Comments on: This and That: Falling BRICs Edition http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/ Helping you invest and prosper Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:54:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Million Dollar Journey http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/#comment-181712 Million Dollar Journey Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:05:01 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/?p=1731#comment-181712 Merci Buckets to you as well CC! Merci Buckets to you as well CC!

]]> By: Phil S http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/#comment-181707 Phil S Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:30:14 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/?p=1731#comment-181707 Hmm... But since I'm about to take off on vacation (I have not missed the irony that the loonie took a huge dip today as I get ready to board my flight), I should have ended on a more positive note. With countries like India and China graduating thousands of engineers and programmers for every one that we graduate - and they're all willing to work for 1/10th of what we expect to get paid... I don't think that our future economy will be in the technical fields as those industries will just get slaughtered. I think we should focus on fields where intellectual property holds more value: Arts & culture, research & development and possibly finance should become the stable exports of the future on which our volatile commodities can supplement. Hmm… But since I’m about to take off on vacation (I have not missed the irony that the loonie took a huge dip today as I get ready to board my flight), I should have ended on a more positive note. With countries like India and China graduating thousands of engineers and programmers for every one that we graduate – and they’re all willing to work for 1/10th of what we expect to get paid… I don’t think that our future economy will be in the technical fields as those industries will just get slaughtered. I think we should focus on fields where intellectual property holds more value: Arts & culture, research & development and possibly finance should become the stable exports of the future on which our volatile commodities can supplement.

]]> By: Phil S http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/#comment-181706 Phil S Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:15:53 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/?p=1731#comment-181706 Hi CC. I guess what I really meant by the new reality is that our economy can no longer count on manufactured exports to provide a stable footing on which everything else can build anymore. An ever increasing percentage of our export economy will be purely commodity based, which means that we will have even more extreme boom & bust cycles as commodity cycles are extremely volatile. As more and more third world economies around the world also turn to the export of natural resources, even that sector will have to compete against countries with labour rates that are pennies to our dollar. I think our standard of living in the future will be MUCH much lower. Hi CC. I guess what I really meant by the new reality is that our economy can no longer count on manufactured exports to provide a stable footing on which everything else can build anymore. An ever increasing percentage of our export economy will be purely commodity based, which means that we will have even more extreme boom & bust cycles as commodity cycles are extremely volatile. As more and more third world economies around the world also turn to the export of natural resources, even that sector will have to compete against countries with labour rates that are pennies to our dollar. I think our standard of living in the future will be MUCH much lower.

]]> By: Canadian Capitalist http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/#comment-181703 Canadian Capitalist Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:32:47 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/?p=1731#comment-181703 Phil: Yikes is right. The resource boom in the Western provinces masked jobs weakness in Ontario during the boom years but now it's even worse. I agree that most of the manufacturing jobs are never coming back. I know the pain -- in the software industry, outsourcing has been going on for a long time. It is so much easier to ship tech jobs to lower-cost geographies. I'm not sure if it's a new reality -- we've been living with this for more than 5 years now. Phil: Yikes is right. The resource boom in the Western provinces masked jobs weakness in Ontario during the boom years but now it’s even worse. I agree that most of the manufacturing jobs are never coming back. I know the pain — in the software industry, outsourcing has been going on for a long time. It is so much easier to ship tech jobs to lower-cost geographies. I’m not sure if it’s a new reality — we’ve been living with this for more than 5 years now.

]]> By: Phil S http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/#comment-181688 Phil S Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:55:02 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/?p=1731#comment-181688 If you think the falling BRIC countries are bad, how does this morning's employment figures grab ya? 129,000 losses in January? Yikes. I thought it was worse than the economist forecast, but I didn't think it would be over 100K. Unfortunately, I don't think many of the manufacturing jobs will be coming back, no matter how low the BoC drops interest rates. With NAFTA, it's 1/10th the labour cost to make the same product in Mexico. Or even cheaper in other countries even with the tariffs. Welcome to the new reality. If you think the falling BRIC countries are bad, how does this morning’s employment figures grab ya? 129,000 losses in January? Yikes. I thought it was worse than the economist forecast, but I didn’t think it would be over 100K.

Unfortunately, I don’t think many of the manufacturing jobs will be coming back, no matter how low the BoC drops interest rates. With NAFTA, it’s 1/10th the labour cost to make the same product in Mexico. Or even cheaper in other countries even with the tariffs. Welcome to the new reality.

]]> By: Michael James http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/#comment-181664 Michael James Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:33:01 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/?p=1731#comment-181664 Thanks for the mention! Enjoy your weekend. Thanks for the mention! Enjoy your weekend.

]]> By: WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/this-and-that-falling-brics-edition/#comment-181647 WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:28:07 +0000 http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/?p=1731#comment-181647 Thanks for the mention CC, have a great weekend! Thanks for the mention CC, have a great weekend!

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