Loonie-$ Parity: Good News, Bad News; U.S. Now a Giant Wal-Mart, Everyday Low Prices for Canadians

WALL STREET JOURNAL---With the Canadian dollar surging against the U.S. greenback, Robert Katzman is dealing with situations they don't teach in Economics 101.

The owner of five strip clubs in Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, says American dancers are heading to Canada to earn the strengthened Canadian currency, and Canadian customers are heading to Detroit because their dollars go further there. He's fighting back by advertising more in the U.S. and offering free limo service to get Detroit men to visit his Windsor clubs.

The rise is a boon for Canadians looking to buy American real estate, stocks or just about anything for sale at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., which has seen a 15% uptick in the number of Canadian customers this year. But it isn't good news for Canadian hotels or tourist destinations, or exporters of everything from beer and maple syrup to lumber and wheat.

The result has injected a touch of national giddiness into Canada's traditional reserve as a slew of opportunities present themselves, from real-estate deals south of the border to substantial breaks on college tuition for parents sending their kids to school in the States.

UPDATE FROM NY TIMES: On either side of the border, a buck is now a buck, or as Canadians call it on their side, a loonie. Coupled with high prices and high taxes for many things in Canada, the strength of the Canadian dollar is driving Canadians into the United States to shop for shoes, school supplies, gasoline, used cars and second homes.

MP: Compared to January of 2002, when the exchange rate was 1.6143 Canadian dollars per USD, everything in the U.S. is now on sale at a 38% discount for Canadians. The U.S. economy is now like a giant Wal-Mart for Canadians, with "everyday low prices."