Moving on Up

There are some good economic signs out there. The TSX is back over 12,000 and it looks like it will stay there. The Canadian Dollar is over $0.98 USD and it looks like it will stay there. In Canada it looks like we are on the road to happy days. We may not be there yet but it is coming. People are still out of work. The government is a bit short of money, but it will all work out.

One clear indicator that things are going OK is housing prices are still going up.

Yes it continues to get more expensive to own your own home. Canadians seem to think that they need to own property. It is a forced savings plan but, by the time you add in the upkeep and taxes, you really aren't making too much money. You have to live somewhere so breaking even is OK. Eventually not having a mortgage payment would be pretty cool. Maybe someday I will own my home.

The strong Canadian Dollar does hurt exports. Our products become more expensive to foreigners as our dollar gains value. The dollar has to be propped up by something. I'm sure the Bank of Canada is not buying up every free dollar out there so a lot of people must see value in buying Canadian.

When you take a long look at it, Canadians are looking at a good time ahead.

10,000

A couple of days ago the TSX climbed over 10,000 points again. It closed a bit below yesterday, but has once again moved above again.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just over 8,500.

Shortly after the last Canadian federal election the opposition wanted to overthrow the newly and duly elected government because they were not doing enough about the failing economy.

There is no doubt things have slowed down. Some parts of Canada have been hit harder than others, however it seems that the recovery is swift here. Considering our frame of reference is probably skewed as things were so hot for a while we are really not in truly terrible shape.

Things could be better. I know people who have lost their job. It is unfortunate.

It appears the sitting government was right. Canada was in a strong position to ride out the economic downturn. How could they have been right. Well the Prime Minister is an economist. That may have something to do with it.

If you compare to our neighbours to the south, we look like we are recovering on steroids.

We have not seen the end of this slump. There will be some more pain before things get better. If you really look, things in Canada are moving and usually in the right direction.

Even the opposition is moving in the right direction, they have replaced their leader. However, he did think the sky was falling, but I think it was just his leadership platform.