It’s been a quiet week at the Mad Padre’s Painting Chapel since my last post. I’ve been painting in my spare time, and every time I look up at the news, I get depressed.
Our Canadian dollar, fondly known as “the looney”, is not doing too well of late. A few years back, when oil was more expensive than liquid gold, life was good. The Canuck buck was trading at over a dollar US. Life was good. Nobody here seemed to mind that our country had all the economic diversity of Saudi Arabia. I bought a lot of hobby stuff from US and European manufacturers.
Now that oil is trading at somewhere around $30 a barrel (though the price of a tank of gas still hurts - why is that?), our poor looney is falling like, well, like this guy. We just fell below .70 cents US on the dollar and some economists are saying that we could go as low as .50 cents US.
I’m looking ahead at 2016 and thinking that it’s going to be a tough year for hobby purchases. I could only buy from Canadian manufacturers, but there aren’t that many of them, frankly, and at least one of the good ones charges in US dollars. There were also a few new games I was looking at as well (GMT’s Churchill, I’m looking at you) but the local game store guy told me he couldn’t get it in for less than $110.
Thinking about this stuff is less depressing than thinking about what the stock market’s doing to my retirement savings.
I don’t know about you but I need some cheering up. A US Army blogger I follow was saying that his desk is where majors come to talk about Star Wars, but perhaps that was because he keeps a toy light sabre there. One of the things I like about this guy’s blog is that he transposes contemporary army life onto Star Wars situations.
For example, pity the life of a hard working, unappreciated Imperial staff officer. Consider the burdens of a humble logistics officer, trying to keep the Rebel Alliance supplied. Imagine what it’s like to be a Stormtrooper sergeant, debriefing the troops after yet another disastrous mission.
It’s good stuff, enjoy it. Hopefully this weekend I’ll have a finished project to show you.
MP+
In re the canadian dollar, I am surprised that the Economic flacks aren't swarming out of the woodwork praising the effective devaluation as beneficial to Canada's Balance of Payments, and the boon to Canada's export sector. Maybe they have. But even if so, the cost to everyone else is high, and by and large unreasonable.
ReplyDeleteFor my own part, though, the critical factor has become storage, and time. i have too little space to keep stuff in reasonable comfort - less than what I need right now - and so much more to finish off... I won't be buying much more henceforth - just enough to round off my armies. I ought really to wait until I have assembled the outstanding kits, painted the unpainted soldiery, and written my as yet unfinished rule sets. But I have one other problem to overcome.
I am not overfond of resisting temptation...
Hi Ion:
Deletecurrency fluctuation depends on where you are in the economy. If you are in manufacturing in Canada, you are happy because your plant will likely have more orders for the US market, which is where most of what we make goes to. If you are an importer, not so much. Since a lot of our food comes from abroad, particularly out of season produce, everyone is a food importer and everyone suffers. Stories of $8 cauliflowers abound, and recently I passed on buying a bag of green grapes when I discovered it cost $14. I suspect working people will have to rediscover how to eat local food in season.
Fortunately I have enough projects in had to get through most of this year, and as you say, at some point there is a hard limit to storage space, not to mention spousal tolerance of my hobby.
Cheer up, Padre. At least you don't work on the oil patch or the Anglican Consultative Council!
ReplyDeleteSorry, that was scant solace.
Parson, you would be amazed at how many young soldiers I saw leaving the army in 2012 and 2013 when I was last in Alberta. They were all being lured to the oilpatch for stupid paying jobs, even though our release clerk used to tell them, the market goes up and goes down, but the army is always working. I wonder how many of those guys are now trying to get back into uniform.
DeleteWelcome to the world of the flimsy currencies. I've been suffering the same from the Euro fall not against the US$ but mostly against the British Pound.
ReplyDeleteLast year I decided it was a good time to focus on reducing my lead and plastic stocks instead of buying more stuff; i even coined the term #nolead2015 within my gaming group. Truly, I did not comply with it at 100% but I did some significant progress.
Additionally, I decided to look with a critical eye to my collection of minis and half-painted projects; and I finally sold a large chunk of it after concluding that I was never going to play that period whose models I bought in the heat of the moment... and of course I recycled the proceeds into useful new stuff without (much) remorse.
The final action was to take more attention to sites where second-hand materials are put for sale. If you keep close and regular attention, you can find surprising bargains.
Hope my experience in 2015 with the weak Euro can help you to navigate this likely long period of low oil prices and depressed Canadian dollar
Thank you Benito, good advice. I think that Canada, like Spain and other lesser EU countries, suffer from being on the peripheries of greater economies like the US and Germamy. Of course, most of the toys I want come from the UK. Sigh.
DeleteI remind myself that these things are cyclical, and while I wait for the wheel to turn there is lots to game and paint. Your example of spending 2015 really digging into just one game, CoC, and mastering it is a good example to me.
Yep I can appreciate how you feel. I like Anibal have sold on projects in 2015 in order to expand the ones I do play. I still have fair bit that I could move on but keeping hold of it for now. That way I won't just squander the proceeds lol.
ReplyDeleteCheers mate. You and Annibal/Benito give good advice.
DeleteMy plan is to work on the leadpile and play more games. As for retirement - I doubt you are ready yet. Be patient and the economy will rebound. At the very worst oil is a finite commodity and prices must rise.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pat, your wisdom is always welcome. I am not financially ready to retire anyway, nor do I wish to. Besides, Madame Padre would not welcome the idea of me peskering her all day. She's happy to see me leave each morning.
DeleteWell at least it makes selling old painted figures on ebay for rediculously small amounts of money less disappointing.
ReplyDeleteIt could also be a good reminder to put less emphasis on acquiring more and yet more material goods.
My hope is that it'll encourage us to grow our own food and employing people to make things at home again instead of just selling off the country one tanker or bulk carrier at a time. Might not help the banks and real estate sector get even richer but we might eat better and give more people a living wage.
Ross, you should be Prime Minister. You have an almost Buddhist detachment from the shiny and glittering lures of our hobby, and an ability to focus on essentials. That's why I like your blog so much.
DeleteWhat Ross said.
ReplyDeleteIt will take a few years but the economy will readjust. The cheap Looney helps our manufacturing sector and makes agricultural exports more attractive too.
Fortunately we both have enough toys to keep us busy until the dollar rebounds.
It's just going to hurt anyone going to historicon.
Ture dat. I've been wanting to go to Historican for, like, ever. I'm just not sure the dollar will rebound. Back when the looney was worth 1.05 US was the same time we were worrying about reaching peak oil. I don't hear anyone talking about an oil shortage anymore.
DeleteAnd even if we drop vs the greenback, as long as we stay 2:1 with the pound I'm OK! Any stuff I buy I get from the UK.
ReplyDeleteRule Britannia.
DeleteAlas, while the minis I want are mostly from the UK, the boardgames I want are from the US.
Can't comment on the state of economies as it's outside of my knowledge base.
ReplyDeleteStarwars blog entry links though were very well done. Blokes got a talent for getting in character.
Glad you liked those SW posts, Dai. That fellow is a talented writer. I especially identified with the unappreciated Imperial staff officer.
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