The Savvy Boomer

Fortunately England is willing to save the US-with a few conditions

 

 

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 

 

In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and also in recent years your tendency to elect incompetent Presidents of the USA and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.) 

 

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy). 

 

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. 

 

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.  A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed. 

 

To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: 

USA= United States of Apple

Apple now has more cash than the USA.  Leave it to the BBC to point that out.  I'm sure there's a pithy phrase that fits here but I think Americans have heard enough about this that they are beyond laughing about it.

Canadian political system starting to look good considering the US budget mess

The look on House Speaker's Harry Reid's face and his body language say it all.  I find it hard to believe that the US is on the brink of financial default.  The largest economy in the world is about to go under?  Really?  I don't even pretend to understand why or how things could have possibly become this screwed up but the Democrat's and the Republican's finger-pointing speaks volumes about the fact that the US political system is broken and the resulting disconnect must be truly embarrasing for all Americans regardless of their political bent.

Fortunately, because of our parliamentary system in Canada, something like this could never happen.  That's because the existing government holds a majority of seats in parliament and have the power to pass anything they want.  If they didn't hold a majority, the other parties could bring the government down on any money bill and force an election at any time ie: no waiting for 2 or 4 years. 

I know, I know, I'm being very simplistic here but given that I always felt the US system of government was better than ours, I humbly admit my mistake.  Now if Obama and Boehner would just admit theirs, but in the meantime back to selling stocks and buying gold and silver.

 

Canadians need to be aware of implications of buying a house in the US

 

It seems that a lot of Canadians who are retired or retiring are considering buying or have already bought US real estate for their winter getaway.   Phoenix, St. Petersburg and Palm Springs are 3 main areas that attract  Canadian snowbirds interested in buying in the US.  The main reasons are threefold:

1. The weather forecasts in these areas in the winter months seldom if ever contain the dreaded word "snow."
2. The Canadian dollar is now worth more than the US $, currently 6% more.
3. US house prices in states such as Florida, Arizona and parts of California are quite attractive compared to Canadian house prices which are still on the rise.

While Canadians can't live in the US without a visa, they can visit and/or live there for a total of up to 6 months every year with just a Canadian passport.  There are several implications however that Canadians must consider when traveling or living for periods of time in the US including health insurance, opening bank accounts, and perhaps paying US income tax if they own property there.  The Financial Post has drawn attention to the latter in this cautionary article which is must reading for every Canadian who either owns or is considering owning US property. 

Warning to Canadians-Watch what kind of food you take into the U.S.

It seems that the wave of U.S. paranoia has now extended to food.

A man was arrested for having "a suspicious bagel" on a plane.

A Canadian woman had her Kinder Surprise chocolate egg confiscated at the border.

We occasionally shop in the U.S. and bring back meat, fish and vegetables but if you try to take any of these products into the U.S., you are going to have most of them confiscated because they may be harmful to Americans.  Let me get this straight-you can buy a gun in several states legally but you can't bring a chocolate egg, steak and apples into the country,  or a take a bagel on a plane.  Tough to argue with the logic behind those rules.

 

Sometimes the U.S. scares the crap out of me

Since I was a kid, I've always been a fan of the U.S.  Yeah, a lot of nations don't care for Americans, including my country, Canada.  It wasn't always so.  I remember when I moved to the U.S. in the early 60's with my family when I was a teenager.  My classmates were envious of me and when I arrived in California, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Unfortunately, within a couple of years my brother joined the Marines and did die (I hope he went to heaven) and we moved back to Canada because my parents didn't want me to be drafted and also die.

I have returned hundreds of times to the U.S. and even worked there for a few years.  Outside of being robbed at an Oakland A's game in the 80's, I've never had any problems.  People always warn me about how many people carry weapons in the U.S. but I've never seen it so I guess it's always been out of sight-out of mind with me. 

Until today.  I saw a link to this ad and I just sat here and shook my head.  What is the purpose of an AK47 other than to kill people?  What does the average American need an AK47 for?  How can this possibly be legal?  I'll be thinking about this next time in the U.S. and wondering if that guy next to me in the Ford F350 bought it at Nations Trucks in Florida.  Regardless, I still like the U.S. but it just became a little scarier for me today.

Bringing a gun to a snow ball fight

For those of us who grew up in Canada, the right to throw snowballs at any moving vehicle is as understood as the right to fighting in a hockey game.  But it seems these rights change once you go South of the 49th parallel.  Look at this video about a cop in Washington DC who drew his gun because his Hummer was pelted with snowballs.  You think maybe this guy is a little too tightly wrapped?  If he lived in Canada he could have killed a few dozen kids by now.  Disgusting!!

Hey Canada-How do you like Obama now?

Every Canadian I know pretty much wanted Obama to win the election.  They refused to accept the fact that he didn't much care about Canada even though he admitted that he wanted to repeal parts of NAFTA.  People thought, "No, he's a good guy so he must be good for Canada."

Then he came to Canada in February for a few hours, told Canadians that he would not be protectionist, mistakenly called Ottawa, Iowa, bought a few typical Canadian souvenirs and left.  The only good that came from that visit is that the city of Ottawa settled the bus strike in advance so as not to be embarrased by people not being able to get to see their American hero.

Fast-forward 4 months and Canadian companies are being shut out of doing business with any American city, state or federal departments.  So Canada turns around and does the same thing to U.S. companies.  Problem is, the consequences are severe for Canadian companies and negligible for U.S. companies.

I think this is the tip of the iceberg for Canada.  Obama may be a great guy, likeable, personable, intelligent, etc. etc. but if you are a Canadian, this guy is going to cost you somehow and there isn't a thing you can do about it. 

This nice guy who people are starting to question whether or not he is tough enough for the job may soon become another example of the saying "Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it."   Canadians are starting to realize that now, but the horse is out of the barn.  Let's hope he knows where he is going.