Man, the Louisiana Purchase was one big ass piece of land!

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Originally posted by Stone
Heheh, wah, wah, wah Maruchan.

With inflation factored in, it cost them about $400 (of 2002 money) to pay whomever that $25. Even with an initial investment, $60 billion is a hell of a lot of money when you're only looking at a 6% return.

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Are you sure? Id imagine itd be a bit more than that. If you go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics page (here) and use the inflation calculator... $25 in 1913 (the first year the calcular is shown) comes to about $454 today. Id imagine that $25 back in 16-whatever is more like $2000 today.

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Originally posted by Clash_Master
I was just looking at the Louisiana state quarter, and boy oh boy is that one big ass piece of land! If things stayed the same I would be living in some French supporting slum like New Olreans. Man I would hate that. I wonder why more countrys just don't buy land this big, I bet america could buy Canada. Who am I kiding, Canada is America. Except for Quebec, thats part of the country know as Crap.

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Napoleon sold Louisiana because he needed the money. We've all been there eh? The money was far more important to him because France/Europe were a lot more imporant than some empty land. To be quite honest, at that time no-one really considered it that big of a deal and it was not for a really long time after that that North America actually became "important" on the world stage.

As for why more countries don't buy big pieces of land.. well, the answer is obvious. People live there now and would not let it happen. Canadians would not let themselves be bought by the US, most already hate they US... and plus they have health care, proportional representation, freedom to travel abroad without being laughed at, and other benefits which would be lost. Also, the US would not want to add a massive amount of socialists to it's voting pool either. What would the benefit be? Cheaper softwood lumber and maple syrup? A chance to win the Gold Medal in Olympic Hockey? :p Who exactly would they buy Canada from anyway? The Queen? :p

But... actually... if the US wants Toronto the rest of Canada will be glad to get rid of it... maybe in excange for putting the Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes back where they belong. Deal? :p

Anyway, seriously... even if countries like the US, Russia, Canada, or whoever wanted to buy and sell big pieces of land like that they could not do it because of the citizens. The only thing you might see happen is if parts of countries sold inside the country to form new "countries", such as native/ethic group claims in Canada and Russia. That's not the same thing though...

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Originally posted by sggg
But... actually... if the US wants Toronto the rest of Canada will be glad to get rid of it... maybe in excange for putting the Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes back where they belong. Deal? :p

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You can't get rid of us that easily!

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Originally posted by diffusionx
Are you sure? Id imagine itd be a bit more than that. If you go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics page (here) and use the inflation calculator... $25 in 1913 (the first year the calcular is shown) comes to about $454 today. Id imagine that $25 back in 16-whatever is more like $2000 today.

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I was using This Inflation Table. I don't know if it's a good one or not, just picked it up off of the web (inflation factor is listed as 0.049 for 1665). Using that comes up with a number around $480 (dunno why I wrote $400). Still, strange, dunno how to reconcile that figure and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' figure - doesn't make sense.

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Originally posted by sggg
maybe in excange for putting the Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes back where they belong.

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Well maybe if you Canucks would go to your Pro hockey teams other then Vancaouver Montreal and Toronto. Hell Edmonton is struggling, so is Calgary. And Ottawa filed for bankruptcy! In a few years all you have left is Canucks, Canadians, and the Maple Leafs. But then again maybe all of the players should not request American Dollers for their salary in Canada thus making them even more expensive for the Canadian team owners. Its your national sport after all.

Who are you going to invest back in the 1600's?? ;)

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Originally posted by Clash_Master
Well maybe if you Canucks would go to your Pro hockey teams other then Vancaouver Montreal and Toronto. Hell Edmonton is struggling, so is Calgary. And Ottawa filed for bankruptcy! In a few years all you have left is Canucks, Canadians, and the Maple Leafs. But then again maybe all of the players should not request American Dollers for their salary in Canada thus making them even more expensive for the Canadian team owners. Its your national sport after all.

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The Québec Nordiques played to over 95% capacity for their entire 15 year NHL history. The old Colorado Rockies never even averaged 10k a game. The reason that the NHL is half-dead in Canada is the same reason it's half-dead in Atlanta, Anaheim, Nashville, Carolina, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, and almost everwhere else. Even the Canucks were dead in the water 3 years ago. The Habs have no attendance problems but they can't make money and afford the top players. The mid/small market teams can't make money. The tickets cost too much money. The league is being run by a giant short-sighted arseface named Gary Bettman. Simply point. The problem is not that Canadians (or Americans in 75% of American markets) don't like hockey. The problem is the NHL is fucked up and being run by a greedy halfwit.

^ Majorly OT. :p