Frank Bures contributed these words of wisdom on 11/04/08 00:05:
> Stan R wrote:
>
>> As I said, Canada seems to have escaped the speculative property
>> frenzy. I haven't come across a satisfactory explanation as to why it
>> has happened that way though. It's not that much dissimilar in its
>> economy to Australia - particularly with respect to the resource
sector.
>
> Could it be that the Australian resources differ from Canadian ones?
Coal, iron ore, zinc, gold, uranium...and so on?
We don't have oil, but we certainly have large and some of the most
accessible reserves of coal. Which is of course under an increasing
attack by the braindead greens, who stated they want that industry shut
down in order to "save the planet".
> I am referring to the oil industry (here known as "oil patch") and
> unbelievably massive investment going into the country. We are talking
> about tens, perhaps hundreds of billions $.
Of course - with crude oil prices where they are now, shale is very
competitive.
Australia does in fact have large supply of shale as well; it's just
that nobody has developed it yet.
> Also, Canada is not just
> resources. For instance, Ontario manufactures over 5 million cars a
> year. That's the reason it is so vulnerable to changes in credit
> availability.
Given the state of the Detroit big car companies, is this particular
sector not likely to be more of a liability than anything else going
forward?
The car industry has several plants here as well, but much of it has
been only surviving for many years thanks to government subsidies. Or at
least so they claim.
There is a good case to get rid of it altogether and follow the case of
New Zealand, which has gone from having an old car fleet and
ridiculously high car prices to having newer and cheaper cars than
Australia, thanks to aboli****ng all tariffs.
> Does Australia have comparably large manufacturing sector?
No, it does not. The majority of the the economy is composed of various
services industries.
>>> Anyway, I carry no debts and the majority of my assets is in precious
>>> metals :-)
>>
>> Good strategy for the current environment!
>
> Well, both my kids are in high finance, so the advice is free :-)
But it's always good to see that while being free, it's also of
excellent quality!
S
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