Would Canadians go for the 'Amero' currency?

[Emancipated]

Does anyone support the idea of unifying Mexico and Canada with the US to form the North American Union. I don't know how serious this is, but I detest the idea of playing second fiddle to them. It may prove advantageous from an economical standpoint, but what are your thoughts on the subject?

note: not one iota of research went into this; I'm merely guaging a spontaneous response.

wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Union)

[Crotchety Old Man]

If we were to abandon the Cdn$, we should switch to the Euro. The Americans aren't going to be around much longer.

[Emancipated]

Who and their army is going to oust the Americans? We should adopt the RenMinBi with all the talks of China being the next superpower.

[Crotchety Old Man]

Who and their army is going to oust the Americans? We should adopt the RenMinBi with all the talks of China being the next superpower.
The Americans are taking care of themselves - implosion imminent.

[Cough]

The Americans are taking care of themselves - implosion imminent.
I guarantee that you will implode long before the US does COM

[Aero]

NOOOOO... I hate the name Amero lol. I don't think a unified currency is a good thing. I read that there are winners as well as loosers in the euro currency. We might get the short end of the stick.

[thelefteyeguy]

right now...Canada and America could share the same currency (value is very similar)...it's so close..but in a few yrs...who knows.

but Mexico...no way

[bionicbadger]

Why would we want to?
Canada is much better off with its own currency.

[manixc]

nope,

to add, we, Canadian, would most definitely get the short end of the stick.

[CodecX81]

I support unified currency, not the name though.. I do think that we need to conglamorate our currencies to compete with the euro.

Besides, the cost of living on a peso is so pathetic, joining mexico into a currency union would force the Mexican government to bring their standards up to par with ours, people wouldn't want to jump the boarder so much if they had a decent way to make money

[thelefteyeguy]

if you are a traveller...you would benefit a lot with a unified currency. I had to struggle with converting currency at times in 3rd world countries trying to exchange goods with Cdn$....with the US$ it was easy

save on exchange charges from the bank.

earning in US dollars would also be nice ;)

disadvantages...we'd lose control of the countries monetary policy, be influenced in the heavy debt of the American Govt, etc

lose a lot of history/heritage of Canada...ie on the face of cdn currency

[gordholio]

Found this on Wikipedia:

North American Union

The North American Union is a proposed international government encompassing the nations of Canada, the United States and Mexico. The blueprint for this governing body was laid out in a 2005 report entitled "Building a North American Community" published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). It is modeled loosely on the European Union. A proposed common currency would be called the "Amero," modeled after the EU's common currency, the Euro. The three nations that make up the NAU would ease remaining trade and travel restrictions with each other, making entry into their countries from the other two nearly as easy as crossing state or provincial lines within each of said countries. Because of this, the NAU is seen by many in the United States as an end run around Federal immigration laws and eliminating the need for amnesty for illegal immigrants currently being debated in the US Congress. This proposed supranational government is also seen by many as surrendering US sovereignty, which undermines the United States Constitution. Because of these and other provisions that would be enacted if the NAU was put in place, it is considered to be nothing more than an illegal international treaty by many in the United States.

A website, www.spp.gov, has been said to be the site for the North American Union set up by The United States Chamber of Commerce.

[gei]

If we were to abandon the Cdn$, we should switch to the Euro. The Americans aren't going to be around much longer.

lol...

well i guess its "cool" or something to be anti-american these days.. but in reality the "amero" dollar would benefit us all, just like the euro-dollar benefitted europe.

and in case anyone didnt notice, our currency is worth LESS than the american dollar (has been for all my life, and probably will continue to be)... we would not be getting the short end of any stick.

these doomsday sayers predicting the downfall of the american economy are just stupid kids. the us is the most powerful country in the world, they aint going anywhere.

[Daemar]

A north american currency is the smart thing to do.

[Bullseye]

and in case anyone didnt notice, our currency is worth LESS than the american dollar (has been for all my life, and probably will continue to be)... we would not be getting the short end of any stick.

You clearly don't understand how a transition to a unified currency works. It makes no difference where our currency is now in relation to the $US, everything would be revalued at the switchover time, as it was in Europe.

The problems that happened in Europe (and still continue) were a result of retailers taking advantage of the situation, btw.

[d_jedi]

I don't see how this would be a good thing right now. The US dollar is going down.. while ours is rising (or just about staying put) vs. other currencies. If we had the Amero, the US's massive debt/deficit would be pulling the currency down.. to our detriment.

[Bullseye]

This article is older, but still relevant, for anyone who is interested in the pros and cons of a common currency.

Common currency (http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/Com-e/bank-e/rep-e/rep29sep99-e.htm)

It's actually a very complex decision to make, involving many factors that most of us would never even think of. My opinion, though, is that the bad would outweigh the good, and that is mainly because we are a heavy resource producing country, rich in natural resources.

[BadDrafter]

I'm all for it, it would make my Canadian coin collection worth more. Not that I collect as an investment or anything.

[curtis]

Someone's been smoking weed in common sense class.

You think they're going to give us 1 Amero for each Cdn $?

lol...

well i guess its "cool" or something to be anti-american these days.. but in reality the "amero" dollar would benefit us all, just like the euro-dollar benefitted europe.

and in case anyone didnt notice, our currency is worth LESS than the american dollar (has been for all my life, and probably will continue to be)... we would not be getting the short end of any stick.

these doomsday sayers predicting the downfall of the american economy are just stupid kids. the us is the most powerful country in the world, they aint going anywhere.

[Aero]

Someone's been smoking weed in common sense class.

You think they're going to give us 1 Amero for each Cdn $?

The US don't know the meaning of the word equal lol, they will push a 0.60$cdn per 1.00us$ :cheesygri

[thelefteyeguy]

Someone's been smoking weed in common sense class.

You think they're going to give us 1 Amero for each Cdn $?

most likely when you give up your cdn dollars...you'll get the exchange equilivant for the NorthAmerican Currency...

but im not sure how it's executed.

[NG]

If we were to abandon the Cdn$, we should switch to the Euro. The Americans aren't going to be around much longer.

I like your logic. I've said before I would like Canada to look at abandoning NAFTA in favour of becoming a member of the European Union.

[thelefteyeguy]

I like your logic. I've said before I would like Canada to look at abandoning NAFTA in favour of becoming a member of the European Union.


...the North American economy is so much different than Europes. I dont ever see that happening.

...shipping cost alone would not make us a good trading partner.

[NG]

...the North American economy is so much different than Europes. I dont ever see that happening.

...shipping cost alone would not make us a good trading partner.

It works fine for China sending products here and as more and more products get shipped from China to the US fewer and fewer gets shipped from Canada to the US.

It works fine for the middle east sending oil around the world so I can't see why it wouldn't work here (esp b/c one of the biggest boons to Canada for NAFTA, folded in from the old "Auto Pact", will soon be on the ropes with the importation of cars from China).

I gotta blaze now but I'm going to try to find like the top 5 things Canada exports to the US on google later and post them here.

You could very well be right since I do def get what you're saying about distance but I still hope it could work... :D

[Aero]

I read this somewhere lol, I can't recall where. Before the second world war Europe was Canada' number 1 trading partner (UK to be exact).

[dark169]

I gotta blaze now but I'm going to try to find like the top 5 things Canada exports to the US on google later and post them here.


I'll save you the search:
#1 - Cars (engines >3L) 38.3 Billion
#2 - Natural Gas in Gas state 35.8
#3 - Oil 29.9
#4 - lumber 9.9
#5 - Trucks (less then 5 tonnes)9.6B

From: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrkti/tdst/tdo/tdo.php#tag a very cool little tool.

All of which would do very poorly competing for market share in Eruope, due to a number of factors, cost of production/shipping of our energy resources couldn't compete with the middle east or russia. Lumber is very expensive to ship via boats long distances, our cars are made for US consumption why build asian cars in canada to be shipped over seas when they could be made over seas to be shipped over seas...

Other highlights of the top 25 - News print, coal, other oil products, smaller cars, misc engines for nonautomotives, telco equipment, medicines, Al, KCl,

[mattpiloto]

lol...

well i guess its "cool" or something to be anti-american these days.. but in reality the "amero" dollar would benefit us all, just like the euro-dollar benefitted europe.

and in case anyone didnt notice, our currency is worth LESS than the american dollar (has been for all my life, and probably will continue to be)... we would not be getting the short end of any stick.

these doomsday sayers predicting the downfall of the american economy are just stupid kids. the us is the most powerful country in the world, they aint going anywhere.

So was Rome. The danger to the US lies within its own borders.


As for the "North American Union", no thanks. The US dollar is currently on a downtrend and the US has a massive debt load that they don't seem to have any intention of doing anything about. As it is, a crumbling US economy would have a huge impact on our own. No need to make it worse.

[Bullseye]

The U.S. isn't in as bad of shape as everyone makes it out to be. They've intentionally let their dollar slide to help U.S. exporters and shrink the trade deficit, and their 'massive debt' is actually nowhere near historical highs in terms of the debt/GDP ratio (which is what really matters).

Their two problems are the trade gap, and the current account deficit, and both are far from insurmountable problems. A not overly burdensome tax rise will fix the latter problem instantly, and their multi-pronged efforts to reduce the trade gap are starting to bear fruit (dollar devaluing, pressuring China to float their currency, legislation to slow Chinese goods, etc).

The yank bashers get a hard on talking up the Coming Apocalypse, but that doesn't make it any more likely to happen.

[x86asm]

Not a chance, unity might be a good thing but I don't think Europe really gained anything from their unified currency system. If anything, we should watch the Europeans closely and judge accordingly.

[just_For_ipod]

No thank you.

We are on the verge of becoming the U.S.'s equal and maybe even further.
BTW, to some of you who didn't pay attention in history class, Canada's currency was once worth more than the U.S.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/CAD_USD_Exchange_Rates.png
From the trend I see, Canada may soon be worth more again.

Another thing, being neighbors with the U.S. is already enough, we don't need to have an NAU. Besides, I like the Canadian dollar, not the Canero (my version of the Amero)

*Just a note
American politicians don't go to school. They complained that we weren't helping in Iraq and said "Where are you when we need you now.. We were there for Canada in the past."
The only country that ever attacked Canada was the U.S. how ironic.

[CodecX81]

I don't see how this would be a good thing right now. The US dollar is going down.. while ours is rising (or just about staying put) vs. other currencies. If we had the Amero, the US's massive debt/deficit would be pulling the currency down.. to our detriment.

Republicans always create huge debt, they are usually associated with war... Look at that graph.

70's was war on vietnam
90's was Desert storm
2000's was war on terrorism

The democrats pull in and pick up the pieces.. look at what bill clinton did with the country's wealth.. They were pwn'ing the canadian dollar in the late 90's. When that happens again (and it will) I think it'd be beneficial to have a unified currency. The US has a lot more purchasing power than us

Besides, the US has a lot of damn good deals on products and the only reason why i don't buy, is due to the fact of the fluxuating dollar & cost of shipping.

Unified currency is one step closer to helping the developing countries in southern america get up to speed and compete with their own internal issues.

[dark169]

American politicians don't go to school. They complained that we weren't helping in Iraq and said "Where are you when we need you now.. We were there for Canada in the past."
The only country that ever attacked Canada was the U.S. how ironic.

Whats even more ironic is that it wasn't Canada then so perhaps you need to get some edjumacation. If anything the war of 1812 would just be another conflect between the now buddy/buddy US/UK :lol:

[Daemar]

No thank you.

We are on the verge of becoming the U.S.'s equal and maybe even further.
BTW, to some of you who didn't pay attention in history class, Canada's currency was once worth more than the U.S.
From the trend I see, Canada may soon be worth more again.

Another thing, being neighbors with the U.S. is already enough, we don't need to have an NAU. Besides, I like the Canadian dollar, not the Canero (my version of the Amero)


Having a universal currency doesn't mean there's no 'exchange rate'. The differences we will see will be purchase power. Do you think all the countries in the EU had a 1:1 currency exchange? No, and when they were trading in their old currencies for the Euro, they were traded in on a ratio similar to what the exchange rates were.

What is the purchase power i speak of? Well let's say you're right and the canadian $ would have been worth more than the US$. What would happen with the unified currency is the same product in Canada would sell for less than what it would cost in the US. ie. If a coke in France costs 3 Euros, it's probably not 3 Euros in Latvia.

There is no bother in exchanging into different currencies. Now, since NA only has 3 main countries, it might be easier to adopt an 'Americas' currency to include all the south american countries as well.

[Daemar]

Whats even more ironic is that it wasn't Canada then so perhaps you need to get some edjumacation. If anything the war of 1812 would just be another conflect between the now buddy/buddy US/UK :lol:

Technically Canada was not a country of its own until 1867; but yes, the war of 1812 was between the US and Britain, BUT it was fought on Canadian soil(was called Upper and Lower Canada at the time)... then later in the US.