Besides my occasional readers from exotic international locale, most of the people who read my blog are in Canada. I have a few people who stop in from the US from time to time, but the vast majority are in great white (and chilly) north. Since I no longer own any loonies or toonies besides the ones tied up in property, I'm interested in what everyone is thinking about this flip-flopping Canadian dollar and it's slightly more downward-pointed US counterpart. What's going on?

I wouldn't go as far as to say that I "follow the markets". In fact, I hardly ever know WTF is going on, though I do make a point of reading Canadian news each week to keep myself somewhat connected to things outside of the current 21 square miles of my existence. Lately, most of the news I've been reading is about the projected (or existing) American recession and the impact it's going to have on the Canadian dollar, which is of course all based on economic speculation by people who actually do know what they're talking about. The trouble is, for every prediction that the States is already experiencing a recession, there is another equally well researched and solid prediction that rock bottom hasn't happened yet. Some say that Canada is going to feel a terrible burn from it, and others think that Canada's involvement in growing markets such as China will slow or soothe the effects of bad news south of the border.

Me? I don't know. I'm not even going to pretend to know what to expect. I have a house in Canada, and I have a salary tied to the American dollar. The one thing that everyone can agree on is that what goes down will recover in time, and given my timeframe for when I plan to use the money we're saving (or, will be saving), I'm not going to worry about it for now. I'm not going to flip out every time the Canadian dollar gets stronger or the markets crash, because I think that this is just the natural ebbs and flows of the markets. They get strong, and then they weaken, and then (with the proper support and with time) they'll strengthen again.

I think I'm absorbing this attitude from the people I'm surrounded with. In this isolated little world, everyone watches what's happening closely, but no one really gives a crap because in the long run, it's January and it's sunny and we can pay our rent and buy our $4.00 red peppers. But, there aren't that many places in the world as heavily dependent on imports from other countries, so obviously it will affect us here too...no matter how much people would like to think otherwise.

REALLY wishing I'd bothered to take an economics class here or there during university. If anyone has any insights to share...please...enlighten me. Seriously.