Some pray that Canada suffers a debilitating recession, and others preach only doom and gloom.
Well, they have an agenda to pursue, don't they?
The Toronto Star, of all places, puts things in perspective:
Yet the wider economy is doing well. The well-publicized loss of manufacturing jobs, concentrated in Central Canada, amounts to 353,000 jobs since 2002. But in that same six-year period, Canada generated a net increase of 1.5 million new jobs, and not only in relatively low-paying tourism and food service sectors but professional, scientific and technical services as well as the health-care and social-assistance fields. Average hourly wages were $20.41 in 2007, up from $17.66 in 2002. And unemployment figures for Canada and the United States are going in opposite directions. The Canadian jobless rate for last month was 6.1 per cent, down from 7.5 per cent in 2002. The U.S. unemployment rate also is 6.1 per cent, but that's up from the 4 per cent to 5 per cent range earlier in the decade.
So, whenever you hear someone crying out that the sky is falling, just remember, they also may have told you to buy Nortel stock:
In a Canoe "Money" chat room back on Sept. 27, 2000, Turner assured participants that the stock market was undergoing a mini-correction, that the Dow would hit 30,000 by 2006, and that "Nortel [then trading at $96.60] is a wonderful company and, given the recent decline, I think it is a strong 'buy.'" That day, the TSE closed at 10,250.
Real the whole article, it provides special insight into Garth Turner's financial acumen.
Cowboy boots and leather blazers distract you from my shortness
I'm taking an election time out today (CPAC is becoming burned into my TV), and I'm updating my iPod with my Top-10 best songs by various bands. Not Top-9, or Top-11, always Top-10.
However, I'm having some difficulty with my Bad Religion collection..I'm at 9, and am at a loss as to what number 10 should be.
Any Bad Religion fans want to take some time out of their daily politicking and offer a suggestion? If I get two good song suggestions, I'm willing to drop a current selection..any songs on my list that don't deserve to be there?
Top 9 Bad Religion songs I have so far: 1. Broken 2. New Dark Ages 3. Infected 4. Honest Goodbye 5. Atomic Garden 6. Supersonic 7. Better off Dead 8. Social Suicide 9. Shades of Truth 10. ?????????-update - I want to conquer the world
Jack Layton needed to kick serious butt tonight in the English language debate if he had any chance to replace Dion and the Liberals as official opposition.
He failed. He had the best one liners, and you could say he won the debate, because he did. But he did not win it in a way that will advantage the NDP.
He spent most of the night attacking Harper, when he should have been all over Dion.
Did Layton dislodge any Conservative voters who will now vote for the NDP? No.
Did his attacks on Harper persuade voters for any of the other hippy parties to vote for the NDP? No. Those leaders were repeating the same attacks.
Layton needed to distinguish himself, and by merely being the best of the left in attacking Harper, he did nothing to increase his vote count. At the end of the day, I don't know if the NDP will end up getting any more seats at all after such a wasted effort.
Opportunity lost. Oh well, you can bet the new NDP leader, Thomas Mulcair, won't make the same mistake.