Random Thoughts

The week started with the Government announcing a surplus in the 2014/15 budget year of almost $1.9 Billion, and it kicked off a bit of a reaction from many sides. A surplus is a good thing. How the surplus was created is questionable, but it did happen (unless the Government hired all of the old Nortel Accountants). Stories about forced spending cuts in key ministries and the infamous huge savings from Mr. Clement’s Sick Leave changes. However, it is a surplus that cannot be argued (if you view the term surplus as a specific accounting term). Just an observation, but when did the NDP become more “centrist” than the Liberals?

Glad to see some money sense with the story of a Brooklyn Nets rookie (who makes $1.3M a year) who has roommates because rent is whacked in Brooklyn! It’s easy when you get money fast to give in to the “Live Now, Pay Later” mentality that our society pushes, but glad to see one young person who realizes that all wealth can be fleeting.

The one interesting thing from the Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada Fiscal Year 2014-2015 is the statement of the National Debt. Remember, the National Debt is how much money Canada owes to Creditors (many of whom are CSB owners and such, see Page 24 for the exact details of the debt). If I am reading the report correctly, Canada’s Net National Debt is $612.3B (if that is what is on Page 26 of the report). To quote the report exactly:

With total liabilities of $1.0 trillion, financial assets of $336.7 billion and non-financial assets of $74.6 billion, the federal debt (accumulated deficit) stood at $612.3 billion at March 31, 2015, up $0.4 billion from March 31, 2014

So we really owe $1Trillion, but thanks to accounting fun, we say our debt-load is $612B ? I’ll have to remember that the next time I go talk to the bank. Financial Crisis? What Financial Crisis?

Luckily the US Federal Reserve kept their rate near zero. No sudden stock market crashes just yet.

My Writings for Week Ending September 18th

The days are getting shorter as Autumn is coming (in the Northern Hemisphere). :

• Are you a big lover of the Twitter Machine? If so you’ll want to check out Talking about Money on Twitter this Week, another kind of best of article.
• Yes, it only takes 10 kicks in the shins before I take my own advise, I have closed the mutual fund account mentioned in More Blocked Mutual Fund Transactions at TD, but I am always happy when I can have Dikembe Motumbo mentioned in an article.
• Yes, I am a cranky old man, “… get off my front lawn, ya rotten kids…”, and in that spirit I wrote, Don’t Be Afraid to Live With Your Parents, yes it is an example of swerve writing.

Tweet of the week

The Government just told us about how they spent our tax money, why aren’t you reading this?

It is 14 years since that day, when the world changed in 2001. Is the world a worse place because of the events of that day? It’s a different place, is all I can say with certainty. History will tell us the rest.

The election continues to show that the Tories are lagging, the Liberals are not wowing, and the NDP seems to be turtling their way into a slight lead, but none of the party leaders are running away with the race. It would have been exciting to see this election if Jack Layton had beaten cancer, but we will never know, won’t we?

Apple introduced some “new” technology, including the iPhone Maxi (6S Plus) and the reintroduction of the Apple TV. I get the feeling that the media world (specifically video streaming) is about to change, but I also suspect it may not be Apple that wins the fight.

Our friends at the Bank of Canada continued their rates on Wednesday with the following statement about the economy (hopefully, one day it will come with a helpful decoder ring to explain all the jargon as well):

Increasing uncertainty about growth prospects for China and other emerging-market economies, in contrast, is raising questions about the pace of the global recovery. This has contributed to heightened financial market volatility and lower commodity prices. Movements in the Canadian dollar are helping to absorb some of the impact of lower commodity prices and are facilitating the adjustments taking place in Canada’s economy. While the overall export picture is still uncertain, the latest data confirm that exchange rate-sensitive exports are regaining momentum.

Meanwhile, risks to financial stability are evolving as expected. Taking all of these developments into consideration, the Bank judges that the risks to the outlook for inflation remain within the zone for which the current stance of monetary policy is appropriate. Therefore, the target for the overnight rate remains at 1/2 per cent.

A simple translation? “risks to financial stability are evolving as expected” the known unknowns are known? The unknown knowns are better understood?

My Writings for Week Ending September 11th

With Labour Day being so late this year we are already well into September, however, it is still hotter than most of the summer, 2015 an odd year for weather :

• Over the weekend I continued my best of twitter world with Laboured Personal Finance Tweets of the Week, some fun tweets in there.
• Ironic Labour Numbers on Labour Day for August, not only included the rather ho-hum jobs numbers from last week, it also included a mention of Das Capital by Karl Marx.
• It is that magical time of the year, Back To School and RESP Time, but do you really care about RESPs if you are going to leave the post-secondary school costs to your kids?

Tweet of the week

I found this one in my twitter feed and was horrified when I read the story