Lets see, we have a murder and an attempted murder, we have a sawmill sale in Mackenzie, a potential sale of a pulp mill there as well? Some extra cash for the school district but still possible school closures coming.

What will the big topic be today?

Potholes?

Oh geez, I forgot, Meisner had Campbell on, and Vanderzalm was around promoting his anti-HST stuff.

So what will the big gripe be this week?

Potholes?

What an amazing performance by premier Cambell in Prince George this week. He spoke to a sell out crowd of over 1100 people at the Civic Centre on Wednesday night. Bond and Bell and Rustad were on fire! The enthusiasm was contagious! The Olympics were an amazing success that was delivered as promised anon budget!

The Province of BC is on the right track, and as long as Carol James stays as the leader of the NDPP, Campbell will continue to win Provincial elections. Thanks Carol!

All the potholes have been fixed.

Dallas Thompson and Mayor Dan Rodgers have assured us that there are no more pothole problems!

All the potholes have been fixed.

Dallas Thompson and Mayor Dan Rodgers have assured us that there are no more pothole problems!

At the onset of the Great Depression, then treasury secretary Andrew Mellon became a very unpopular public servant by advising President Hoover to “liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate… it will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up from less competent people.”

Popular interpretation, particularly among Keynesians and other conventional economists, will have you believe that Mellon’s advice was tantamount to disaster, ushering in the worst dynamics of the depression years.

Yet, we all fully accept that the "roaring 20s" brought many rotten excesses, not the least of which was over-indebtedness and excessive stock speculation.

Similarly, today it’s generally accepted that we have become unsustainably indebted (households, firms, the state) while simultaneously participating in two of the largest speculative bubbles in human history in the form of internet stocks and housing.

We acknowledge that the “rottenness” is a direct result of many years of easy money, financialization and speculative behavior… we all know that the cost of living, particularly as a consequence of housing prices, is too high… we have a hunch that people don’t work very hard yet the government has seen fit only to prop in an Keynesian effort to not repeat the “mistakes” of Mellon and the response of the early 1930s.

So, how can government propping present a better path through these troubling economic times?

Would it not be absurd for today’s administration to suggest “prop labor, prop stocks, prop business, prop real estate… it will preserve the excesses and rottenness of the system. High costs of living and high living will be safeguarded…”?

In any event, however slowly, the excesses will continue to purge.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/187348-time-for-the-u-s-to-liquidate

I would like to know what will happen when big buisness cut jobs to the point where there is not enough tax reveneu to sustain the government.lol

Ah yes, Charles, the sinners repent movement.

Get the to the church and pray for forgiveness my sons and daughter!!! And while you are at it, tithe 10% of your hard earned money to the church.

Hey Stompin Tom .... you forgot about Charles ... LOL ..

more fun than potholes any day ...

Well, let me see, if business were to cut jobs to the point where there is no tax revenue, there will also be no money to spend on buying anything, which means business will cut back even more .... till finally we have a depression ......

I find that a very depressing thought .... :-)

Now, inflation on the other hand, means we will have to get out our wheelbarrows to carry money around ..... oh wait, no, we have plastic these days and can just put a few extra zeros on all the cash card transactions ... ah, so we are prepared for that much better these days.

Let's face it folks, it is a fine line between one evil versus another evil. Sometimes we waver off the track a bit more than we should. As long as we do not have the Charles' of the world at the helm or his opposite partner in crime, we will manage just fine. A little bit of a reminder now and then is good for all.

Time to get rid of the car and ride a bike.

Time to do away with the dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes drier.

Time to empty the closet of 80% of your clothes.

Time to get rid of all the gadgets.

Time to volunteer with your neighbours to fill all the potholes on your street.

Time to become independent business people and work from your homes instead of depending on the handouts from others' businesses.

Time to home school your children so that they do not have to go to school.

Time to grow you own vegetables in your yard or in one of the many community gardens to be developed downtown.

Time to downsize your living space and share the payments on you house or your rental residence with those who cannot afford a home otherwise.

Time to eat out less, cook healthy food, eat less, work harder, and be less of a burden on the medical system.

Time to vacation in another part of the City rather than another part of the world.

Time to realize less is more .... Charles has.

The following are snippets from an article which was posted on the Macleans web site on Feb. 2, 2010. The title of the article is "Awash in a sea of debt". The subtitle of the article is "Oblivious to the risks, Canadians are piling on record debt loads".

" In the last 10 years the amount of consumer and mortgage debt hanging over our heads more than doubled to $1.4 trillion, with $100 billion of that taken on in the last year alone."

"Yet for all the stern warnings about our personal debt levels, Canadians remain remarkably unmoved. The purported reasons for our sense of immunity are many—that our banks are healthier, our mortgage rules tighter and our regulators more adept. But most of all we’ve convinced ourselves we’re a nation of prudent savers and responsible borrowers. Our political leaders tell us this, as do the banks, business leaders and anyone else who benefits when consumers spend money they don’t have."

"Even before the recession began, Canadians were up to our eyeballs in debt. Since then, we’ve slipped below the surface. Over the last two decades, mortgage debt in Canada has nearly quadrupled to almost $1 trillion. At the same time Canadians have fallen in love with plastic. Credit card balances are up fourfold in just 10 years to $54 billion. Credit card companies repeatedly point out 70 per cent of card users pay off their balance each month. But many borrowers simply shift money from one form of debt, like their Visas and Mastercards, to another, like personal lines of credit. In the early 1990s, lines of credit were rare. Only about $4 billion had been drawn down. Today that figure stands at $200 billion, a staggering 4,800 per cent increase."

"Perhaps the most startling aspect of Canada’s looming debt problem is how fast we’re making it worse. Canada is virtually the only country where households have taken on more debt during this recession."

" Over the past two difficult years of the economy, the total residential mortgage debt load in Canada ballooned 18 per cent. “We’re the anomaly in global markets,” says Derek Holt, an economist at Scotia Capital. “We continue to climb to new highs with house prices and we haven’t seen any deleveraging among households. What’s so special about Canada that we should be experiencing this while every other industrialized economy went down and stayed down?”

"There’s one more lesson to take away from the U.S. experience. Once it was clear America was in dire straits, many asked: why didn’t anyone see this coming? The easiest answer is that as long as everything kept humming along smoothly and everyone was benefiting from the borrow-and-spend culture, most people simply chose not to look. If we’re going to avoid our own debt explosion, maybe it’s time to open our eyes."

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/02/awash-in-a-sea-of-debt/

"What’s so special about Canada that we should be experiencing this while every other industrialized economy went down and stayed down?”

Let us put it in another way.

What is so special about Western European countries that their housing units used to be many fold our cost.

The prices of condos and houses in Vancouver and Toronto are now comparable to those in similar sized European cities. That is what happens when there is more open trade in the world.

We used to drink our coffee at a lunch counter or a formica table with chromed steel edge and legs. No we drink it at Starbucks or its various competitors at fake wood tables with wooden chairs in a pleasant decor and it is still cheaper than having a coffee in Europe.

One has to remember when one looks at total dept over periods like 10 and 20 years, the population has gone up as has the income whether in real money or inflated money.

Time to compare apples to apples, Charles, if you want to get a serious debate going.

Gus,

I didnt forget Charles,

I just dont respect nor read messages which are simple copy and paste.

I much prefer to read peoples own thoughts, not what they have been brainwashed with.

I suspect Charles hasnt had a thought of his own in years.

Hey, the good news story of the day is that Chad Berry is still in custody til the end of March when he's slated for a bail hearing.

ooooooooooooh that was a sharp hit on Charles.

Actually of all the notes that gets posted, Gus, usually is the Professor.

Why is it that the Chair of Canfor our biggest polluter in town is also the chair of Northern Health?

Until earlier this week,when it suddenly disapeared, there was an amazing carving of an Eagle, mounted on a road sign on the River Rd side of the Cameron Street Bridge.
Does anyone know anything about this carving? Where it came from, where it went?

Hey Stompin Tom,

I totally agree with you.

I also don't read messages which are copy and paste. It's really a waste of my time and I wish it wasn't allowed on this site.

To Charles I say this... when you read an article that tweaks your interest... use your own words to write about it. You'll garner more interest that way. That's the kind of content that makes a website such as this one enjoyable to read.

Green,


Thats called good business.

He spoke,

yeah Gus does use copy and paste allot, but in his defense he does add his own narration before or after the pastings. There is some semblance of thought in his work, whether I agree with it or not.

In recent days a number of people posting to this site have gotten into the old rut, that they can post as many posts as these please, and criticize whoever they please, that disagrees with their ideas.
We can easily press a button that allows you only one comment, we would prefer not to do that. I would hope we are not dealing with children here and if you feel so strong about your views, start your own site, were only your views are read, failing that kindly control yourself.

Meisner

Is Charles that guy who stands on the sidewalk at Victoria and 17th with the magazine held at his chest?

It looks like sping has sprung. Let's count our blessings for the things we do have here in PG. The kindness and generosity of the people top my list. So you folks that complain constantly about this and that why not get off your butts and do just one little thing to make this community even better.

Thank you Ben and Elaine for all you do to provide us all with up to date happenings in and around PG as it happens.

Have a great Friday!

Meh.. Copy & Paste? It doesnt really matter, its still an information source. When it comes to finance and money i want the cold hard facts or ones that i can research into and not ones "opinion".

-Keep em coming Charles.

P.S i do enjoy opinions just not when it comes to finance. Have a good weekend folks.

Gus wrote:-"Let's face it folks, it is a fine line between one evil (*deflation*) versus another evil (*inflation*). Sometimes we waver off the track a bit more than we should. As long as we do not have the Charles' of the world at the helm or his opposite partner in crime, we will manage just fine."
----------------------------------------
The only problem with that, Gus, is we do.

We're always going to "waver off track a bit", and sometimes, like recently, a lot more than just "a bit", because of a patently false assumption on the part of the "Charles' of the world" who ARE in control.

That assumption is that the economy is in a permanent state of 'unstable equilibrium' AS IF THIS WERE SOMETHING THAT CANNOT BE CORRECTED.

That all that can be done is to try to "fine-tune" this instability, to keep us from veeering off into the abyss of Depression on the one hand, or accelerating into hyper-inflation on the other.

They have had some modicum of success over the years, so far. But the task is getting harder.

And it has come at a high cost. And that cost has been an economy that permanently under-performs in its actual ability to meet human needs and desires that could otherwise easily be satiated.

It is a cost that engenders 'waste' which it often misrepresents as 'wealth'.

It is a cost that leads to the as yet largely 'real' unrecognised reason for the degradation of the environment ~ and one that cannot be rectified by things like "cap and trade" or Carbon Taxes. They just make it worse.

It is a cost which makes a mockery out of all our efforts at "sustained yield" in our forest industry. For the model that it is based on is flawed through the 'financial' necessity to always "cut more" and make a scarcity where none should exist.

It is a cost that requires endlessly accelerating "growth", even when such growth is more of a physical detriment than an attribute, for no other reason than simply to distribute enough incomes in the PRESENT to liquidate PAST financial costs.

It is a cost that will result, again, as it already has twice last century, world wide military war as an extension of ongoing trade war, when the latter cannot be won. Which, for no country, it ever can be.

It could be corrected. Even starting here in BC. Which is one of the more favourable places on Earth to begin, while we (still) enjoy some modicum of actual "self-sufficiency". Failure to face up to its reality, and soon, will just lead to a perpetuation of all the problems we're now witnessing, and their extension.

The way to start, the first small step, is so simple it's almost too banal to mention here. Sign the upcoming 'official' Petition against the HST. If ALL who say they oppose that tax do just that, one simple act towards having the individual ability to "choose or refuse one thing at a time" ~ the actual essence of 'freedom' ~ we've made a start.

Stompin Tom
is it good business or a conflict of interest?

Green,

is there a difference?

The First House in Vancouver cost me less than what I earned in a Year , now tell me what has gone wrong in this great Country ?

There are a lot of good things going for Prince George. I was talking with my collegues, and its a town one can retire in now. Twenty years ago, one retired in Prince George because the kids were here or they could not afford to move out. Now you see people with money choosing PG, why, because the winters are not as harsh, we have greatly improved the health care, We have more facilities for the seniors.

If your willing to work smart and hard, there still are a lot of opportunities in our town and area. If you work hard, your just making someone else rich. If you work smart, than your just employing people and not making as much. We are on the verge of something big in Prince George, something is going to happen here, that Kamloops is going to be saying... we should have.

Technology and the internet. We have a lot of smart kids (20 to 30 year olds). We should be supporting these kids, buying into there enterprises and helping them become successful. I think if the older business people throw their experience and money behind the next generation of innovators, than we can keep Prince George in the lead. We have an opportunity at Logistic Park to make it happen.

I heard on Global news that Western Canada is in for hot, drought type weather this summer. Is this the summer we get even worse forest fires?

"The Olympics were an amazing success that was delivered on time as promised and on budget."
***********
Who said so?
We don't know that yet.

The sun is shining the birds are singing, come on everyone can't we all get along?

Be the Change you want to see!!!

GROUP HUG!!

have a good one people and be nice to each other, because you never know,

REMEMBER the toes you are stepping on today may be connected to the ass you are going to be kissing tomorrow!!

In a nutshell what is wrong in the world today is this. That there is actually a market for a $150,000.00 wristwatch or a $160,000.00 backyard swimming pool. Can anyone say "excessive". My $10.00 watch tells me the same time as the $150,000.00 one, it just doesn't look as good.

Seriously, about the olympics. So what if it cost us $5,000,000,000.00. it also created 10,000,000,000.00 in private investment. The Province and the Feds already made their money back through personal and corporate taxes. So, it really did not cost us anything to host one heck of a party. And to place ourselves infront of the world for 17 days.

If we let a bunch of socialist run our province we would be a have not province. Look at what 8 years of NDP left us with at the turn of the century. A have not province. Look at where Quebec is, with all that resources, its becoming a have not province. Look at Saskatchewan, now that they got rid of the socialists.

Yahoo for Gordo, for pushing through the olympic. Yahoo for finally getting a harmonized tax system in our province.

Time to look forward, not backwards and whine about it. We all can not live off of the state. Look at the formal USSR and Sweden, it looks great on paper, but it just does not work in reality.

I know people love to blame Gordo for everything under the sun, but actually, it was the former NDP regime that got the ball rolling on the Olympics.

I agree He Spoke, let's look forward. Is Calgary still whining about the '88 Olympics? Are we still whining about Expo '86? This too shall pass.

In a nutshell, it is dumb consumers actually paying those outrageous prices for those products that is tanking it. The retailers and manufacturers are simply capitalizing on that stupidity.

Canada is notorious for having some of the most expensive cell phone rates in the world. So what happens, they (consumers) run out to buy an iPhone with a data plan and willingly pay over $100 a month. WTF!

That of course is one example. Another is going to the movies. $25 per seat by the time one gets ticket, snack and excessive size fountain pop.

Rent a DVD, basically $10.

The only way that prices will "get real" is if the majority of consumers started voting with their wallets. Do not be a consumerist sheeple. Live lite, you really do not need all that cr@p. And you really do not need to "upgrade" each year.

To He Spoke and MrPG

It is nice and all that you want to blame everything on the "Socialists", but the BC Liberals do whatever they feel like. The BC AG wants to toughen drinking and driving laws, maybe they should go after members of the government first. The NDP can not be blamed for all problems, the current government has done alot of bad as well, like lying to the BC voters about selling BC Rail. And the Saskatchewan NDP left the province in the black, not in the red (you need to investigate your claims first) and also remember that the NDP have been running Manitoba for years.

And before you condemn me, I voted for politicians on the right and the left of the political spectrum, as I vote for the candidate and not the party, unlike alot of other people.

I agree Loki. For some reason, we in Canada are used to paying more for everything. It's not about how much it's worth, it's what someone is willing to pay for it.

Charles, stay the course. Let not the beak gnashing from roving packs of parrots deter you from your right to post AN OPINION. Having said that, I do not always agree with you.
metalman.

*Look at what 8 years of NDP left us with at the turn of the century. A have not province.*

Actually it was ten years, a whole decade! I remember it well! It felt like an eternity and it hurt me a lot personally because of the failure of a local business that had no chance of surviving in the BC NDP induced economic coma.

60 full time and part time jobs were lost in Prince George.

It is not NDP!
It is not Liberal!
It is not Conservative!

It is the government in power at the time.
The face changes, but the self serving actions and flat out nepotism does not.

The cost of getting elected places candidates in a position where they must solicit "donations" from supporters. To get the millions of $$ needed, they must approach the big money sources. Big money sources do not contribute to anything without a ROI. So in effect they own the candidate.

Campbell is simply being the pawned politico the system forced him to be. The previous premiers were in the same situation and the future premiers will be in this situation.

That begs the question: how do we change our current system so any eligible candidate can make a run for a seat without being owned? So they can do right for the people and not for the kings of industry.

You guys Have got to be smoking something!I don't care what you say, the NDP where never this bad..My god people wake up!

It doesn't matter who's in power. There will always be a segment of the population who doesn't like them, and then post here to tell us all about it.

Last night around 5pm I was walking my dog on Simon Fraser Avenue in College Heights and we were almost killed. A truck coming towards us went out of control, swerved into the bike lane right beside us, went up onto the pavement, hit a lamp post and kept going until crashing into a tree in someone's front yard further down the Avenue. If my dog had stopped for a pee at that lamp post I would not be posting this today, it was that close.
If there had been kids playing in their yard which is very common...
If there had been other people walking behind me which there usually are...
My point? Appreciate everything you have and take nothing or no-one for granted.

Scary isn't it observer, somebody from above obviously looking out for you!

"I don't care what you say"
Then why are you reading and posting "opinions"?
I don't know what the NDP did to you personally that was so catastrophic that you have a burning life long hate on for them,but dude, they are a political party with the same agenda to get and keep power as any other party.

Sure, initially they were the socialist party of the people in opposition to the other parties that were/are not socialist bent.

Now, none of the parties follow their original ideology. Their only reason for being is completely self serving in that they are chasing the rule of their jurisdiction.
Altruism in government is dead, long live politics! ;}

Non-partisan party!

Thanks Hammy. Can I also add that people who could see how shaken I was were so kind. There are some very good people in Prince George.
Opinionated had it right in their earlier post.

Calling all cars Calling all cars: BOLO
Please be on the look out for many unknown motorcyclists on the public roads from now until further notice.
They are known to be coming out of the woodwork from all directions, please look twice, save a life. Thanks.
metalman

Posted by: Outwest on March 19 2010 9:20 AM
The First House in Vancouver cost me less than what I earned in a Year , now tell me what has gone wrong in this great Country ?


Rich greedy people, lawyers and politicians!

"REMEMBER the toes you are stepping on today may be connected to the ass you are going to be kissing tomorrow!!"

Never have, never will. Those that do are in a league of their own!

"Seriously, about the olympics. So what if it cost us $5,000,000,000.00. it also created 10,000,000,000.00 in private investment. The Province and the Feds already made their money back through personal and corporate taxes. So, it really did not cost us anything to host one heck of a party. And to place ourselves infront of the world for 17 days."

Where exactly are you finding these facts of yours He Spoke? Did Gordo send you a personal message telling you everythings going to be all peachy? Don't hold your breathe!

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on March 19 2010 11:04 AM
*Look at what 8 years of NDP left us with at the turn of the century. A have not province.*

Actually it was ten years, a whole decade! I remember it well! It felt like an eternity and it hurt me a lot personally because of the failure of a local business that had no chance of surviving in the BC NDP induced economic coma.

60 full time and part time jobs were lost in Prince George."


Pretty easy thing to claim. Without stating actual facts of this case it's only one side of the story being heard.
I never could come to a decision where only a part of one side of a story was being told.

"That begs the question: how do we change our current system so any eligible candidate can make a run for a seat without being owned? So they can do right for the people and not for the kings of industry."

It will never happen without bloodshed!

"It doesn't matter who's in power. There will always be a segment of the population who doesn't like them, and then post here to tell us all about it."

It doesn't matter whos in power. There will always be a segment of the population that ignore how bad they really are for the people and keep posting here trying to convince the rest of us how great they are!

...and then there are people who don't care what other people think. It's what makes the world go around!

Surely we have grown or evolved enough as humans and as a collective society on a global scale that we can effect change for the better. Surely this and the succeeding generations of political leaders are beyond the old school pandering to big business just to get a seat. Surely the people have found a voice with modern communication platforms to get their message to these leaders. Surely these modern leaders truly want to "serve" the people and the land.

You're not Shirley?

Group hug and stop complaining...please

Dragonmaster:"I never could come to a decision where only a part of one side of a story was being told."

It appears that you have already reached a decision! Too bad I can't give you more details because of legal constraints/reasons.

Have a nice weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

Some of you seem to forget that, in the 90's, the NDP were elected because the BC Liberals (nee Social Credit) were ruining the province. Added to that was the Asian meltdown which hurt the BC economy as well as many other parts of Canada. It was in this decade that Alberta was giving its welfare recipients one way bus tickets to BC. You mention fudget budgets. Look at the last one the BC Liberals brought in. Already it is way off due to miscalculations by the gov't of BC. See how far out it is when the audit came down last fall. How convenient that is for Campbell and his cronies.
As for unions get big raises in the 90's, this is not true. Since the province was having a tough time unions did not request large increases.
The Fast Ferries were an attempt by Clarke to develop some manufacturing in this province. I believe with a bit more work they could have been made useful but they were auctioned off on the day that Campbell's sentence was announced. The press was given a distraction from Campbell's conviction.
The NDP left the BC Liberals with a massive budget surplus. The BC Liberals then ran 3 deficits in a row and more to come. So who is better to run the province? Campbell's moves with the IPP's will cost the residents of this province billions of dollars in increased hydro fees.

Here's a quote from The Vancouver Sun

B.C. Liberals fail to gain ground after Games


BY JONATHAN FOWLIE, VANCOUVER SUN MARCH 18, 2010

VICTORIA — The B.C. Liberal government failed to gain any significant popularity boost from the Olympics and continues to trail the opposition New Democratic Party in voter support, an Angus Reid poll to be released today has found.

Conducted between Monday and Wednesday, the poll found 35 per cent of respondents support the B.C. Liberals, up two points from last November, but still eight points behind the NDP. The poll pegged NDP support at 43 per cent, the Green Party at 13 per cent and the B.C. Conservatives at six per cent, up four points since last year’s election.

I hear tell that the folks in and around Toronto would like Toronto to become a province. Apparently the Constitution will let them. If they do become a province, it will probably be another "have not" province. If that were to happen, maybe we should all vote NDP and eventually become a "have not" province too like we almost became when the Dippers were last elected.

Observer, I'm glad you are ok. You are right, that in an instant you can lose your life or it can change in a big way. Pet owners keep your animals on a leash when out for a walk on or near our roads and highways! It only takes a quick distraction and in an instant Fido can step off the sidewalk or road side and lose his life.
Keep your pets safe.

"That begs the question: how do we change our current system so any eligible candidate can make a run for a seat without being owned? So they can do right for the people and not for the kings of industry."

I watched a documentary awhile back that claimed the world's resources/money is 49% owned by countries and 51% by corporations.

Yeah. For emphasis read that over again...

The way to change it is from grassroots. The consumer stops overconsumption and GETS INVOLVED in making policy. That means each of us making a conscious daily choice. Are you a shareholder first? Or are you a parent/grandparent first?

The scary part of that statement is that countries (governments?) has almost half the money. No wonder none is in my pocket.

non-partisan party!

Here we go again the gov't all of sudden figures that we need a whole bunch of changes to the current legislation to make riding motorcycles safer and prevent accidents. Give me a break. I have been riding for nearly 45 years on every brand of motorcycle that's out there and never had an accident. Sure there has been some motorcycle deaths over the past year but that is no reason to hit the panic button and bring in some heavy duty legislation that's going not only deter prospective new riders from getting their bike licences but the minute you lower the boom with some new legislation, guess what happens after that is that insurance companies all of sudden sit up and pay attention and get in the mix and we all start paying higher premiums because the gov't figures it's a problem. Check out what's happening in Ontario. In the end we all end up paying and paying to the point the average person who rides a bike will only end up getting the minimal insurance because he can't afford the collision and comprehensive coverage.

What is everybody hearing on the double murder?

I hear there are two dead people.

Accidental quadruple indemnity?