The North American Currency Union (Amero)

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

When I was in unversity in 06, my professor teaching EU Politics was discussing at the time a survey done where Canadians identified themselves as more European than American (specifically, more like Brits). I'd love to track down that study somewhere, and see what reasons were given.

I know this won't be a popular idea with the majority of the Board but I'd rather have Canada join the EU (even though we're not in Europe) than a N. American Union. I would rather have the ability to live and work in Europe without a visa than in the US.

[maverickeastwood]

The NAU would be quite the undertaking. The tax laws, for starters, would need to be rewritten in all 3 countries in order for a common currency to work. Just because the CDN $ is on par with the US$ doesn't mean they hold the same value in the end.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

I know this won't be a popular idea with the majority of the Board but I'd rather have Canada join the EU (even though we're not in Europe) than a N. American Union. I would rather have the ability to live and work in Europe without a visa than in the US.

That would be sweet, but I doubt Europe wants Canada in their club.

[chris lindberg]

In order for the Amero currency to come about, what events would have to unfold?

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by chris lindberg

In order for the Amero currency to come about, what events would have to unfold?

There simply needs to be more political will at the grassroots level on the part of all three countries. Fact is it might be a good idea but a good 95% of the population of all three countries is too ignorant of finance to understand the reasons why and will view this as being part of something bigger politically that will threaten their very nationalistic existance. Ie "North American Union"

Mexico has a large leftist opposition that threatened peace and order when Calderon won a narrow victory in the last election that most likely would not be happy with an 'Amero" currency. Americans have a lot of pride in their country and would view an "Amero" currency as sacrificing something for other countries whether it's true or not. In Canada there would need to be more support politically because right now any talk of any economic agreement with the US reminds Canadians of the softwood lumber dispute and thus it's a sore-spot.

What would have to happen would be a currency meltdown of both the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar where local leaders in both of those countries make blunders while dealing with the crisis. This has to be combined with the American dollar being replaced worldwide with the Euro as the dominate currency to settle international transactions. This way all three countries' citizens can see first hand that it might be beneficial to adopt a common currency.

Right now it can be argued that the Euro is indeed replacing the US dollar in a lot of places as a means to settle transactions internationally, however it's not widespread enough for Americans to take notice.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Right now it can be argued that the Euro is indeed replacing the US dollar in a lot of places as a means to settle transactions internationally, however it's not widespread enough for Americans to take notice.

From your position in Oil and Gas, what are the prospects of a changing international currency for a place like Calgary? How much of the shift towards the Euro is being caused by negative sentiment of the US foreign policy? In your opinion to what degree is oil and gas fueling the push towards an Amero?

20 questions.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

From your position in Oil and Gas, what are the prospects of a changing international currency for a place like Calgary? How much of the shift towards the Euro is being caused by negative sentiment of the US foreign policy? In your opinion to what degree is oil and gas fueling the push towards an Amero?

20 questions.

1) I don't really understand the question, but I'm assuming you mean what view would local business interests have towards adopting another currency to settle thier international transactions. For businesses that operate in a bunch of other countries outside of North America it might indeed make more sense to deal in Euros depending on what that business is buying or selling. From an oil and gas perspective; pretty much all exported Canadian oil and gas gets sold in the US and benchmarked against prices of US dollar denominated grades of crude like West Texas Intermediate or US dollar denominated indicies of Natural Gas such as NYMEX Natural Gas prices. Contracts are settled in US dollars and it doesn't make sense to settle contracts in any other currency than American dollars.

2) Absolutely zero, a switch to using the Euro as a base currency for bank reserves and transactions would be based on the sole fact that the past few years the Euro has been a stronger more stable currency than the US dollar. Strength and stability is why the US dollar has been and for the most part still is the currency of choice internationally. Of course a big threat to this in the future is a lower less stable US dollar which has been caused by the large trade deficit the US has and also the massive debt they have incurred fighting wars overseas. I'd argue that as a result of foreign policy initiatives the US currency has been hurt rather than international money movers scoffing at US foreign policy. Afterall if there's a more liquid market dealing in US currency and the spreads vs local currencies are lower than for the Euro you'd be losing millions of dollars in transaction costs weekly if you were selecting the currencies you dealt in by politics rather than economics.

3) Oil and Gas has an impact on this. Domestically Canada has seen a large increase in the value of it's currency directly related to the high price of commodities including oil and gas. Very similar with Mexico who is a large exporter of oil to the US as well. I wouldn't simply say the pure presence of oil and gas would 'fuel' a motion towards the 'Amero' as you put it but rather than the price of both commodities would impact local support for a common currency. In periods of high commodity prices like now the Canadian Dollar will be higher relative to the US dollar than periods of low commodity prices. I'd imagine that average Canadians would be less likely to want to adopt a common currency with the US when their dollar is high relative to the American dollar.

[Jing]

Originally Posted by 4X4

The Euro involves 15 countries. This NA currency would involve 3. One of which is a behemoth and two that are dwarfs. Nowhere close to the same. At least in my opinion. As I already stated, I'm no economist.

If there is a unified currency, the states will want proportional representation when dealing with fiscal and monetary policy. Also the US's debt must be taken into account we merging currencies. All in all I personally dont like the idea, especially with the shape of the american economy at the moment.

[MelBridgeman]

[FlamingLonghorn]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

When I was in unversity in 06, my professor teaching EU Politics was discussing at the time a survey done where Canadians identified themselves as more European than American (specifically, more like Brits). I'd love to track down that study somewhere, and see what reasons were given.

Well truthfully (and I might get called an arrogant American for this) European countries have all pretty much been emulating America as well so whether you are directly saying you emulate the US or take an extra step it doesn't really matter.

[jammies]

Attitudes towards firearms, health care, politics (where is the strong US equivalent of the NDP?), world affairs, and the military are just a few differences between your "average" Canadian and American. Not to mention our aggrieved minority are the Quebecois, and theirs is the blacks/hispanics, which is a huge difference as well.

Using Calgary as a comparison is useless as we are more American than the Americans; try going to Vancouver, Montreal or St. John's and tell me any of those cities has an American feel.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Nothing says Canada like James town and an obsession with the word liberty. The eagle is a well rounded touch too.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by jammies

Attitudes towards firearms, health care, politics (where is the strong US equivalent of the NDP?), world affairs, and the military are just a few differences between your "average" Canadian and American. Not to mention our aggrieved minority are the Quebecois, and theirs is the blacks/hispanics, which is a huge difference as well.

Using Calgary as a comparison is useless as we are more American than the Americans; try going to Vancouver, Montreal or St. John's and tell me any of those cities has an American feel.

I'd argue Vancouver has a huge capitalist, elitist culture. It's more hidden because of the strong social equality movement, but there is a lot of money and social hierarchy in Vancouver.

[chris lindberg]

Researching the Amero, I'm finding myself being led towards a wider range of topics such as...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wor...8conspiracy%29
The New World Order

http://www.av1611.org/666/
666 - The Mark Of The Beast

http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_3.html
The AntiChrist



I do have a whole hour for my seminar, perhaps I'll throw in some of this at the end of the presentation?

The New World Order - Independent Task Force on North America a project organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, proposes the establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community, generally referred to as the North American Union. It has been proposed by Robert Pastor, a vice-chairman of the task force, that the North American Union would have a common currency, the Amero.

666 - The Mark of the Beast - And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a MARK in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the MARK, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six

The Antichrist - Scripture teaches Antichrist to be a religious, individual, yet to come in the future, will be both a political and an ecclesiastical empire (world government)

[Blaster86]

Welcome to life. People start to see things they want to see that justifies their beliefs.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by chris lindberg

Researching the Amero, I'm finding myself being led towards a wider range of topics such as...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wor...8conspiracy%29
The New World Order

http://www.av1611.org/666/
666 - The Mark Of The Beast

http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_3.html
The AntiChrist



I do have a whole hour for my seminar, perhaps I'll throw in some of this at the end of the presentation?

The New World Order - Independent Task Force on North America a project organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, proposes the establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community, generally referred to as the North American Union. It has been proposed by Robert Pastor, a vice-chairman of the task force, that the North American Union would have a common currency, the Amero.

666 - The Mark of the Beast - And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a MARK in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the MARK, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six

The Antichrist - Scripture teaches Antichrist to be a religious, individual, yet to come in the future, will be both a political and an ecclesiastical empire (world government)

Watch out - If you didn't read it on CNN, it's not true. Not only that, but there's a zero percent change it could even be considered plausible.

There's a lot more to this world than people choose to belief.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Watch out - If you didn't read it on CNN, it's not true. Not only that, but there's a zero percent change it could even be considered plausible.

There's a lot more to this world than people choose to belief.

I am actually tempted to get into this with you, but I'm pretty sure it's already been hashed and rehashed again the past little while.

I'm actually surprised it took this thread this long to get to this point =-o.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Why does that really matter anymore?

Not sure what you mean here. Are you saying that as it stands now we have pretty much lost out sovereignty or that giving up control ouf our borders, ideas and everything else that makes us Canadian doesn't matter?

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I'm wondering with the Amero and NAU in general, would a cross-border work visa be a viable option? It would be much easier for Canadians into the US professional job market, and very easy for Americans and Mexicans to come ease the labor crunch in parts of Canada. Of course, I'm sure the Americans would have a fit at the very idea though...Perhaps an extensive look at how well it's working in the EU would be a good option?

It is not hard for Canadian, American and Mexican professionals to work in all three countries. All it takes is a degree and a contract for most professions. How much easier does it need to be?

[Blaster86]

^uhhh what? did you quote the wrong post?