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Day: September 4, 2008

Another in a Continuous Series

TORONTO — Deere & Co., the world’s largest maker of farm machinery, is blaming the strong loonie for the decision to close its factory in Welland, Ont., costing the Ontario economy 800 manufacturing jobs.

800 jobs Mowed Down
(Emphasis added)

As I pointed out in an earlier post, the fate of the loonie seems to mirror the political futures of the Liberal Politicians of the day; when the Loonie/Liberal is doing well, it is to blame for the decision to destroy lives (look for it to be the liberals fault that American lives were lost in Iraq and Canadian lives were lost in Afghanistan).  So; when the Loonie is strong, obviously it is smarter to pull the jobs from the newly empowered Canadain workers and put them in the hands of people with lesser purchasing power; oblivious to the fact that workers with greater purchasing power (and their neighbours) can toss more money into your coffers through actual purchase of goods an services, not to mention the ancilary tax breaks that come from doing business in an affluent area (due in no small part to your proximity as a business and employer)

Communities reward longtime employers with services and perks, recognizing the value their proximity brings (when I worked for Symantec I got breaks on all sorts of stuff just for being an employee, like free transit and so on).  However, corporations, like any other hardcore capatalist, looks only at short term benefits and pull out of communities for whatever reason is in vogue; thus the fortunes of the Loonie has “doomed” a few businesses in Canada.

This is of course the time when the Government should re-invest it’s increasing purchasing power in the nationalisation of industries that do not depend upon foreign investment, or if dependant upon foreign purchases, are based upon resources or services unavailable in client nations.  Like Oil.

So too are the fortunes of the Liberals, when plants close during the reign of the Liberals, it’s the Liberal politicians fault, but during the reign of the Tories, it’s the Loonies fault.  It may be implict that the Tories are at heart the guiding force behind the economy; but the average reader of a newspaper may not make that connection.