We are all familiar with the "Buy American" clause that is part of the $787 billion stimulus package and is designed to help U.S. companies battle foreign competition. But is it really doing what it's supposed to? This Wall Street Journal article takes a look at an American company that is losing a good deal of its business to foreign competition -- thanks to the Buy American provisions.

Apparently, there is growing resentment toward America for the Buy American provisions that has lead to a Buy Canadian campaign. In fact, one town in Canada (Halton Hills) is cited as one of roughly a dozen Canadian communities that are trying to freeze out American companies. The town's mayor stated, "We won't be taking any products from any country that is discriminating against us."

Employment in Canada rose by 27,000 in August, however, the unemployment rate also rose to 8.7% from 8.6%.

Here's why we shouldn't get excited over this report. The employment gain was mainly in part time jobs which rose by 30,600.

By sectors the numbers break down this way:

• Manufacturing lost another 17,300 jobs, with 12 months losses at 231,000 or 12%.
• Government jobs fell by 11,500.
• Self-employed fell by 10,600

Canadian stocks are set to give American investors a twofer. As stocks go up, Gordon Pape, one of Canada's leading experts on mutual funds and the editor of The Canada Report, says that Americans get stock appreciation and a currency bonus – making investing in Canadian stocks more profitable than U.S. stocks.
And now, says Pape, is an especially good time to invest since stocks and the Canadian dollar have recently taken a breather.

We caught up with Gordon Pape to talk to him about earning market profits plus a currency bonus.

I am the Global Editor at MoneyShow.com and each week I interview an investing expert. This week, I spoke with Gordon Pape, editor of The Canada Report, who thinks Toronto may have seen its lows, and he's cautiously optimistic on the loonie, too.

Q. Gordon, since we last spoke, global markets have lost nearly half their value, and the Toronto Stock Exchange's Composite Index has dropped from more than 15,000 to just over 8,700. Have we hit bottom?

A. We are cautiously optimistic, but the recent trillion-dollar bond purchase plan announced by the Federal Reserve is great news for Canada. The flood of cash will likely spur inflation, drive down the value of the US dollar, and raise the price of commodities. It's no surprise that gold [rose] almost $60 an ounce and oil [got] back over $50 a barrel. The Canadian stock market is heavily weighted to commodities, so we are seeing a big lift. I still expect a lot of volatility in the coming months. However, the March 6th TSE low of 7,480 may turn out to have been the bottom for this cycle.

The banking crisis is a nasty mess throughout most of the U.S. and Europe. Just recently Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE: LYG) ceded 75% of its assets to the government of Britain, and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) closed at $1.05 on Monday. Let's not forget JP Morgan Chase & Company (NYSE: JPM) has $87.7 trillion worth of outstanding OTC contracts as of September 30. JPM will not disclose how much of this is toxic.

However, it seems this is not the case everywhere. In Canada, for example, banks look healthier.

Bankrupt and in the process of liqudation, Circuit City hasn't had any good news in a long time. But the company's Candian operations will live to fight another day.

Bell Canada Enterprises has agreed to acquire the company's 750+ Canadian stores. As the largest phone company in Canada, Bell hopes that the stores, known as The Source by Circuit City, will help to increase its struggling market share numbers in mobile phones.

"The Source is a respected leader in consumer electronics retailing right across Canada," Bell Canada CEO George Cope said in a statement. "Its acquisition supports Bell's strategic imperatives."

The Canadians are going to supply Chrysler and General Motors (NYSE: GM) with a little over $3 billion in loans to help them through financial trouble that could put both companies into bankruptcy. The nation faces the same issue as America. If the car companies go bust,, tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs early next year. That would be a huge strain of the Canada tax base and the cost of its social services for the unemployed.

The money being offered to the two American cars companies is barely enough to last them for a couple of weeks based on the rate at which they are burning cash, so decisions by the U.S. Congress and the Obama administration will still be the sole determinant of what happens to the big firms.

According to Reuters, "General Motors of Canada Ltd is eligible for loans of up to $C3 billion and Chrysler Canada Inc for up to C$1 billion." The U.S. aid package is $17.4 billion, so capital coming from north of the border is barely a drop in the bucket.

The Canadians better start lobbying Washington and lobbying successfully. Otherwise their auto industry will go down with the one in the U.S.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

You can imagine my surprise when I checked the Canadian markets and saw them totally unchanged. After several refreshes when the zeroes didn't budge, I even panicked. Then I saw the headline (how did I miss it before) that trading was halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange due to a computer glitch. Not only that, but there's also no estimate when trading will resume.

The exchanges have actually failed to open at the regular time of 9:30 a.m. EST, and as one reporter put it "have been dead in the water since." If this is frustrating and stressful for me, I can't imagine what the mood is like on Bay Street; how traders and other market professionals must feel.

I'm not sure what could be done if there are big swings and news out of the U.S. While it's true the Canadian markets don't totally track their American counterparts, as they're heavily weighted in oil and commodities and react to news from those sectors often, they are still affected by what's going on at Canada's biggest trading partner to the south.

Still, it may not be the end of the world as the Canadian holidays also don't exactly follow the American ones and there are days when the TSE is closed while the American markets are open. Also, there are four alternative trading systems in Canada, two at least have reported to be functioning and operational. While volumes there were higher than usual for these system, they were hardly normal for the market as a whole. No doubt, though, these systems will get a boost following this fiasco.

With the political powers in the U.S. in transition mode, and with the parliament prorogued (suspended) in Canada until the end of January, it seemed the car industry bailout was in danger. The Big Three asked the U.S. government for $25 billion initially, increased it to $34 billion later, and are now likely to be getting an immediate help line of $15 billion (which is likely to increase later). They are asking the Canadian government for $6 billion.

Two and half million jobs are at stake here if the auto industry doesn't get the help it needs. This is the doomed if you don't scenario. It's true that many other companies are going bankrupt and don't get government aid, but it's clear that even if one hates this favoritism when it comes to doling out taxpayer funds, it still would save 2.5 million jobs -- 2.5 million jobs that would otherwise add to the rising unemployment, further increasing the downward spiral that now seems to lead us to one of the worst recessions.

But it's the short sightedness of this bailout that is the doomed if you do part. Is delaying what now seems as the inevitable really better? Isn't this the exact same sort of pursuit of short-term gains and fixes that has landed us in this situation in the first place? Are we risking starting something we're not sure the end of? Will the trickle of bailout money turn into a gush we don't know how to stop as the recession deepens, as many predict it will? The auto industry's problems have started long before the recession and the financial crisis we're in, they started because of bad management and lack of insight and foresight. The financial crisis only aggravated what was already wounded.

I'm in favor of the bailout. No, I'm not saying General Motors (NYSE: GM), Ford (NYSE: F) and Chrysler have done such a good job that they deserve it. And I'm definitely in favor of changing some of that incompetent management, especially at GM. But I'm hoping the bailout would be like a tourniquet to stop their bleeding, and if the arm or the leg, or both, need to be cut off later, at least something was saved. I'm in favor of the bailout not to save the companies, but to help the people who work for them.

One of my relatives works in construction. Bags of material needed to make concrete have lately been piling up at his job site because no one is mixing the stuff. That's yet another sign of the slowing economy and the impact it's having on people. Today's expected dramatic selloff in the stock market is another.

Investors used to gasp when they saw a triple-digit decline in the Dow Jones industrial Average. Now, as one of my friends recently noted, it's "another day at the office." It's not that people like huge declines; they have grown accustomed to living in a constant state of dread.

Today is no exception. Trading, which was limited in the pre-market, is going to be awful. Call it "Frantic Friday" or "Freaky Friday." Fear is ruling the day again. Investors are not acting rational. Blah, Blah, Blah. You have heard it all before. The only questions is why the world appears to be coming to an end today.

My colleague Peter Cohan points out that markets in Asia and Europe have been tanking. Even Canada, which largely avoided the subprime crisis, is guaranteeing up to C$218 billion in bank debt to match the bailouts offered by other countries. Remember, Canada's banks were recently recognized as being the most stable in the world. This underscores the nervousness of investors.

Just call it an endorsement of a collective security policy where 'you go first.'

That was how one economist characterized the G-7 group of finance ministers' stance toward the U.S. Treasury Department's proposed $700 billion intervention to stabilize the financial system.

In a conference call statement, the G-7 - - Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Canada, along with the U.S. - - said, "We strongly welcome the extraordinary actions taken by the United States to enhance the stability of financial markets and address credit concerns, especially through its plan to implement a program to remove illiquid assets that are destabilizing financial institutions," The Wall Street Journal reported Monday(subscription required.)

However, none of the other six G-7 members will adopt a program similar to the U.S.'s, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told reporters in Berlin after the call, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

Economist Peter Dawson told BloggingStocks Monday the G-7's stance is half-hearted, in his interpretation. "In its general statement, the G-7 is on-board with the [U.S] Treasury's program but [German Finance Minister Peer] Steinbrueck's comments are disappointing. Steinbrueck, or another G-7 representative should have followed up with 'and we stand ready to assist the United States and other nations with fiscal measures to support the above goals, if needed, etc.,' " Dawson said. "Right now, the G-7's tone is 'go forth U.S., but we're not getting in the pool right now, the water's too cold.' Given the G-7's complicity in causing the problem and their systemic interest, a more-engaged statement should have been issued regarding fiscal policy options."

Cites AIG's 'interconnectedness'

For example, Dawson said the G-7's corporate involvement in American International Group's (NYSE: AIG) is evidence item 'A' for stronger G-7 involvement. "G-7 companies, banks, and institutional investors benefited from AIG's credit default swaps and related products, and would be hurt by a systemic failure. Since they are parties to the problem, they should also bear some of the costs of the reforms and bailout," Dawson said. "But right now their stance is 'Go ahead U.S. We back your spending your money, but not ours.' That's an inadequate response from our G-7 associates."

Welcome to the 74th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

This week, I'll be taking a look at whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) attempts to fend off unions in its stores can continue succeeding. With Labor Day occurring in the U.S. tomorrow, it seemed appropriate to delve a little into Wal-Mart's potential labor union situation in its U.S. stores based on small gains being made in Canadian Wal-Mart locations.

North of the U.S. border, there has been a successful attempt to unionize Wal-Mart workers in the province of Quebec. Although the location is small, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union sees it as an entry point into unionizing more Wal-Mart Supercenters in Canada.

With critics saying that the entry of Wal-Mart into many markets (if not all) has caused wages to go down and competition to deteriorate, the heat won't go down on Wal-Mart's fending off collective unions in its Canadian stores. And, when the heat gets hot enough, the UFCW and others will set their sights on U.S. locations -- the holy grail of organized labor potential if there ever was one. Wal-Mart isn't taking those threats lying down, and has even called meetings with U.S. managers to bring the upcoming Presidential election into the fray.

American Airlines, British Air and Spain's Iberia have signed a joint business agreement on flights between North America and Europe, American Airlines announced Thursday.

American (NYSE: AMR) added that the three airlines plan to file for global antitrust immunity from U.S. officials and will also apply from the same in Europe.

Under the deal announced Thursday, the three airlines will cooperate commercially on flights between the United States zone (encompassing Canada and Mexico) and the European Union (including Switzerland and Norway), while continuing to operate as separate, legal companies.

Analyst: 'an absolute, positive, must deal'

Stock Analyst C. Leonard Bauer told BloggingStocks Thursday rival competitors may argue that the deal will reduce competition internationally, but in Bauer's interpretation the agreement is "an absolute, positive, must deal," due to the changing nature of flight and air travel.

"The reality is, we're becoming a global travel marketplace, not just a national one, one that will eventually be accessible to everyone, and in this decade the key players will compete on transcontinental and global routes," Bauer said. "That means the carriers need global scale and the American-British Air-Iberia deal accomplishes that. It is an absolute, positive, must deal." (Bauer added that he does not have a rating on nor own shares in any airline. However, Bauer does have frequent flier miles/points in American Airlines.)

"The acronym 'BRIC-standing for Brazil, Russia, India, and China-is in vogue as shorthand for the emergence of the developing world.

"But we're herewith proposing an emended version: 'BRAC'-standing for Brazil, Russia, Australia, and Canada.

"That's because these four countries are the ones most brimming over with essential natural resource, with each one a net exporter of fuels and other natural products. In a world where resource shortages will only get worse, these countries will stand out from the pack.

"Don't get us wrong. China and India remain the largest and fastest growing emerging economies and still face exceptional futures.

"But their major resources are cheap labor, which will become less cheap as their economies keep growing. Indeed, labor costs in these countries already have begun to rise relative to the rest of the world.

"Meanwhile, continued gains in commodities mean that Australia and Canada are gaining relative to the rest of the world. It's hard to overstate just how important relative resource independence is in a world where resources are becoming ever more scarce and expensive.

Once again it's ugly out there today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped below 11,000 for the first time in two years, plunging over 2%. The rest of the U.S. stocks are not far behind with both the Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 down over 2% as well. It's depressing. But you don't have to look far to see a nicer picture, you just have to look up: up north that is.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has fared much better in what has officially become a U.S. bear market. Over the past year, while the S&P 500 sank over 19%, the S&P/TSX Composite index dropped only 3.4%. Year-to-date, while the S&P 500 declined over 16%, the TSX was barely down 1%. And if you stay away from financials on the TSX, you'd fare even better.

How so, you ask, doesn't the Canadian economy closely follows the U.S.'s? It's mostly true as the U.S. is Canada's biggest trading partner and the Canadian economy is intertwined with that of the U.S. For example, some of the layoffs at GM and Ford plants have occurred in Ontario plants, and Canada's unemployment rate edged up to 6.2% in June due to a drop in full-time jobs.

The thing is, though, that the TSX is heavily weighted in mining and oil & gas companies, sectors that have fared better than techs and financials the past year or so. Getting exposure to the Canadian market is very easy since many stocks also trade on U.S. exchanges, the famous of all may be Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). But there are others, and some of them, the U.S. investor may want to consider.