... is up for grabs at www.hockeystars.com   Contest closed Monday June 9, 2008!

Hello, Readers -- If you are a Vancouver resident who chafes at the lack of affordable housing, you can imagine the hopelessness of my dtes neighbours as nearly half of the barely-affordable housing for low-income people has been wiped out in the past short while, in favour of development.

Now I'm not against development in my neighbourhood. But I want it to be thoughtful, visionary and inclusive. I want it to be a mixed income area where we continue to come up with empowered, creative ways of helping each other out.

Instead, I am personally witnessing a reckless, market-only-driven displacement of members of my community. It's happened so fast and furiously there hasn't been much chance to react.

Hi there -- my bank (Citizens Bank of Canada, VanCity's answer to the, errrr, orange bank) is soft-launching a community site about hockey (players upload stats etc).  They're starting out with a fun contest:



Here's the contest: submit your favourite photo or video connected to hockey and you could win:

Grand Prize: $1000 gift card Second/Third Prize: XBOX 360

Visit HockeyStars.Com to enter!

I'm feeling a bit doom and gloomy about the economy. One possible bright side is that the people who live and work here in Vancouver, who make it a city and not a ghost town, may yet afford a place here. So take heart, Krystal.

It all has to do with this Asset Backed Commercial Paper problem. Don't run away from me. It won't be boring, I promise. And remember, I'm a money coach, I'm not an economist, so what follows may be way off base. But here's the future as I see it:

Joe wants to buy Sally's $300K condo. He doesn't have $300K available just then (he's not John Chow). So Joe goes to Friendly Credit Union or Big Bank to borrow the money.

Don't all lunge at me at once. I'm not about to bend over for CRA or anything - I'm as aggressive as your next ave. joe canadian on my tax returns - but I gotta ask: when did we get such a hate-on for paying taxes? Be honest: the #1 thing we all wanna know about The Budget is, "how much of a tax break are They giving, and who gets it, and am I on the losing end?" But a bit of devil's advocate here. 1. Isn't the They actually Us? I mean we're not conquered peoples (pardon -most of us aren't) giving our money to Nero here. We're a civilized country that's collectively opted to build a society together, and pool our money to do so. 2. Specifically:

• while Michael Moore was a bit optimistic about us, the fact remains most of us have confidence that if we need emergency care, we'll get it (and for every horror story, I've heard stories of remarkable care provided by our health system, haven't you?)
• I got an amazing education for about $50K all told. I'm still annoyed that I had a $30K student debt but I also know that I cost the taxpayer about $350k - and so did you, if you got 4 years of education after high school.
• Oh, and my grades 1-12 were paid by taxes.
• And I don't know where you walk, but I walk on reasonably kept sidewalks, and most cars stop for me by these efficient little red circles of light - sometimes I even get to push a button to make the cars stop!
• And when something a little freaky happens in my neighbourhood I just push 3 buttons on my phone: 911 and help is on its way.
• And I don't personally want to help unemployed get employed, or personally provide refuge to kids whose parents have abandoned them, or the stray cats for that matter, but I'm sure glad they're getting at least a baseline of help.

So I guess I wonder if we're being a bit facile when we moan about our taxes. Wouldn't our time be better spent asking questions like, "what kind of society do I want to live in?" and "how do I want my elected officials to allocate our pool of money?" and "how does Canada compare to other countries who handle taxes differently, and what do I make of those differences?" Over to you: are you bitter about the taxes you pay? are we truly overtaxed here? what would you give up by way of services in exchange for fewer taxes? Why?

 

Thank You, Aizik Ebert. If you haven't privately offered up a blessing on this Toronto man, you should. He's filed a class action lawsuit against and , and According to the National Post he is alleging senior execs of these companies conspired to "to fix, enhance and maintain the price of chocolate products in Canada".

... with a nod to CommonCraft, yes?

If it's not one thing, it's another.
1. Our loonies caught fire, literally, at the Canadian Mint.

 2. The Bank of Canada lowered its rate to 4%. Hallelujah, my mtg loc went down again :0.
But here's the blood-curdling part. Royal Bank rumbled that they might not lower their rate (banks don't have to, but they do, to compete with one another). Why should that make your hair stand on end? Because the Bank of Canada moves its rate to ensure our economy stays on track. Banks lower their rates to be competitive so they can make their global shareholders high profits. If all the banks colluded to keep their rates high, they would essentially be controlling our economy.