General Discussions

**Learning Newbie** · 09-21-2007, 12:18 PM

For the first time in 31 years, the Canadian dollar has reached parity with the US Dollar. This is frightening because as Americans we know no matter how bad our economy is, we're always better than Canadia.

Could our friends up yonder shed some light on this? I was going to visit Ontario for business about 10 years ago, when a Canadian dollar was about 65 cents. The trip got canceled, but I thought how cool that I could pretend to be rich. At the time the reason was that Canada was in a recession so their money was weak. Back then we had the roaring Clinton economy and the dollar was strong.

Is Canada in tough economic times, or has our slide all come from the deficit Bush drove up? How do Canadians see their rise compared to the USA? How does the rest of the world see this?

Gotta love WikiPedia. It's the world's largest free stock images site.

**CSS4Life** · 09-21-2007, 12:30 PM

Well the pound is remaining nice and strong for the time being -eventually we'll be forced by the EU to make a transition to the stupid Euro, a truly sad day for our country. We're all in the hands of emotionless bureaucrats

**Learning Newbie** · 09-21-2007, 12:48 PM

The British pound is worth close to two American dollars at this point.

**CSS4Life** · 09-21-2007, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

The British pound is worth close to two American dollars at this point.

I know - good for us British consumers, bad for the US consumers and British exporters

**Michel Samuel** · 09-24-2007, 04:17 AM

1.00 Cad = 1.00112 Usd

Canadian dollar pulls ahead.

Ok for all intent purposes they are equal..
L.N, I think you're a great cyber friend...

But you might want to stop looking at traffic generation and start practicing
business principles. You might find that the "dumb frog" might now what he is
talking about when he infers the Interent is not immune.

The world is changing my friend...

**bant30** · 09-24-2007, 07:37 AM

I don't know how long this sub-prime mortgage effects will last, but I think more investor turn their USD to Euro.

**ADAM Web Design** · 09-24-2007, 09:48 AM

First of all, I have no idea what Michel Samuel is talking about.

Second, the Canadian dollar situation is a wakeup call waiting to happen; unfortunately, most people around here will snooze right through the alarm. In particular, what few vendors are able to participate effectively in an international e-commerce marketplace (i.e. sell to the States) will be affected in a very negative manner. Their products will be "worth more" and therefore have to be sold for less, and their income will suffer as a result. I predict you'll see a number of e-commerce businesses move their physical location over the border, since they'll have to (to be fair, though, I know of at least one example of a company that will be doing it...they're just going to have to do it faster, that's all.)

The manufacturing sector has also been hit hard by this. Over 10,000 jobs have been lost in Ontario alone (something NDP leader Howard Hampton has been using to his advantage during the provincial election.)

Large multi-nationals just made a big gain in this regard, however. Companies such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart and Staples can roll more pennies now as they take money back over the border (note: I have no problem with any of these stores and I do shop at all of them at least occasionally, so this isn't a complaint; it's simply an observation.)

Personally, though, I think a telling sign is going to be how it effects e-commerce, and what it will reveal to the rest of the world about the Great White North in that regard (i.e. that we're backwards and barefoot, caught in bureaucratic red tape and slowed down by the inability of the big 5 banks to recognize progress.)

**Michel Samuel** · 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

First of all, I have no idea what Michel Samuel is talking about.

You know canuck you and I are going to get along nice. I like you style very much. I read your post and we are in AGREEMENT on the problem.
Canadian goods and services got expensive... For Americans

I'll try to clairify. Remember english not my first language
(and Tripy will tell you there isn't a francophone alternative forum.. not that this is important at all just when you say leave i can not find another place.)

As far as Canada is concerned...
The economy is stable and the Canadian dollar is stable.

It is NOT the canadian dollar that has dropped.
It is the American dollar that has dropped.

1) Canada's #1 trade partner is the United States.

A nice relationship has existed between the two nations where Americans
were able to buy Canadian goods and services at lower prices because of the strenght of the
USA dollar.

2) The largest consumer market is the United States.

That is now in the process of changing. With a weaker dollar the purchasing power of Americans will fall as the price of foriegn goods and services increase. Foriegn markets will now have to focus on Foriegn markets.

3) The largest consumer market on the Internet is the United States.

See number #2 for what this means.
Therefore... Generate all the traffic you want to your site.
But doing so may not really affect profit margins. And will obviously drive conversion
ratios down.

Therefore you can talk tech all you want.
But the Interenet does not operate in a vaccuum and is not immune to prevailing
circomstances.
It is time to go back to basics and open the books on business practices.

-----------
Not to make dance of happy on this one.
But when I had mention Free Trade agreement in my Québec seperation debate.
This is including my debate.

When the first European Economic Community was established in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome and only included the original six member states. (France, Belgium, Pays-bas, Luxembourg and Germany.)
Talk about a super market had begun...

In 1973 when it was enlarged it had proved that could very well occur.

And in 1976, during very informal interior party Québecois dialogues.
René Lévesque had estimated that unified as single market between member states with a common trade policy and common
agricultural/fisheries policy was inevitable and would occur by the year 2002. And that this market would most likely consist of over
400 million citizens and given the current conditions to predict a nominal GDP of over $12.0 trillion.

Therefore he said that like Prime minister McKenzie King, Canada should avoid a Free Trade agreement with the Americans and focus
on a diversified economy based on export. He likened it to not putting all the eggs in one basket.

Well here we are 2007 and René Lévesque was right.
The European Union has 492 million citizens the Union's economies create an estimated nominal GDP of €11.6 ($15.7) trillion in 2007.
The Union has a single market between member states with a common trade policy, regional developent policy, common currency and
a common agricultural policy.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-24-2007, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michel Samuel

L.N, I think you're a great cyber friend...

But you might want to stop looking at traffic generation and start practicing
business principles. You might find that the "dumb frog" might now what he is
talking about when he infers the Interent is not immune.

The world is changing my friend...

I work full time for an IT consulting firm. I write SQL backend code and ASP.NET sites, server controls, and XML web services. My wife teaches social studies at one of the local high schools. Really my site is more of a soap box, maybe even a vanity online. This household lives in the 1980s economy. I simply don't have a product to sell online.

To me the internet has never been about commercialism, it's been about the free flow of information. I think capitalism has come in and imperialized the internet like Mr Columbus did with the New World.

**Michel Samuel** · 09-24-2007, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

I work full time for an IT consulting firm. I write SQL backend code and ASP.NET sites, server controls, and XML web services. My wife teaches social studies at one of the local high schools. Really my site is more of a soap box, maybe even a vanity online. This household lives in the 1980s economy. I simply don't have a product to sell online.

To me the internet has never been about commercialism, it's been about the free flow of information. I think capitalism has come in and imperialized the internet like Mr Columbus did with the New World.

LOL
the internet is a soap box ???
But I think I understand. It is like me, not your primary income.

I am a film maker and a photographe and have carried a camera in my hands starting when I had 3 years of age.
I manufacture commericals 90% of my work. But I like to produce independant films when I have time and money.

I have graduated from the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 location in Lyons France. I curently have a Master degree in business.

Until my recent seperation with my former business partner. (My new society will begin the 5 octobre.)

The Internet has been a experiment for me. Sometimes it has been impressive but mostly it has not. However, it has always been interesting and
given me much to discuss with friends.

And you're dialogues about marjauna, the maginot line and anglophone capitalism
where beautifully debated over wine. So I suppose I owe you a thank you.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-24-2007, 03:26 PM

In a way the internet brings none of my income, and in a different way, all of it. So long as my employer continues to find paying customers ("my house might be foreclosed you guys need to cut me some slack") I keep my 9 to 5 and all is right with the world. If we stop having customers who want to have web systems built, well I doubt that'll happen but then we'd be stuck on a teachers salary and I'd be picking cotton.

But yes, I think of the internet as something was meant to not be commercial. You can go to MIT and download all of the material to any class they offer. My job here as a moderator is unpaid, on a volunteer basis. Just like everyone who answered all of my questions did it as a volunteer. I see the internet as one giant collection of helpful communities. And I think at heart knowledge should be free and not brokered.

What did your friends think about my dialogues on bedo and anglos? Hopefully people understand I don't actually believe what I wrote about the Maginot line. I saw what I felt to be a misunderstanding of American culture and wanted to present a similar misunderstanding of French culture to show that not every view from the outside is correct. But I stand behind every word I spoke on the other two subjects. So what was the reaction?

**Michel Samuel** · 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

What did your friends think about my dialogues on bedo and anglos? Hopefully people understand I don't actually believe what I wrote about the Maginot line. I saw what I felt to be a misunderstanding of American culture and wanted to present a similar misunderstanding of French culture to show that not every view from the outside is correct. But I stand behind every word I spoke on the other two subjects. So what was the reaction?

Well in typical french manners we had drink the wine. Sometimes argued, sometimes laughed,
and sometimes got confused.

We all agreed that france, and francophones en general, at our bests can
not be to create a form of capitalism like anglos. It was a surprise but we
decided it was because of our language. With the grammar rules and conjugaision
you must think like a beaucrat. For most of us it is a mystery how you can just "go into business"
without defining absolutely everything.

Personally I came to the conclusion that culturally we are diametrically opposed. And I think both anglos and francophones have a very hard time
seeing the differences within each others coultures.

Americans, Australians, British and Canadians act and sound the same to us.
And
Belgique, Suiss, Québecois, Français Acadien, Morocan, etc.. act and sound same to you.

The only thing we over whelming agreed was that Anglos watch too much Television.
And need to invest much more in education.

We can be good friends. But the two coultures should never live together.
Anglos and Francos in the same nation is Very bad room mates. (Is it the Odd couple ???)

As for the Bedos...
No debate... All of us agreed legal and pay taux.
But one person knows a man that makes marajuana whiskey in Nice France.
He says it is very good but I do not like whiskey.
-----------

But to my other dialogues...
If you would like to know the things we have problem in France...

Quote:

RASSEMBLEMENT aujourd'hui lundi 24 sept à 18h30, devant le 41 boulevard de la villette, où s'est jetée par la fenêtre une sans-papière pendant une rafle, et qui est maintenant décédée.

This basically says that police came to arrest a man for being an ilegal immigrant. The man then threw himself out of a window and died.

But there is a problem with this...
It is not the first time police have gone to arrest ilegal immigrants and they panic and jump out of windows.
Nothing will happen to the police officers involved.
And this is the reason why French people cut off the heads of their leaders.

Buy Nazi stuff is very ilegal in France. I might go to jail for what I tried to do. If that happens I promise to stop eating.
The police might win... But I will make certain that I get the final laugh. If not me my family will.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-24-2007, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michel Samuel

We all agreed that france, and francophones en general, at our bests can not be to create a form of capitalism like anglos. It was a surprise but we decided it was because of our language. With the grammar rules and conjugaision you must think like a beaucrat. For most of us it is a mystery how you can just "go into business"
without defining absolutely everything.

I'm very tempted to blame everything on language. Did anybody ever read 1984 by George Orwell? Ingsoc, the leading party, published a new revised dictionary every year. They would remove different words with every printing, the only one in the world to do so. In public, this made their society more efficient because they would remove "excess" and only concentrate on what's important. Bad for example becomes ungood, really bad is plus-ungood, and horrible is double-plus-ungood. And so it goes with all words, this is just an example. The real goal here is to restrict what a person can communicate and express so much that you've restricted what they're able to think.

Language defines the human mind. A dog can fear that his master will hit him, but a dog can't fear that his master will hit him tomorrow. Only humans have this view into the past and future, to guide our imaginations, to set and stick to long term goals because of language. And our grammar (actor to verb to thing that gets acted upon) is an expression of how we see the world, as a species or culture, or I'm not really sure.

But the French are different in a number of other ways. Where else would they take to the streets at the notion that an employer can fire someone? Or build a new search engine (Quaero?) to put an end to the hegemony of free service?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michel Samuel

The only thing we over whelming agreed was that Anglos watch too much Television.
And need to invest much more in education.

I think many Americans would agree. I also think the mass media outlets are as evil as Bush in this regard, maybe more. People who think rationally are painted as crazies, wackos, outsiders, people not to be trusted. We're given the idea that if you think the president should be impeached, you're the only one, and had better not open your mouth about it. Like Orwell's shrinking dictionary, this puts up hurdles for people to join together toward any kind of action. This is why I don't watch television more than any other reason. I also think the commercials make you dumb, though.

**Michel Samuel** · 04:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

I'm very tempted to blame everything on language. Did anybody ever read 1984 by George Orwell? Ingsoc, the leading party, published a new revised dictionary every year. They would remove different words with every printing, the only one in the world to do so. In public, this made their society more efficient because they would remove "excess" and only concentrate on what's important. Bad for example becomes ungood, really bad is plus-ungood, and horrible is double-plus-ungood. And so it goes with all words, this is just an example. The real goal here is to restrict what a person can communicate and express so much that you've restricted what they're able to think.

Language defines the human mind. A dog can fear that his master will hit him, but a dog can't fear that his master will hit him tomorrow. Only humans have this view into the past and future, to guide our imaginations, to set and stick to long term goals because of language. And our grammar (actor to verb to thing that gets acted upon) is an expression of how we see the world, as a species or culture, or I'm not really sure.

I have read 1984 and I think you would find it surprising done by the University of Paris discouvered that 1 in 5 français have also either read or were able to give a working synasis of the contents of the book. By comparision the same study found 1 in 25 British could claim similar.

Here we have common perceptions. Language is a very important part of a coulture. It represents how we think and put together concepts. To effectively communicate in French the average child of 8 years must understand the concepts of compliment of the object, 3 groups of verb conjugaison, masculine et feminin, reflexif vs. passif voice and the list of rules is long.

By comparison English is extremly easy. This is why we can not create anglophone capitalism. It is also why Québec fights Canada.

Imagine an anglophone school system with anglophone approach to teaching the french language. What happens is our children are not literate enough to make an impact and broadcast francophone coulture to North America. This is Québec is called "welfaire state" by Alberta, racist by Ontario and the federal gouvernment threw money at us to shut up.

It is not we are racist or lazy and throwing money at us does not fix problems. We just need to do it for ourselfs. When a 1/3 of the people teaching french in french schools are anglophones and francophone teachers are below standards.... There is problems that need to be addressed.
It is not funny that computer programers from china can very easy get visa to work in Québec.. But a teacher from France is turned away at the frontier.
And it is the anglophone schools that have the most of Québecs educational computers.

Unfortunately, anglophones count the number of schools and teacher ratio and can not see the problem. Here their language does not see our language. And we are angry because we can not see why they can not see. As I say, our coultures are diametrically opposed.. because of our languages.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

But the French are different in a number of other ways. Where else would they take to the streets at the notion that an employer can fire someone? Or build a new search engine (Quaero?) to put an end to the hegemony of free service?

We had a nude bicycle protest with over 5,000 people in Paris getting naked in public and doing a manifestation bicycle ride. Because we do not like the dirty air from cars. We now have Vélibs !! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A9lib%27

As I have said to everyone...
You want to understand the French. Look at Québec !!
The english thought they won the war.... We gave them a chance and decided
to keep fighting. Now we are a nation !! My new passporte has a fleur-de-lys and not a maple leaf.

Perhaps one day my grandchildren will look at Frontier crossing between Canada and Québec.
They will talk about how many generations fought to keep a coulture alive. And they will be proud.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

I think many Americans would agree. I also think the mass media outlets are as evil as Bush in this regard, maybe more. People who think rationally are painted as crazies, wackos, outsiders, people not to be trusted. We're given the idea that if you think the president should be impeached, you're the only one, and had better not open your mouth about it. Like Orwell's shrinking dictionary, this puts up hurdles for people to join together toward any kind of action. This is why I don't watch television more than any other reason. I also think the commercials make you dumb, though.

I will argue that Television is a drug more dangerous than heroine.
I will argue that you can not have "Freedom of the Presse" and "Capitalism" in the same nation.
I will argue that mass entertainment is a responsibity that needs to be controled.

But like you with the computer background and the Internet.
My work depends on the mass media. I must produce television commercials that make people buy.