"Clint Hunter" <ciceroii@rogers.com> wrote in message news:1193346984.433177.38630@i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com... > Many Canadians thought that with a C$ dollar at par or higher than the > the U.S. greenback price levels for goods and services in Canada > would even up or perhaps go lower than prices in the U.S. > > But look around. The same model new car whether made here or imported > from Japan or Europe bought in Canada still costs from $5,000 to > $20,000 > more than if purchased in the U.S. > > Here is why. And it has nothing to do with the manufacturer or > retailer in Canada > exploiting or gouging the Canadian consumer as anti-capitalist > politicians and > and media people would have your believe. > > Here are the reason as given in a National Post article titled "Ottawa > could start > with the IE". > > "Mr. Flaherty [Canada' Red Tory Finance Minister] is well aware the > strength of a currency is only one factor that determines price. > Others include the tax bite, government regulations, minimum wages, > tariff barriers and labour laws. The Canadian economy has more costly > regulations and higher taxes [than the U.S], and until this is changed > Canadians cannot expect price parity with the United States, which has > a more dynamic, lower-taxed, less-regulated and therefore less-costly > market". > > "And yet for many years proponents of higher taxes and more red tape > have argued the Canadian economy can absorb these costs without any > economic pain. Today, dollar parity reveals the truth: Somebody pays > an economic price and it is the Canadian consumer". > > So you disgruntled Canadian consumers don't complain to, or about, > manufacturers and retailers. The greedy government, unions, > politicians and bureaucrats are to blame. > > Here is the entire article: > > http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=0bb3083e-6b14-4591-9f7b-e835dfe87d8e > Sounds like BS. Take a Ontario built Honda Ridgeline, or a GM built in Oshawa, take what ships to the US and what ships to Canada and you can't see the difference. Because other than head light lamp intensities, and possibly the coin holders, often just a programmed thing or jumper wire, there is absolutely no difference. $5 maybe. Made in the same plant, same assembly line, same motor, same drunken union rep, same dysfunctional management, same parts source, same paint, same colour selection, same tires, same wages, same benefits, same same same right down to the cup holders and defects. I don't think the CAW or management work for 60% of the wages when making the ones going to the US. Nor do I expect US UAW workers make 40% more making the ones destined for Canada. If production costing is the same, MSRP would be the same unless price discrimination was actively taking place. Clearly it is. And if anything, with US lemon laws, hold backs on selling there to cover legal and lemon issues would clearly indicate the US should be more expensive. Such protections are not afforded to Canadians. The US has severe anti-trust laws on this. Price discrimination is illegal in the US (unless the American consumer benefits). The real problem is Ottawa is weak in making laws that protect Canadians from this kind of price fixing. Harpo and predecessors are more concerned on how to take the money from the taxpayer with a smile than do anything meaningful. Just watch a parliamentary session to watch the grand standing bickering fools.

<bluedevil_1950@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1193349100.524928.110900@o3g2000hsb.googlegroups.com... > On Oct 25, 5:16 pm, Clint Hunter <cicer...@rogers.com> wrote: >> Many Canadians thought that with a C$ dollar at par or higher than the >> the U.S. greenback price levels for goods and services in Canada >> would even up or perhaps go lower than prices in the U.S. >> >> But look around. The same model new car whether made here or imported >> from Japan or Europe bought in Canada still costs from $5,000 to >> $20,000 >> more than if purchased in the U.S. >> >> Here is why. And it has nothing to do with the manufacturer or >> retailer in Canada >> exploiting or gouging the Canadian consumer as anti-capitalist >> politicians and >> and media people would have your believe. >> >> Here are the reason as given in a National Post article titled "Ottawa >> could start >> with the IE". >> >> "Mr. Flaherty [Canada' Red Tory Finance Minister] is well aware the >> strength of a currency is only one factor that determines price. >> Others include the tax bite, government regulations, minimum wages, >> tariff barriers and labour laws. The Canadian economy has more costly >> regulations and higher taxes [than the U.S], and until this is changed >> Canadians cannot expect price parity with the United States, which has >> a more dynamic, lower-taxed, less-regulated and therefore less-costly >> market". >> >> "And yet for many years proponents of higher taxes and more red tape >> have argued the Canadian economy can absorb these costs without any >> economic pain. Today, dollar parity reveals the truth: Somebody pays >> an economic price and it is the Canadian consumer". >> >> So you disgruntled Canadian consumers don't complain to, or about, >> manufacturers and retailers. The greedy government, unions, >> politicians and bureaucrats are to blame. >> >> Here is the entire article: >> >> http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=0bb3083e-6b14-4591-9f7... > > And it is for that very reason that I'm against socialism. The government tells us it can't be taxes (not that I believe Ottawa), plus GM got some grants, tax incentives too from the Ottawa money gusher. Washington DC does not give GM grants. Take a peek at: http://www.fin.gc.ca/toce/2002/cantaxadv_e.html I too am against socialism. Because this gouging is unacceptable in open free markets. But in a weird sort of way, are we saying that GM, Ford, Honda etc. make cars for the same cost per unit in the same plant but price them differently because we are a closed socialistic market? It can't be costs, if coming from the same plant with the same workers and parts. It can't be health care, in the US the company gets to pay while the worker gets a lower tax rate. In Canada the government sucks it from workers wages with a hefty profit to Ottawa. US workers certainly have more disposable income because of the lower socialistic invasion into their pockets. My guess is it is a lack of competition and industry price fixing. The competition comes from the closed market socialistic control. Or perhaps it is Canadian consumer complacency. Or the socialism of RIV not letting the vehicle flow without any artificial controls like headlamp intensities.

"David Johnston" <david@block.net> wrote in message news:3s62i3dea2k54n1n1p2i5nu2v4u82qs88d@4ax.com... > So the current Conservative government made Canada much more socialist > than it had been in the past so that prices wouldn't go down? Me, I can't tell the difference between Harpo or his liberal predecessors. If Harpo was going to do anything different he would have done it by now. He is a liberal left leaning politician that belongs to a party that calls themselves conservatives. Certainly knows how to effective lie to constituents just like a liberal. And I admit, I voted for that twerp. Once is a mistake, one I will not make again. -------------- Politicians are like diapers, once they are on for while they all begin to stink. That why they should be rotated frequently.

"Canuck57" <dave-no_spam@unixhome.net> wrote in message news:eh9Ui.144129$1y4.104175@pd7urf2no... > > "David Johnston" <david@block.net> wrote in message > news:3s62i3dea2k54n1n1p2i5nu2v4u82qs88d@4ax.com... >> So the current Conservative government made Canada much more socialist >> than it had been in the past so that prices wouldn't go down? > > Me, I can't tell the difference between Harpo or his liberal predecessors. > If Harpo was going to do anything different he would have done it by now. > He is a liberal left leaning politician that belongs to a party that calls > themselves conservatives. Certainly knows how to effective lie to > constituents just like a liberal. > > And I admit, I voted for that twerp. Once is a mistake, one I will not > make again. Did you seriously think Harper was going to get into power and govern like a Reformer?

"David Deilley" <david_deilley@yahoo.ca> wrote in message news:1193357316.111507.309040@e9g2000prf.googlegroups.com... > On Oct 25, 4:10 pm, "Chom Noamsky" <b...@t.me> wrote: > >> I noticed on my last trip to Calgary that it costs twice as much to go to >> a >> movie, and groceries cost noticably more than in BC. > > According to Lambournomics, this is because Alberta is more > "socialist" than British Columbia. If fact -- it was just last week > that Lambourn called the Premier of Alberta a "socialist." Fast Socred Eddy so far. Alberta can change with the times, see Reform. Reform will not be the first, just the softest. -------------- Politicians are like diapers, once they are on for while they all begin to stink. That why they should be rotated frequently.

"David Deilley" <david_deilley@yahoo.ca> wrote in message news:1193357098.346606.280120@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com... > Mr. Lambourn appears to be suffering from yet another memory blackout > -- he's forgotten his 30 years as a unionized Canadian publ;ic-school > teacher, where he was not only paid 40% more than his underpaid > American counterparts, but for which he continues to receive a fat, > taxpayer-paid, index monthly pension (along with government-paid > health insurance, and all the other benefits of being a Canadian). Yep, overpaid, 6 hour days, 3 summer months off with days inbetween. > Although I don't think the taxpayers got their money's worth from Mr. > Lambourn, generally speaking I'm glad to live in a country where the > taxpayers have decided (through their choices at the ballot box) to > create well-funded public systems for education and health -- even if > it DOES mean we pay more taxes than people living in the United > States. Perception is everything. Reality is truth. We are managed people. Yep, we pay more and get less.

Le 25 Oct 2007, "Chom Noamsky" <b@t.me> a écrit : > If market pricing was based on > cost, then housing would be much cheaper in hotspots like Calgary. > A truly free market is where there is absolutely no impediment to the movement of goods. Since it’s not possible to have a house in Tuktuyaktuk and live in Calgary, the housing market is far from being free, and therefore lies the justification for State intervention in the housing "market" to insure that everyone gets a roof. -- C’est pas dieu qui fait chier, c’est son criss de fan-club plein de cons - Parce que ça force à lire à l’envers. - Pourquoi? - Les gens qui répondent en haut du texte qu'ils citent. - C'est quoi la pire chose sur Usenet?

Clint Hunter <ciceroii@rogers.com> wrote in news:1193346984.433177.38630@i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com: > > Here is why. And it has nothing to do with the manufacturer or > retailer in Canada > exploiting or gouging the Canadian consumer as anti-capitalist > politicians and > and media people would have your believe. > What a crock! The American car companies are basing their woes on the cost of the medicare they pay unions. GM has just made a deal with the union to cut their own costs and the other two are attempting to do the same. Canadians pay more for cars because they do. If they didn't, the price would go down. -- "Expect less from life and get more from it"