG]

A currency union with out a political union would be begging for a disaster, see EURO and Greece for live action example.

Never going to happen and wouldn't want it to.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm with AgentP.

One of the takeaways from the EU debt crisis over the last year or two---for me anyway---is that a common currency probably does not make sense without a common government that has control over currency decisions. Greece is about to relax its austerity policies now that a new party is in power---and history suggests that might be a good thing given the divergence between US and EU fortunes post-recession---but it's absolutely not what e.g. the Germans (and most of the rest of the EU) want. This could end up ejecting Greece from the common currency, with pretty profound consequences.

I have a hard time imagining Canada and the US joining political forces to the extent necessary to solve this problem---unless one of us invades and conquers the other---so it seems DOA to me.

 

[thebigman65]

I'm with AgentP.

One of the takeaways from the EU debt crisis over the last year or two---for me anyway---is that a common currency probably does not make sense without a common government that has control over currency decisions. Greece is about to relax its austerity policies now that a new party is in power---and history suggests that might be a good thing given the divergence between US and EU fortunes post-recession---but it's absolutely not what e.g. the Germans (and most of the rest of the EU) want. This could end up ejecting Greece from the common currency, with pretty profound consequences.

I have a hard time imagining Canada and the US joining political forces to the extent necessary to solve this problem---unless one of us invades and conquers the other---so it seems DOA to me.

Well Canada is not Greece ....But I definitely get your point....it would likely be that the common currency is still the US green back....and the US central bank would not want to give up control over inflation and interest rates....so if Canada for example wanted to take on the US dollar....it would have to give up all power over the currency....which in reality is political....the only way to have it truly would be to have a central bank with an "Amero" and again...I don't see the US agreeing to that since their dollar is the predominant currency in the world....good debate though....kind of neat to see the different takes on it....

 

[Brian Noble]

Well Canada is not Greece

Granted!

In some cases, the control of currency is overblown. See for example the Swiss Franc. Allowing it to float freely was made to look like some conscious decision on the part of the SNB, but it sounded to me as though they just couldn't keep sustaining the balance sheets needed to make it work. If the water is crushing from all around, it's hard to keep bailing fast enough to keep the ship afloat.

A strong dollar has some advantages, but many disadvantages as well. It just depends on what side of the import/export line one lives.

 

[Mousewerks]

For more analysis than you can stand, see mises.org. The home of the Austrian School of Economics.. More to the point, see Murray Rothbard's classic "What has Government Done to Our Money"

 

[DenLo]

The U.S. is too controlling, I am not sure that it would be a good deal for Canadians as the U.S. would want a lot of concessions.

 

[Brian Noble]

For more analysis than you can stand, see mises.org. The home of the Austrian School of Economics.. More to the point, see Murray Rothbard's classic "What has Government Done to Our Money"

Interestingly, distributed crypto-currencies (e.g. Bitcoin) have even less of a connection to "reality" than a gold-standard currency, but it might also be something that you find compelling!

 

[Mousewerks]

Interestingly, distributed crypto-currencies (e.g. Bitcoin) have even less of a connection to "reality" than a gold-standard currency, but it might also be something that you find compelling!

Yeah, bitcoin has it's issues but I think is a step in the right direction.

 

[Carl'n'Ellie'sDad]

Dis boards: come for the DVC news, come back for Austrian school economics!

When the U.S. Federal Reserve was created, its benefits were to stabilize the price level and guard against "panics" -- what we call recessions. In the last century with the Fed, we had more and substantially more severe panics than the 19th century, and the U.S. dollar is worth mere pennies in 1910s prices.

 

[lawboy2001]

I don't wish for a currency union with the US, but the falling Canadian dollar has made me wish I could have made arrangements to be paid my salary in US dollars only, as a hedge against currency fluctuations!

Disney trips are going to cost 25% more than just six months ago!

 

[tgropp]

Sometimes we have to take the good with the bad. I did lots of visits to WDW in the 90's during Christmas season when our dollar was at $.067. I also purchased DVC points, WDW visits and a cruise when our dollar was at $1.12. I would not want to change a thing, even with our lame dollar at the moment. It goes in cycles. As long as it would be $0.88 - 0.90 travel to the U.S. and their low taxes would still be a good deal.

 

[papertraveller]

Dis boards: come for the DVC news, come back for Austrian school economics!

Love it!

 

[supersnoop]

There are countries that have already adopted the US dollar as their own, only currency. The problem is, you're prices just adjust to match the exchange rate. It wouldn't actually stabilize anything for you.

 

[TagsMissy]

Oh heck no!!

 

[jerseyduke]

Go back to gold. More Fiat currencies is not the answer.

Yes, let the Fed charge interest on money printed out of air.

Money doesn't grow on trees my parents always told me. No, its just printed out of nothing! Growing on tress would be better!

 

[CarolMN]

Disboards does not allow political discussions and since this really isn't a DVC topic anyway...........


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