The following is the post which Garth Turner (former M.P.) made on his blog yesterday:

It’d be hard to make this stuff up.

One of Canada’s biggest banks is slapped with a debt review and a likely credit downgrade.
The country’s biggest province says half its business taxes vanished, and doubles its deficit. It, too, gets a debt downgrade.
And it’s taken a mere 12 months for Ontario and Canada itself to pile $83 billion more in debt on taxpayers’ shoulders. In fact Ontario alone figures new debt will hit $70 billion over the next three years, while the national government heaps on $200 billion.
Was it only a year ago we heard this: “We will not be running a deficit. We will keep our spending within our means. It is that simple. The alternative is not a plan. It is just the consequence of complete panic, and this government will not panic at a time of uncertainty.”

So spoke PMSH last October. The prime minister also promised the recession would not come here. So it’s a good thing he’s not running a major Canadian corporation like Bank of Montreal. Oh, sorry. Bad example.

But this is not to dis the political class, now guaranteeing through their actions that your taxes will increase. Instead it’s to remind you of the fragility of the economy and how, in many ways, we have created the illusion of prosperity. Dig down a little, and you’ll wish you hadn’t.

For example, imagine if something really costly happened. Like 30% of the workforce staying home for three weeks because of H1N1. Or some religious fundamentalist whackjobs blowing up the Toronto subway. Or maybe a real estate decline of 15% causing a wave of mortgage defaults on high-ratio loans.

Which brings me to CMHC. Again,

The reason government finances have fallen off a cliff, along with those of carmakers, resource companies, steelmakers, tool and die companies, casinos, exporters and a host of other folks is simple. The economy sucks. People are out of work. Businesses losing money don’t pay taxes. The prime minister was wrong. Apparently you can’t fight global recession with a soundbite.

But meanwhile, two things are booming: Real estate and lending money. House sales are up by a third nationally. The average price is ahead 11% on average. Mortgage loans have hit an all-time high – rising an estimated 12% in 2009 alone. Consumer credit has soared 9% during the recession. And we now owe more, per head, than the Yanks. Household debt in Canada is 140% of income. Down south, it’s 132%.

So why do we have a real estate boom, when they are still wallowing in their bust?

Simply because CMHC, a federal government agency, backs all high-risk mortgages with taxpayer dough. By removing all risk from the banks, it lets them lend to people without money and little prospect of paying their loans off. It allows them to give the cheapest, lowest rate to those with the highest default risk. In case that sounds familiar, we used to call them ’subprime.’

In fact, the government encourages this. It obviously wants a housing bubble. It’s doubled CMHC’s debt threshold to $600 billion, just slightly higher than the current national debt – an amount of money which goes 100% into high-ratio loans and which is guaranteed by taxpayers. At least those still working.

What’s more, these mortgages are being bought from the banks which otiginated them (also paid for with tax dollars) so they can make more of them. CMHC then bundles the loans together and sells them as MBS units – mortgage-backed securities, just as Wall Street securitized subprime loans and sold them globally, precipitating a crisis.

The big difference between the two countries, however, is that in America the selling of mortgages was done privately by corporations. So when enough mortgages failed, so did the securities. Here the mortgages are guaranteed by the federal government, so they cannot fail. Unless, of course, CMHC does.

But what’s to worry?

It has six hundred billion in insured loans. And eight billion in equity.

By the way, the Bank of Canada says the recession will be over in 2011.

Hard to make this stuff up.

http://www.greaterfool.ca/2009/10/22/its-that-simple/

Happy Friday everyone, I was a little disgusted about the news that we have already overspent our snow removal budget for this year??? You know, I don''t get it I have lived here for 29 years, and every year its the same thing, we have 20 accidents the first day it snows and the city overspends the snow budget. Heres a heads up to city council, we live in an area in BC where it snows.. alot.. every year.. year after year after year. So when you are trying to beef up some program in the summer, don't use the snow removal budget money, because you can bet your bottom dollar that you will need every cent of it come October. If you follow this small piece of advice, you may actually be able to keep the streets safe for pedestrians and drivers for the 6 months of winter we experience every year.. year after year after year.. here in PG, instead of the snowbowl conditions we usually have by Jan where its safer to ride the bus than walk or drive anywhere in the city due to icy streets and ruts and potholes that would make any snowcross course look like a parking lot.
Just a thought.

Just 2 things this Friday Morning.
1) when is there going to be lights on the
South Bridges as it is very Dark and hard to see when it is raining out early in the morning

2) Who put the temporary road lines heading up the hill throught the domano intersection if you are in the closest lane to the meridian before pylons are there a normal size pickup truck cannot fit beside a chip truck because someone put the road lines in the wrong spot.

But I do like all the improvements they just need some tweaking

So, Charles, if the CMHC DIDN'T do as it's doing; if the Banks COULDN'T lend to anyone who hadn't already saved a substantial enough amount of equity for a down payment to cover any expected loan losses to the Bank in the event of foreclosure; if Consumer credit WASN'T still available, and growing, how does Mr. Garth Turner propose to alternately introduce the amount of "new credit" which is needed to enable "old credit" to be repaid? Or does he just want to overlook that little necessity and have a complete meltdown of the economy all at once? Or does he even KNOW just what it is he wants?

highlanderpg globull warming is coming don't ya know. No more snow, all them government funded scientists up the tell us so.

Glad to see i'm not the only one that noticed inside lane going up peden hill is to narrow, i notice nobody uses the inside left turn onto dommano,twin turn lanes won't do a thing ,everyone turns in to C.T ,you still going to have trouble,inside lane traffic turns and still cut you off....

Re; highlanderpg - Snow removal

I agree with you highlanderpg. It's the same thing every year. We can get a lot of snow here, that's no secret... and it never has been.

So why do we constantly run out of snow removal money? Well council either doesn't budget enough for it (you think they'd know by now) or they use it for other things.

I also wonder about how effective the twin turn lanes onto Domano will be. Hopefully people get into the proper lane and don't switch after they get onto Domano, because that will cause problems.

The people using the inside turning lane 'should' be going past O'Grady Road towards College Heights Secondary, but somehow, I see people wanting to change lanes on Domano which will slow everybody down. Time will tell.

A couple of things are bothering me this rainy October morning. First, why can't some people signal their intent to turn while driving? Is their decision to turn spontaneous? Are they just driving around and randomly turning here and there on a whim? The new roundabout is a great spot to witness this. You sit there at your yield sign wondering if the car in the roundabout is going to exit? They're not signalling, perhaps they're just going to go round and round and round for a few hours? Who knows? Then they pick their random exit and carry on their way.

Second, why don't some people turn their car lights on in the morning. It is dark; that's the perfect time to use your lights. If it's raining and dark that's an even more apropos time. Unless of course you're one of those people who like to get rear ended. Your front lights may come on when you start your car but your tail lights don't. I would be a lot safer if the car manufacturers made them come on as well. But they don't so please don't be afraid to turn your vehicle's lights on when you start driving.

Third, I eagerly signed up for the BC Generations Cancer Research Project after reading about it here on Opinion250. Several day later I received an email stating that their only assessment center was in Vancouver. The have plans to establish a center in Victoria next year then they plan on hitting small town BC the year after. Could I come to Vancouver (on my dime) for the assessment? Holy cow! If they're not ready for "BC" why tout the project as BC? Irritating to say the least.

Fourth, why am I having so much trouble with "they're", "their" and "there" today?

Have a grerat weekend everybody!

I, too, have noticed that many drivers are not using their turn signals - maybe there is a new virus out there that affects our driving abilities.

Snow removal - same old dribble coming from City Hall every year - we do not have any money left for snow removal. Perhaps we should get some people in there who are "Visionary" in their budgeting. By visionary I mean people who realize that it is winter for 6+ months every year in PG.

Street lights - still waiting, after 20+ years, to see Foothills Blvd lit up.

Two thoughts that I hope are not just merely whining (like my last post).

With the H1N1 virus raising its ugly head this winter, I have a couple of suggestions:

No.1: Carry a bottle of hand sanitizer in your vehicle at all times. Immediately after leaving any public place, clean your hands as soon as you get in your vehicle.

No.2: Buy a package of pens and put a pen in every piece of outer wear that you will use this winter. Do not use the "public pens" at gas stations, stores, and restaurants.

I�m going north on Ospika in the outside lane the other day when I catch up to this rig it�s a sleigh that some guy has put wheels under as there is no snow yet. He is wearing a red coat with this peaked hat that has a tassel on the end. And you wont believe this but its being pulled by eight tiny reign deers. He�s on the Cell phone making a left turn at Ospika and 15th. He�s on the center line using both turn slots. People are flashing their lights and blowing their horns.

He cut off the guy behind him making a right turn into Timmy�s. The guy is blowing his horn and shaking his fist but the old guy just keeps on trucking. He�s at the order board still on his phone. The person at the desk doesn�t know if they are being talked to or what�s happening. When he gets to the takeout window the old girl almost hawks up her faults teeth. She hands him his donut and coffee that was finally ordered. He gives her twenty bucks and says keep the change. He mutters something about these Prince George drivers are the mos t stupid in the world all they ever do is whine about my driving habits.

He tweaks his nose and he�s off towards the horse in the sky. He is last seen in the Casino Hotel parking lot with a fist full of money heading for the entrance.

I am finding this farce about the Campbell Liberals spending a million + bucks on Olympic tickets to hand out to a chosen few a bit of a joke.
This money did not need to be spent.
Vanoc and indeed,the B.C. government, could have issued free passes to anyone they wished with nothing mare than a simple agreement between the two parties.
They could have called this anything they liked...a business expense,advertizing,PR,whatever,and nobody would have given it a second thought.
Companies do this all the time,it is legal and it is usually a tax write off.
So what is really going on?

Let's see!
8 years of community energy system study.
45 million for a proposed new police station.
$500,000.00 to buy the old Norgate Autobody property.
A trip to Turin by Mayor and friends.
Cost over runs on the Cameron St bridge.

No money for snow removal. I wonder why?

I agree with you Andyfreeze. Something crazy is going on there. Maybe the Libs felt that by paying full value for tickets that they were being transparent to their constituents. The only question I have is why don't we have limits on how much can be spent by government officials on gifts?

I know they do this in the US, and believe it or not the Washington Capitals offer tickets to government officials for the grand price of $49.50, no matter where the seat is located. Govt. officials can purchase these tickets as gifts and still be under the $50 allowable limit for gifts.

I would like for our newly elected council to tell us one election promise they have filled. They seem to be focussed on spending taxpayer dollars. Buying Norgate's old building and shutting down the Cadillac are two examples.

I agree with you Andyfreeze. Something crazy is going on there. Maybe the Libs felt that by paying full value for tickets that they were being transparent to their constituents. The only question I have is why don't we have limits on how much can be spent by government officials on gifts?

I know they do this in the US, and believe it or not the Washington Capitals offer tickets to government officials for the grand price of $49.50, no matter where the seat is located. Govt. officials can purchase these tickets as gifts and still be under the $50 allowable limit for gifts.

A news item recently pointed out the chasm that exists between perceptions on Wall Street (where executives of banks which failed and were bailed out with taxpayers' money were still giving themselves tens of millions of bonuses)and perceptions on Main Street where ordinary citizens were shaking their heads in disbelief!

I have come to believe that a deep chasm exists between how P.G. City Hall perceives reality when it comes to the running of the city and how ordinary folks (who are forced to pay for the whole thing) perceive everyday city realities as they actually exist!

Come on now: How can anyone contemplate borrowing one hundred million dollars (for a new RCMP building and a not needed Performing Arts Center) at this time of a global downturn, high unemployment, ever increasing taxes and fees?

Somehow a large scale disconnect from reality has occurred over the last few years and somehow this manner of disrespect has become to be accepted by the decision makers as a standard way of doing things, regardless of what is affordable and how much more can be heaped onto the back of the long suffering public.

That's my rant for today! The sun just came out! Have a nice weekend!

Who cares what Garth Turner thinks. The guy is a **blowhard**

Charles cares. He hangs onto every word that Turner says and writes. Not sure if he understands any of it though. He just cuts and pastes without comment. :-)

Poor old Jack Poole bought the farm last night. Bummer. And Gordy and Al are jetting back from lighting the flame in Greece. Gordy will name the ice oval in Richmond after his good buddy Jack. Sooner or later. It would be the thing to do. I see nothing wrong with that. From what I understand Jack was an alright guy. He won Order of Canada medal. But this is just a prediction. You heard it here first.

Diplomat;
Yours is the type of post that his blog needs, a touch of reality . The apathy shows up at election time.

Here we are this morning whining about a new traffic intersection and the world around us is crumbling. We probably will not feel the impact of where we are going but my grandkids will pay for our uncaring attitude.

I wonder how many took the time to view the recent program on CPAC. The subject being "Our Demaracy in Broken". It illustrated the point made by Diplomat on how uncaring our politicians are. There is not a good idea in the lot. Its all about getting re-elected.

A Councilor trys to get some needed information and is told its not available to him. The manderins at City hall are runing the show and its in their interst to keep themselve employed. Its all a big game and the taxpayer is footing the bill. Its time to wake up and smell the coffee.

And the sunshine is lovely and I'm going for a walk. Join me on the old Ginter property. The colour is all gone now but next year will be another show. Its very relaxing in the meadow and gets you in touch with reality.
Cheers

"How can anyone contemplate borrowing one hundred million dollars (for a new RCMP building and a not needed Performing Arts Center) at this time of a global downturn, high unemployment, ever increasing taxes and fees?"

Beats me. Probably the same people who are spending billions on a twinning of the Port Mann bridge, billions on the expansion of rapid transit in the GVRD, hundreds of millions and likely a billion to four lane a highway from Hope to beyond Hope, an arena (completed) and performing arts centre for Penticton, a $60 million replacement of Crystal pool in Victoria, $63 million Johnston bridge replacement in Victoria. $0.5 billion BCIT expansion, heritage restoration of two heritage elementary schools in North Van for $39 million, Richmond wastewater treatment plant upgrade $1 billion, Millenium line to UBC for $3 billion ..... and on, and on, and on .......

$$$$$ everywhere we are in a big slump people!!!! time to shut the economy in the West down and hide under a rock ...

That guy who took WCB in Edmonton hostage fer 10 hours? Seems to me to be the start of a trend. I predict that WCB will have a pre-entrancing room in their building. Just as you have to be searched before you get on a plane, in WCB you will be searched before you go in and sit down with an employee. I don't know whether you will be able to have nail clippers or a bottle of water with you once you are right in the centre of all the action in a WCB building. If other similar offices and government offices adopt this policy it will surely warm the cockles of my heart to finally know that the government is finally afraid of the people.

I'm on a roll. Bear with me. I also predict that in the future all WCB claims forms will have a final question added on the last page. The question will ask, "Do you have access to firearms?" Your claim will be extradited with varying speed depending in what box you put yer X in. Betcha.

Rhetorical question: "If you predict 'the sky is falling' long enough, will you eventually be right?"

You wrote, for politicians "it is all about getting re-elected"

So tell me, for you it is not all about keeping your job?

What does getting re-elected mean?

1. I get to keep my job

2. I get to have direct input into running the community, the province, the country

3. Things will get done my way (put in name of favourite party) rather than their way (put in name of opposing party).

4. I know what my network of people tell me what they want and I will get it for them because they are right.

4. Because I am better than the others I will be able to improve things for my community.

Is that nor what every conscientious worker wants to accomplish for their company?

Do you really think that politicians are in it to

1. Gum up the works

2. Oppose everything in sight.

3. Be the most disliked person in the world.

Just as in any workplace, there are some slackers and there are some workaholics and then there are the ones in the middle who simply do their job as best as they can in such a way that they get at least some enjoyment out of it and feel that they are contributing to society in one way or another.

Imagine if your job was open to public scrutiny and you would have to compete for the job every 3 or so years and be selected by a ton of people who really don't what your job entails. usually the selection process is led by a gorup of individuals who have done the job before and know what the job entails. Elections are a stab in the dark. So, one gets a cross section of people, not all the best people for the job.

Man, life absolutely sucks today, huh?

"I predict that WCB will have a pre-entrancing room in their building."

You have not been in a WCB building yet from the sounds of it. You cannot get past the lobby in any of their buildings without a person accompanying you. In their Richmond office you have to sign in, receive a visitors badge, and be escorted by an employee to the meeting room or offices. Every employee wears an ID.

Our court houses are not as secure as that. In fact, our court houses are not secure by USA standards. Only on days when there are special trials do they close off the entry and require searches similar to the airport level of security.

EBS&L ... it is absolutely the worst day of the rest of everyone's lives. Seems to be normal for Fridays. TGIF at opinion 250.

Of course, there is always next Friday to look forward to. In retrospect, this might then be seen as a great Friday.

I predict this will be my last comment here today.

"You have not been in a WCB building yet from the sounds of it. You cannot get past the lobby in any of their buildings without a person accompanying you. "

This protocol is not that uncommon in many office buildings. It's a matter of security and safety for the people that work there. All that it takes is one incident to change things.

Re: WCB

So some poor bloke goes mental after being jacked around by WCB�why should this surprise anyone? WCB is a bureaucracy designed to chew up and spit out the people it is supposed to protect.

Do you really think that politicians are in it to

1. Gum up the works

2. Oppose everything in sight.

3. Be the most disliked person in the world.

You got the picture Gus

The work place is about people and reality. If you have to use politics to keep your job your at the wrong job site.
Cheers

First we have Hydro and ICBC spending 1.6 million dollars on tickets with the tax payer’s dime. Most tax payers can not afford to go to the high priced games themselves but we are forced to pay for the rich and elite to go. Now we have another government department spending almost a million dollars of tax payer’s money so that they can get someone who's wages are paid by the tax payers into the games for free. Or maybe their wages are not paid by the tax payers but they are rich none the less. Amazes me that the people of BC are still bent over taking it up the rear with no audible squeak. Well done! Roflamo.

Ben should re-name this Friday Complain Day.
What a bunch of sour pusses!!!!!

Gus writes: ""You wrote, for politicians "it is usually about getting re-elected"

So tell me, for you it is not all about keeping your job?

What does getting re-elected mean?""

--------------------------------------

There are two aspects to the election procedure: One to stand for election - and the voters to elect him/her!

If the voters wouldn't RE-ELECT the ones that turned out to be duds then they (the duds) would be out of luck and down the road!

It's the voters who are getting what they voted for and especially those who did not even bother to vote!

Many pols get re-elected although they have demonstrated beyond any doubt that they:

1)Know how to gum up the works.

2)Don't care if they are being disliked as long as voter apathy assures them of re-election.

3)Spend other people's money as if there is no tomorrow.

4)Travel the world and meet influential and interesting folks at taxpayers' expense, people who can be helpful when a politician gets turfed out and needs to make a good living somehow!

Can't blame them for trying, can one?

I see the price of gas is on the way up again...$1.059....PetroCan on 5th and Carney...

logging out

I was just on my way back to work after lunch and saw a beautiful, healthy moose chowing down on the side of the road. I love Prince George.

KEWL Tiemens! Happy Friday All! I have decided that nothing is going to bother me on this beautiful day leading into the weekend. Hope you all have a fun and relaxing weekend. Cheers :}

The Friday Free For All (and this site for that matter) would be boring if there were no complaints or rants, although complaining for complaining's sake can get a little tedious.

Have a great weekend.

458 million for a new roof for BC Place? You know, I wonder why we can't see headlines like these instead:

- "450 million invested into BC post secondary institutions to help offset rising tuition costs. The move is expected to increase enrollments by xyz%, thus enabling the Province to continue it's development of a highly skilled workforce"
-"450 million provided to the BC Cancer Agency to fund additional research into new cancer treatments. The money is expected to dramatically increase BC's ability to be a leader in the development of advanced treatments and therapies"
- "450 million dollars invested into the health care system. The money is being used to hire nurses, doctors and other medical professionals, in order to try and address wait times for medical services in the Province"
- "450 million dollars invested in BC's smallest towns to assist them with the infrastructure projects that are required, but that their own tax base cannot fund"
- "450 million dollars invested into environmental research that will have a direct impact on BC's top 5 polluting industries"
- "450 million dollars invested in the creation of low income housing across the Province. The money is expected to have a dramatic impact on homelessness in the Province"
- "450 million dollars invested into food banks and other services for the people most in need in the Province"

It doesn't necessarily have to be 450 million, nor does it have to the spent on the things I noted, but I think you get my point. There are hundreds of uses for this money that would be better spent. A frickin roof for BC Place for half a BILLION dollars? Wow.

We saw two mooses standing in the ditch near the UNBC entrance at around 8:30 this morning. They seemed to be healthy. Did not have my butt thermometer with me though.

Now that the construction is pretty well over they seem to be there more frequently again.

Well done NMG!!!!

Well done NMG!!!!

Good one NMG!
I am sure there are a lot of people in B.C. wondering why those we elect don't seem to understand simple priorities?
They also don't understand that there is anything north of hope,nor do they care!
Everytime the Campbell Liberals announce another of their pet mega-projects,the people of northern B.C. get less.
For everything the lower mainland gains,somewhere else in B.C.gets less.

Just saw a good one on the news whether one supports the olympics or not past medal winners are not invited. I guess there is not enough room after all the politicians and their corporate butt kissers have filled the seats. Even the IOC have not made it mandatory to have at least some past medal winners. Just proof this obscene expensive mess is not about the athletes.

Just got home from another day at the sawmill (one of the few still running around here).I pours myself a stiff one and sit down to catch up on whats going on. Skip past Charles cuz I can and it would take my whole glass to get through all that! I know the rest of you guys have got some good beefs but the CR is taking away my desire to say anything constructive so have a GREAT weekend and play safe out there ;)

Socredible. To borrow a phrase from Karl Denninger "You cannot expand credit at a rate faster than GDP forever without suffering a financial panic and collapse".

Check out this absolute debt to GDP chart for the United States. I'm sure the general shape for the absolute debt to GDP chart for Canada is the same. (The unfunded liabilities we have for the Canada Pension Plan, Medicare, and the Old Age Supplement, etc. are also a very serious problem which has to be dealt with).

http://market-ticker.org/uploads/KeyCharts/AbsoluteDebtToGDP.png

We have been at this constant credit expansion for many decades now. It is time to atone for our financial sins. Injecting even more debt into the economy in order to attempt to reflate the credit/debt bubble and push off the inevitable day of reckoning into the future is only going to make the "healing process" even harsher when it comes.

**Two Mooses** How many Mooses would it take to make up a herd of Moose. I once saw two Caribooses.

Charles, your link to that chart is interesting. It just goes to show that in reality we have had no economic growth in 30+ years that is not paid for with debt.

For 30+ years the economists (paid liars and rhetoricians) have been telling us our economy is growing, meanwhile they are engineering its export to off shore manufacturing and tax havens in a reality of a depression hidden and propped up by the new 'free money' from cheep debt sprinkled around to create a false illusion of prosperity.

Have we paid off the building of the Roman Forum and Colosseum yet?

One goose, two geese.

One moose, two meese.

And who said English is a difficult language? It's really simple!!

One mouse, two mice.

One house, two hice.