Is a strong loonie a good thing or bad?

I have heard some say that it is a negative thing for the Canadian economy but I do not really understand why. Also I am wondering if the American economy is really in that bad of shape? Do they realize that our dollar is worth more than theirs? What about our low unemployment rates? That is certainly a positive thing for Canada. I find this all really interesting and would love to hear Canadians and Americans opinions.

Thanks

Is a strong loonie a good thing or bad?

The strong Canadian dollar is bad for our economy because the products we make and export are more expensive for Americans to buy. Therefore our exports may go down and our trade surplus also. If Americans buy less of our products, there will be less manufacturing in Canada and unemployment rates could go up. The American economy has two major problems presently. They have a huge trade deficit (over 50B per month) and also a huge budget deficit. Therefore they have to print money and increase borrowings from foreign countries. This is the major factor behind the falling U.S. currency. Also, the real estate market was exceedingly high in recent years and banks were very quick to lend with very little cash down and low credit rating requirements. Once interest rates started to rise (many people had variable rate mortgages), many people were no longer able to afford their payments and real estate values began to fall, even leading people to simply vacate their homes that they could no longer afford and that had fallen below their mortgage values, causing massive defaults. P.S. this is the Canadian version!

Is a strong loonie a good thing or bad? loan

A loon is a bird. Astrong loonie is a big bird.