[shinobii]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

I think what the Canadian Gov't did was prudent and I also think that when the public actually gets a return on that $25 billion, everyone is going to praise Flaherty and Harper for being prudent money managers on our behalf. What they did here is totally different than what they did in the US. The US is just delaying their meltdown. At some point they have to address their deficit and debt - there is no escaping it other than devaluation. As long as the US dollar is the petrodollar, too many people's own interests are at stake and it will be propped up and protected.

What will happen when and if the US develops energy independence as a result of consumer change (as opposed to manipulation)? I do believe that regardless of the dark forces that are working behind the scenes, that the public system that they and we have can only be usurped to a certain point. If energy conservation and alternative energies begin to put a dent in the petro dollar (look at the current situation, gas consumption North America wide is down almost 5% - thats not a bad thing), then all the reserves of US dollars that petro countries and companies (and evil entities) hold with get devalued to nothing and a new currency will be adopted based on the gold standard or some other base.

I would stay away from the US dollar like the plague. I have a vacation in Florida coming up in Feb 2009 and hope our dollar has recovered by then. But I have been battening down the hatches now for 6 months trying to get my house energy consumption down to striking distance of a solar powered system, putting in a heat pump (works like geothermal) and investing in other things to eliminate my dependance on energy suppliers. I am doing this over the next 5 years instead of putting major investments into RRSPs because these technologies will save me from SPENDING money on high energy costs over the next 20 years and when I retire, I have limited exposure to those inflated costs - this is the kind of thing we as consumers can CHOOSE to do over consuming. Consuming is participating in this stupidity. Conserving and making yourself energy independent (and CONSUMING LESS overall) takes you out of the equation and less exposed to the things that are likely to really hurt when the next technical wave hits.

The only exposure I really have at this point outside of my plan is food prices - but short of buying a farm (or land, which is a possibility) I can't really address that, other than buying local produce from local farmers, which I do. I also hunt and put a whole winter's worth of venison in the freezer to avoid buying beef.

+1 to whole winter's worth of venison in the freezer to avoid buying beef.