Where the Rubber Hits the Road

Finally some good economic news from below the border! U.S. jobs: Numbers blow past forecasts | Investing | Financial Post

An interesting article that is calling for a new definition of what a 'recession' is. Given the rapidity of our modern economies to react to changing conditions, the author may have a valid point. CTV News | Economic fits and starts: Are we in for ‘flash’ recessions?

It is important to ensure that we be open to the needs of our neighbors, friends and family members during these stressful financial times. Advice is often worth the price it costs and is usually in great supply. Prudence and wisdom are virtues that are perennially in short supply. All believers need to pray for those in financial trouble, especially the unemployed with families who are approving (or have reached) the end of their Employment Insurance benefits. I have witnessed the human cost of these times in the lives of local families, those with jobs tend to have at least one parent living and working in another part of the country. Stock Market falls like we witnessed today wipe billions (if not trillions) of dollars from the economy as the valuation of companies experienced a free-fall, dropping over 630 points by the end of trading. Things will not likely improve dramatically before the American's get their fiscal policies in order, something that is unlikely to happen gi...

An excellent analysis of the current economic challenges that confront the Americans, and by extension we here in Canada from David Frum. He demonstrates a clear understanding of the forces that affects corporate executives as they chart a path of financial survival if not success. Corporate profits are running stronger than they have been in years. The penultimate example being the recent report which stated that Apple Corp. held more cash resources than does the US government... resource and oil companies are running almost as well. Recessions are also times when weaker firms either fail or become sufficiently enfeebled that they are purchased by larger holding companies (such as the one that Mitt Romney ran) which usually break up the company and sell off its assets, making a quick profit for their shareholders but extinguishing the employment for entire communities.  This has been our experience here in Mattawa. Smaller, weaker mills were purchased by larger corporate comp...

I've always been a fan of Conrad Black. He is the anti-typical Canadian: forceful and blunt in his opinions which he freely shares. But I fear in this column that his opinion is 'on the mark'. We (the Western democracies) are headed for massive economic trials ahead. Our only hope in Canada is that we are at least doing what needs to be done to put our own fiscal and monetary policies on a solid footing for the future... assuming the Americans don't sink us as they walk the path to insolvency. Conrad Black: A world of financial ruin | Full Comment | National Post

Sure hope not! Times are here dire in Mattawa with a sharp decline in the local population because people are leaving town to find work. Long periods of separation with couples living in different regions of the country is hard to sustain in the long run and the stresses upon families lives is becoming all too clear. We need some enterprise to move into the town to offer at least a chance at long term employment for people living in the area to replace at least some of the jobs lost in the collapse of the forestry industry. That's not likely to happen if economic factors are pointing to another period of stagflation in our immediate and near term future. The folks of the Ottawa Valley are a resilient lot, but it's hard to defy the law of economics that states it takes a rising tide to lift all ships... even for the most tenacious and deeply rooted of people. CTV News | Did Canada's economy stall out in February?