$1 USD, that's like $1 CAD?

[Egeides]

I'm not worried about these smokescreens and such. I disgress just a little. I don't think it's so much about if a specific move is gaining the public's trust and works. It's more of a whole package, some of it being there pretty much just because everyone is used to it even if it's not efficient.

So one part might be just smoke and mirror, but it'll be about if the whole - including the social "symbolism" - works. Hope all you can :P

[Andrew]

Bank of Canada lowers overnight rate target by 1/4 percentage point to 1/4 per cent and, conditional on the inflation outlook, commits to hold current policy rate until the end of the second quarter of 2010

Bank of Canada says 2009 recession will be 3% contraction, and worse than USA economy.

Bank of Canada is willing to literally print money to buy bonds. Other countries have already started doing this.

Looks like Chrysler will go bankrupt next week.

[chatfsh]

Publicizing the banking stress test was just another blunder on Obama

[Andrew]

Four regional banks fail Friday, setting the FDIC back near $700 million and bringing the annual total up to 29.

Don't worry about that $700 million, the feds will just print it back.

[Tatar Khan]

Publicizing the banking stress test was just another blunder on Obama

[chatfsh]

Tatar_Khan, the purpose of the bank stress test is to determine whether the banks have proper capital adequacy levels sufficient to weather further adverse economic conditions.  If the banks capital requirements are lacking, they will have six months to raise capital either through retained earnings or selling stock.  If this is not sufficient they will be required to accept additional bailout funds.

Regardless of the

[Andrew]

IMF Considers Bond Issue to Raise Funds for Lending Programs

The worlds lender of last resort has to print money.

EDIT:

GM to cut 21,000 US factory jobs, shed Pontiac

I bet those factory workers were happy to be making $40 an hour. Now they have no job. At least they are now getting rid of all the different brands.

EDIT:

Rats Feed Off U.K. Recession as Trash Mounts, Buildings Empty

Next plague in the making?

GM has 700 dealers in Canada, and plans on closing 42% of them by 2010.

[Andrew]

Remember the outrage when it was revealed AIG workers would get $100 million in bonuses?

Well it turns out the accounting was wrong again. It is now $400 million.

AIG bonuses four times higher

Remember the $7 billion in loans that were given to Chrysler? Turns out they are not going to pay it back because government will become an owner. So this means you can go to your local dealer and pick out a car to take home. Right?

Chrysler Won't Pay Back Government Money Loaned So Far.

[Andrew]

10 U.S. banks fail stress test, but regulators confident

10/19 failed.

Looks like they were honest about it.

EDIT:

Gas in N.S. is now 96.3 cents per litre (87 where I'm at).

Seriously, worst recession in 30 years, and gas is 96 cents? At this rate it will be $2 a litre in 2 years.

[chatfsh]

So the banking stress test results have been released and the banking industry did not implode.  Let

[Tatar Khan]

The stock market has been on an extended rally for months now.  Is it another bubble?  What

[Andrew]

Great. Gas prices are increasing 8% tonight.

Just in time for May long weekend (Victoria day).

EDIT:

Great. A neibouring provinces price is 5% higher than here, so I expect another jump in prices. I don't remember hearing anything about a new war or anything to do with supply to cause speculators to increase prices.

EDIT:

as I typed previous edit, news article came on tv saying it was speculators, and "refinery shutdowns".

[Tatar Khan]

I don't remember hearing anything about a new war or anything to do with supply to cause speculators to increase prices.

The OPEC countries will try to solve their money problems by raising the price. So it will go up until they feel they got a handle on things.

[Andrew]

Remember last summer when oil companies said they had to increase prices because of high demand?

The New Rules: Gas Demand Declines, Prices Jump

We're at $62 a barrel already and the recession isn't over (somewhere near bottom!). In the article it states demand is down ~20% worldwide.

Best part of article:

The gasoline economy is becoming like the City of Atlanta's business model. Atlanta began charging its water customers more because the customers were conserving water during the long drought, and the City's water revenues were decreasing. When the City imposed the rate hike on water customers, the City began taking in more money. The City then continued to encourage water customers to conserve.

Same thing happens with electrical utilities. They tell you to conserve energy, and if you do and decrease consumption, they increase price 5-10% every year.

It happens with phone utilities as well. I read an article a while ago where someone wasn't using their phone enough, so the company started charging more.

It's all a huge farking scam.

And the worst thing that is going to happen that will cause massive consumer price index inflation is Interac changing from non profit to profit. They want debit cards to become like credit cards. They are changing credit cards to become like debit cards. Prices of products are much higher because of credit cards.

Although I find it funny that government wants to regulate credit card companies from charging too much interest to people who have balances. It is just the government trying to make themselves look good to get elected again. Hello, if you can't afford the interest, don't use credit cards. It's like when the government wants to regulate paydayloan businesses because they charge 50% interest. Hello, if you don't like paying the interest and large fees, don't go to a paydayloan shop.

Gov is pretending to take care of consumers, wehn in fact they are not helping consumers by going after the important things such as credit card companies charging businesses % off each purchase people make. The only people affected by interest payments on outstanding balance is stupid people. Meanwhile every single person pays for the increased price of a product because a business has to hand over a % of revenue every time someone pays with CC. And those that pay with cash or debit still pay more, as they need to subsidize those that pay with credit cards.

Credit card companies are playing the game with government regulators. CC are saying "no, please don't regulate our interest rates!", when in fact they don't really care because they'll just increase amount charged to the business (change debit to for profit). Either way they will get more money.

The battle for plastic

Also the "reward" programs are pretty much scams so they can track user purchasing habits and sell it to whoever wants to pay for it. And a little bit of brand loyalty.

Where I live a lot of people are buying and using the "green" reusable grocery bags. Superstore (one of biggest grocery store chains) started charging customers 5 cents for every plastic bag you need to get. Sobeys hasn't started charging yet, but everyone is offering/selling their green bags for $1. See lots of people carrying them. Noticed Walmart had them today (big block of cheese on sale for $3, regular $8!)

CAD/USD is around 87 cents. Rebounded pretty good recently.

[Khan]

The British government announced a while back that they were going to stop credit cards from charging 3% on every purchase but I never heard about it again. Hopefully if it does come in shops will actually pass on the saving rather than keep the profit.

[Andrew]

The British government announced a while back that they were going to stop credit cards from charging 3% on every purchase but I never heard about it again. Hopefully if it does come in shops will actually pass on the saving rather than keep the profit.

And of course the argument the CC companies make about this is that they'll have to increase fees and interest rates for credit cards. I say that is fine. At least then people will have the choice of using CC, and not have to pay for it at the store because the business has included 2% increase in price for every product because they don't know who will be paying with CC/cash/debit so they charge everyone. The only people who pay interest on CC is those stupid enough to have a balance at the end of the month. CC allow for free month of financing which is great. The way I see it you should not use CC unless you have money in bank account to pay it off. If you are one of those chronic people who have credit card balances and pay interest and complain about interest, then it is obvious you should not have a CC. CC should only be used for short term emergencies (not even), booking hotels, buying online.

[Khan]

I agree I just can't help but think that it would be a move similar to the VAT reduction which hasn't changed very much except for treasury losing money. I doubt many people have increased spending for the sake of a few pence, and with some shops not even passing on the savings it's been a really pathetic move to stimulate the economy.

Edit: Oh and about plastic bags M&S (the posh supermarket) charge 5p per plastic bag and at my local sainsburys you have to ask for them but good old tesco still lets you have as many as you want guilt free. HAHAHAHA

[Andrew]

I agree I just can't help but think that it would be a move similar to the VAT reduction which hasn't changed very much except for treasury losing money. I doubt many people have increased spending for the sake of a few pence, and with some shops not even passing on the savings it's been a really pathetic move to stimulate the economy.

Hey, Canada did the same thing. Harper government reduced GST (goods and services tax) from 7% to 5%, and this was during the boom before the economy collapsed. They wish they had not done it so they would have more money to spend now. It didn't change much at all. They would have been better off reducing income tax instead.

[Khan]

Heh our income tax recently got not quite increased but much more difficult for lower earners. Where we used to have a 10% tax band for those earning over ~

[Andrew]

Employment insurance numbers jumped 10% in March

Canada Finance Minister Says Deficit "Substantially More"

But Harper said last fall on live national television there would be no deficit. Then it was "were gonna have a small deficit". Now it is going to be larger. Why can't politicians be straight up with what is going on instead of ignoring everything.

Good new is that farmers have earned a lot more money in 2008. Mostly due to high grain prices. Cows/pigs are still worthless. Potatoes are average.

Lobster prices are at record lows. You won't notice the price difference at grocery stores, they still charge almost double what they pay the fishermen. Buying direct from fishermen is best. Inflation adjusted lobster prices are lowest in 30 years I think. So make sure to get some.

It will be interesting at the bottom of the recession. Everyone is out of jobs and not spending money, so how/why would businesses hire more people if demand is not increasing?

CAD is at 89 cents to USD. I think it is lowering prices of products imported. Hopefully it goes up a bit more so I can buy electronics cheaper.

[Andrew]

Russian investment group Digital Sky gets 2% stake in Facebook. Investment values social networking site at $10 billion.

10 billion?

I don't doubt that data mining 250 million people personal information is very profitable, but I really hope for another tech bubble. Hopefully another competitor comes along and facebook dies, just like myspace. So far twitter is best competition, but don't know how it would affect facebook since they are different (myspace and facebook were more similar).

Oil at $62.45, highest it has been in 2009. So will be see $100 barrel this year? Maybe it is over priced like it was last year, but what is to stop them from charging $200 per barrel? Everyone still needs oil/gas/energy, and it will take 2-3 years for alternative energy to even make a small dent (if $200/barrel). Then once people start switching they will drop price to really low prices and everyone will abandon renewable energy as it is too expensive.

Flaherty pegs deficit at $50-billion

Shortfall far exceeds $39-billion racked up under Mulroney in 1992-93, which is currently the largest on record

WTF? 50 billion? Good thing they cut the GST from 7% to 5%, and went on spending spree before the recession started. ;)

Now see the Liberals get into power and increase GST %, and run surpluses. Then the Conservatives can get in power again and blow the economy.

"We will run a substantial short-term deficit this year that I estimate at more than 50 billion dollars," Mr. Flaherty told reporters this afternoon.

Well, they've lied about every other finance story, so does this mean we are looking at long term deficits?

The federal debt today is equal to about 29 per cent of annual economic output – the lowest level among the major advanced economies in the Group of Seven. That means Ottawa can borrow cheaply, making added debt relatively inexpensive to finance.

That's good. USA is going to be 80% in 6 years or so, so as long as Canada is lower than the rest I'm happy.

Canadians dragging around too much debt

Lots of charts and stuff. Chart #1 is very scary. Although it might not actually be scary if they went back to late 80s to compare. No recession since 1990.

[Andrew]

Oil up 1.3% after data shows less severe GDP fall

So they revised GDP, and it turned out is wasn't as bad, and this causes price of energy to increase 1%.

I can't wait to see prices when the recession is over. Glad I bought $140 of gas today, because it will probably increase 6% in a day or two.

Basking in Higher Prices, OPEC Holds Output Level

But now they are confident—or at least acting as if they are—that the gentle rise toward the $75 to $80 per barrel range favored by some OPEC producers is likely to happen over the next few months.

$1.30 gas prices by September 16 I bet. (30% increase). Currently at 0.958

Canada Afternoon: CAD Hits 8-Month High As USD Tumbles

Sweet! Cheaper imports! Bad for exports/tourism though.

91 cents.

Anyone hear about Canadian medical nuclear reactor going offline for several months? It supplies 40% or so of worlds supply of isotopes(?) used for cancer diagnoses. It was shutdown a year ago and caused massive shortages.

So if it is essential for world healthcare, why doesn't a brand new modern one get built somewhere in the world?

EDIT:

Crude Oil Caps Biggest Monthly Gain Since 1999 on Dollar Drop

[Andrew]

Glad I bought $140 of gas today, because it will probably increase 6% in a day or two.

Confirmed on Monday prices will be increasing ~5.8%.

Over a buck a litre.

Is storing gasoline difficult? If everyone knows price will be increasing, why not stock up (buy say 1000 litres) before it does? Jeez, I wish I coulda bought $2000 worth back when it was 0.8 cents per litre. Could have saved 20%. Probably should have spent $500 buying a storage tank.

EDIT:

Geithner to Reassure China U.S. Will Control Deficits

Umm, how exactly is doubling total debt within 10 years from now "controlling deficits"?

Storied automaker suffering huge losses and plummeting market share expected to announce bankruptcy. Obama set to address nation Monday.

I'm guessing Obama will talk about this and that, and make some promises to do something by 2020 (after he leaves office), and will not do anything to let the market correct itself. How about refurnishing those car plants to make solar panels and wind turbines? Or mass transit vehicles (buses, trains etc).

[Sneakgab]

''How about refurnishing those car plants to make solar panels and wind turbines? Or mass transit vehicles (buses, trains etc).''

Recently saw a documentary about the ''energy crisis'' and all. Wasn't paying too much attention (it seemed silly, but I was mostly snoozing). They mentioned electric cars and that such cars require an energy source and mentioned different sources and whatnot (as well as the usual cell car ideas and whatnot) and of course predictably mentioned why they are all ''obviously'' impractical and useless shortly afterwards (makes you wonder why they would even waste your time mentioning such alternatives if they think they're worthless... just to discredit them in case you had heard of them?).

Clearly (and it was clear nearly from the beginning), the documentary was on a mission to present ''cutting down'' as the only option available. Not saying I have an opinion on that, but a one sided documentary is generally less interesting than a more fair one.

One part of the documentary that ''stuck out'' is that one of the alternatives they mentioned was electric batteries using nuclear stations as their source. They went on about how it too ''dangerous''. They then proceeded to describe how there is a very good chance the world is headed towards nuclear war.... :P

So.... nuclear power is too dangerous, so the goverments opt for nuclear war instead?

Seems silly doesn't it?

Well that's it for my rant on some sh!tty documentary (makes me wonder why I bothered typing that  :- ;D)

''How about refurnishing those car plants to make solar panels and wind turbines? Or mass transit vehicles (buses, trains etc).'' (reqoute for more serious non-rant discussion)

In a genuine marxist society you can be assured that instead of making a bajillion cars and other items never to be used by anybody, more emphasis would be placed on.... averting possible frikkin global disaster (as the consensus seems to be on what awaits the world if something is not done) and the like.

Marxists often refer to this as a ''rationally planned economy'' (with economies under capitalism clearly standing in stark contrast).

Now, there may be issues of efficiency (market), deserving (people getting free stuff), and what have you, but a society whose force was devoted to the greatest good, would, regardless of how weak that force may be due to lack of motivation and market, AT LEAST direct said force rationally.

These pictures of fields of unbought cars that will basically never be used (despite the clear surplus, the production of cars continues [if at a reduced rate, though I'm not sure on that]) make one weary of thinking that the work of humanity is used efficiently under capitalism (even if, capitalism is better overall for whatever reason)

Anyway, what I have heard mentioned specifically is about mass transit from marxists. Andrew, I have your heard angry words against SUV's and the like, and I think you would at the very least be pleased to know that the marxists would probably re-distribute X work hours by stopping the production and usage of most cars and replacing it with an excellent public transport system (subways, buses, e.t.c.). The remaining cars would mostly be fuel-efficient ones instead of pointlessly wasteful ones. Of course if you want to be a douche and ride a huge guzzling polluter for no real reason, that option would be available to you but at great cost (though I don't really know details here), especially considering that earning ''insert absurdly large amount'' here would be impossilbe.

''EDIT:

Geithner to Reassure China U.S. Will Control Deficits

Umm, how exactly is doubling total debt within 10 years from now "controlling deficits"?''

Haven't read the article, but I would hazard that rather he is trying to reassure somebody ELSE that he is going to reassure China, as I'm assuming the Chinese government don't believe random ludicrous BS... unless by ''controlling'' he means keeping it within utterly atrocrious predictions.

''I'm guessing Obama will talk about this and that, and make some promises to do something by 2020 (after he leaves office)''

I've always found it funny how presidents promise that so and so will be by so and so date (that is far in the future, long beyond their latest possible term unless some ''stange'' electing takes place). If they have great power, then how the hell can they guarantee that so and so will be despite the multitude of presidents that will come after them that may mess it up (unless they have some great plan, or all the presidents would do whatever he would [well, that is actually quite plausibe especially with America]). If they do not have great power, then how can they make exertions to guarantee so and so? Or is it the case that this would happen ANYWAY. In that case, that's quite a sh!tty boast. In any case, these boasts seem utterly absurd. I'm assuming they know they have no idea how to bring these changes and little way to predict things over a decade or further away, and thus are simply speaking sh!t. But of course, this was assumed by all begin to with, I am sure.

[Andrew]

Canada officially in recession with 2 negative GDP growth quarters

Oil at ~67.50

CAD is around 92 cents.

So, wasn't it a year or two ago I was posting the same stuff? High oil prices, high Canadian dollar (or low USD). Will we see a repeat? The only difference now is that everyone is in a recession.

Looking at second page of this thread, first time oil prices are mentioned. November 2007 oil was at $97 per barrel. Before economies went into recession. So now we are in a recession, and we'll have $100 per barrel in a month at this rate. Heh, reading this thread over is funny, watching economies implode and how governments denied that anything was wrong.

Is this recession hurting big businesses, and the only safe place to make money is to increase prices for energy since energy is mostly inelastic?