Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Sorry ’bout that folks, but I do have to pay the bills as it were, and the site seemed useful enough for my American readers, so have a peak.

Gasoline prices are spiking at yet another higher plateau today in Ottawa. Gas is now averaging almost $1.10 per liter here and talk of $1.29 per liter in Vancouver. What is causing this? No one is really saying, they just keep saying, “Get used to it baby”, much like an abusive husband would (not to denigrate or trivialize domestic violence in any way). The amount of money I spent driving from Ottawa to London and back this weekend was nearly $150.00 (if not a bit more), and I keep asking, how is this NOT going to cause inflation? I think it is not a question of IF inflation, it is WHEN, and it’s associated higher interest rates.

In the world of constant price drop, Computer Prices and components continue to drop another 1.4% from January to February, which amazes me. This is really the only industry where the “make it cheaper” still continues, but then again, they are also the ones doing the most “out of country” manufacturing too.

Getting back on the Oil angle Crude Oil production is up 5.4% over from last February, which means Canada is producing more of the “liquid Gold”. So supply is increasing, but so is the price? That means consumption must be still out stripping production (if I remember Econ 101), and I don’t think it’s just Canadians doing that either.

Well finding out what the “prime rate” in Canada is (the overnight interest rate set by the Bank of Canada) is easy enough to find out, since I post that information about Interest Rates in Canada myself (you can also check the Bank of Canada web site as well).How do I find out about American Prime rates? An interesting new site that I found on the ReviewMe web site (yes this is a sponsored post as well), Prime Rate posts that information as well as useful historical information about what the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate has been set for a good long time. It also explains what the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate actually means (being Canadian I didn’t know it wasn’t just an actual rate set, go over and see what it actually is). Another interesting section on what the predictions are for the prime rate in the near future. These kind of predictions should always be used with a “buyer beware” attitude, but are always useful to know what folks think the future might hold. What is the current Wall Street Journal prime rate? Today this site says it is 8.25%, which is higher than Canada’s prime rate, so why isn’t the U.S. dollar going up? Hmmm…

The site seems quite easy to navigate and easy enough to look up the information you are looking for as well, a useful resource to use.