An email from Geraldine of Mount Pleasant

At the coffee shop,  the hockey rink  or the community garden a group of us talk about the news of the day. Lately financial issues from around the world seem to dominate.

While spirited, the discussions are mostly relaxed and informative. This time, right out of the blue, Thad Fagerheim exploded about the news of trouble with the Norwegian krone. Thad is the third generation owner of Fagerheim Feed and Seed. The family has a close relationship with Norway. He has two brothers living in Bodo where they operate fishing and lumber businesses. The Fagerheims are very proud of their Norwegian roots.

Eventually Thad calmed down. He admitted to a short fuse when it comes to any imagined or real slight against all things Norwegian including the krone.  Sparking the outburst was a business section article entitled “Norway’s currency poses challenge”. We had to adjourn, but agreed to talk about the currency question later.

Kumar Nandakumar, Manager of the Mount Pleasant Credit Union, did some research. When we got together again he reported the following; Norway has the second highest wealth per capita in the world, the highest living standards in the world, health care is free as is education, a 3% unemployment rate and a very low wage gap. Rebecca Waldowski who edits the Mount Pleasant Observer chipped in that from a news wirefeed she learned from that the country’s net long term savings account represents $120,000 per Norwegian.

The question remains “why be concerned about the krone”?  The numbers tell the story of a super rich country, resulting in one of the world’s strongest currency. Thad concluded that these are reasons for wonderment and envy but not concern . Kumar’s view is a country gets the currency it deserves.

Canada’s economy flirts with the resource dollar as well. Exports are dominated by the export of petroleum, forest, mining, mineral and energy products. The controversy surrounding the difficulty of exporting manufactured products  continues to swirl. Influencing factors are difficult to isolate and quantify. One not always highlighted is the political and economic stability. Kumar is correct — Canada gets the currency it deserves.

Originally published in March, 2012