4 ms·

So that's why, even with the recent strengthening of the US dollar vis à vis the Canadian dollar, things are still dirt cheap in the US compared to Canada. I d

by Mikeb85 12y ago

So that's why, even with the recent strengthening of the US dollar vis à vis the Canadian dollar, things are still dirt cheap in the US compared to Canada. I do enjoy travelling down there to Montana - ski tickets are cheaper, gas is cheaper, and good beer is much, much cheaper (I seriously love the micro-brew scene in the US. Canada has a good micro-brewing scene too, but not to the same degree).

crdb 12y ago
I'm guessing there's other factors. For example, Australian prices are high because of labour (it's very hard to illegally immigrate to an island surrounded by oceans) but also because everything has to be transported over vast distances and many products have to be imported. I'd guess the much smaller market (35m inhabitants vs 320m - Australia has 22m), the weather, the distance from production centres and major ports, and so on would impact prices as well. As for beer it might be taxes, which Wikipedia says are amongst the highest in the world.
- Mikeb85 12y ago
  Everything you said is true (especially the taxes on beer). It was a little tongue-in-cheek, however I still am surprised that there are so many illegal immigrants in the US...
  - greedo 12y ago
    Seriously? If you were a Mexican national, why wouldn't you come to the US? Better jobs, more safety, more hope for your kids. Mexico has so many problems that a trip across the border solves. I have no ill will towards anyone traveling north. It's a rational response to conditions in Mexico that seem intractable.
    - Mikeb85 12y ago
      > Seriously? If you were a Mexican national, why wouldn't you come to the US? No, I'm more surprised that the US is so bad at dealing with illegal immigration. Do they tacitly accept it?
      - greedo 12y ago
        Half the voting public supports it, half opposes it. So there's no real movement on the issue.
        Mikeb85 12y ago
        Strange. Even though Canada strongly supports multi-culturalism, our public is equally opposed to letting illegal immigrants stay (and we certainly make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to stay).
        greedo 12y ago
        I love when downvotes get politically motivated. No one wants to deny or refute that immigration has been in a gridlock for at least 29 years.
        crdb 12y ago
        I am genuinely curious about why several people downvoted my original post as well.
      - dragonwriter 12y ago
        > No, I'm more surprised that the US is so bad at dealing with illegal immigration. Do they tacitly accept it? Some industry players benefit from having low-skilled workers that are demotivated to complain to government of labor violations, etc., so there is some of that. OTOH, a bigger issue is that, while most people would agree that illegal immigration, per se, is bad, there is no census on how to deal with the issue. There are groups that oppose not only illegal immigration, but are strongly concerned with controlling the level of immigration (and often with managing its origin), so that they see the solution in enforcement measures (though even groups in this category often don't agree on which enforcement measures.) Then there are groups that are less concerned with the level of immigration than with illegality itself, and so would favor new avenues of legal immigration, or increased quotas within existing avenues, etc. And there are additional disagreements over approaches to dealing with the existing population that is present without proper immigration status beyond the different views on "going forward" policy.

by Mikeb85 12y ago

crdb 12y ago

I'm guessing there's other factors. For example, Australian prices are high because of labour (it's very hard to illegally immigrate to an island surrounded by oceans) but also because everything has to be transported over vast distances and many products have to be imported. I'd guess the much smaller market (35m inhabitants vs 320m - Australia has 22m), the weather, the distance from production centres and major ports, and so on would impact prices as well. As for beer it might be taxes, which Wikipedia says are amongst the highest in the world.

Mikeb85 12y ago
Everything you said is true (especially the taxes on beer). It was a little tongue-in-cheek, however I still am surprised that there are so many illegal immigrants in the US...
- greedo 12y ago
  Seriously? If you were a Mexican national, why wouldn't you come to the US? Better jobs, more safety, more hope for your kids. Mexico has so many problems that a trip across the border solves. I have no ill will towards anyone traveling north. It's a rational response to conditions in Mexico that seem intractable.
  - Mikeb85 12y ago
    > Seriously? If you were a Mexican national, why wouldn't you come to the US? No, I'm more surprised that the US is so bad at dealing with illegal immigration. Do they tacitly accept it?
    - greedo 12y ago
      Half the voting public supports it, half opposes it. So there's no real movement on the issue.
      - Mikeb85 12y ago
        Strange. Even though Canada strongly supports multi-culturalism, our public is equally opposed to letting illegal immigrants stay (and we certainly make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to stay).
      - greedo 12y ago
        I love when downvotes get politically motivated. No one wants to deny or refute that immigration has been in a gridlock for at least 29 years.
        crdb 12y ago
        I am genuinely curious about why several people downvoted my original post as well.
    - dragonwriter 12y ago
      > No, I'm more surprised that the US is so bad at dealing with illegal immigration. Do they tacitly accept it? Some industry players benefit from having low-skilled workers that are demotivated to complain to government of labor violations, etc., so there is some of that. OTOH, a bigger issue is that, while most people would agree that illegal immigration, per se, is bad, there is no census on how to deal with the issue. There are groups that oppose not only illegal immigration, but are strongly concerned with controlling the level of immigration (and often with managing its origin), so that they see the solution in enforcement measures (though even groups in this category often don't agree on which enforcement measures.) Then there are groups that are less concerned with the level of immigration than with illegality itself, and so would favor new avenues of legal immigration, or increased quotas within existing avenues, etc. And there are additional disagreements over approaches to dealing with the existing population that is present without proper immigration status beyond the different views on "going forward" policy.