"Their savings"

Saying they’re cooked is probably an overstatement but bragging about this year’s-to-date budgetary surplus is half backed. There’s more to the shortfall than the crown corporation thing because that approach doesn’t add up.

You enjoy being treated like a fool, be my guest.

Lame,

Willing to be convinced….but you have to provide more evidence than saying they borrowed money to fund an item that was mentioned in the previous years budget, which by the way has been reviewed by countless analysts and the auditor general.

If this is something nefarious its an amazing case of hiding in plain sight. Saying that others lack your powers of perception without elaborating is kind of empty. What did they fund, they state it? What is wrong with what they have done?

Watkins, so they are accused of not being involved in a crisis that doesnt originate in Canada….once again, what else would you have had the government do at this stage?

Canada is part of this crisis. Canadian banks – which I was short for months – are part of this crisis.

The difference is the depth of the involvement. As one who is comfortable long or short, I’ll be the first to admit that Canadian banks do not have the exposure that investment and depository banks elsewhere do. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have issues of their own, nor does it insulate them from the more global pressures.

As for the “meeting” some of the prescriptions they are coming out with are in fact making the problem worse. Flooding the market with credit hasn’t helped. Suspending mark to market accounting rules in fact has made things oh so much worse – now bad assets may as well be marked to whatever fantasy of the day the mailroom clerk has. Banning shorting was never a good idea as it only makes things worse in a) other sectors and b) in the market as it reopens. Witness today.

The bottom line is there is no trust out there, for good reason too. The investment dudes all play the same game and now everyone is exposed, and everyone knows how exposed the others. No one can place a realistic valuation on assets which are the core of the problem and the U.S. has compounded things by interfering with nature. Let em fail, but let them fail in the open.

In the future trust will be legislated. It will be onerous. And it will severely limit profitability. But that’s the price we’ll have to pay. That’s a clear role for government. Its not a “conservative” policy either. But it will be done by whoever is in power.

Meanwhile, instead of *leading*, Flaherty, Carney, Harper have been following in the footsteps of the very people who are making the situation worse. And if you look at the timeline, (a detailed version of which I do hope to finish sometime soon in fact) you’ll see that little original thought has gone into our situation, at least since the start of things a year or so ago.

If we are merely going to parrot what the U.S. is doing, and failing as it tries, to “fix” the situation, we’d be better off if Flaherty went fishing than to Washington.

I’m not terribly concerned about what’s transpiring, at least not from a personal finance perspective. I can turn a (very) decent profit in any market. But I am terribly concerned for the 99% of Canadians who can’t, and my mother – take note Stephen Harper – is one of them.

Posted without comment:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/515173

Andy chooses not to comment on his two offered Star readings, for good reason. Neither has anything to do with the “savings” point of Coyne’s original post.

One points out that pension plans that are heavy in the equities market have taken a hit lately. That’s not news, that’s just math.

The other points out that banks failed to “pass on” entirely the most recent BoC rate cut. My memory holds many prior events when the chartered banks were not completely in lock step either, so other than the wailing of some loudmouths (hello Duff Conacher, chair of the Canadian Community Reinvestment Coalition, would you be the same thrown-out-on-your-Duff Democracy Watch chair from federal court? How many advocacy groups can one Duff chair?), I don’t get the fuss. Banks are crumbling the world over and governments are killing capitalism as we speak, and Canada gets knotted up over 25 or 50 basis points. Whatever.

And now we know why the banks balked: they needed the CMHC to take mortgage loans off their hands first. From the macleans newswire:

***
Banks move to trim prime rate further after Ottawa offers mortgage relief
October 10, 2008 – 13:52
THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO – Canada’s big banks are passing on more rate cuts to consumers and companies after credit markets freed up Friday in the wake of federal government help for the mortgage industry.

TD Canada Trust (TSX:TD) said it will lower its prime lending rate by 15-hundredths of a percentage point to 4.35 per cent, effective next Tuesday.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) announced shortly afterward that it is cutting its prime rate by a quarter-point to 4.25 per cent.
Chris Hodgson, Scotiabank’s head of domestic personal banking, stated that: “At a challenging time in world financial markets, this reduction in interest rates reflects actions initiated by the Bank of Canada and the federal government.”

Shortly afterward, CIBC (TSX:CM) chimed in, matching the smaller TD trim in the prime rate – the benchmark for a wide range of lending to individuals and corporations.

The banks had come under fire earlier this week after they passed on only half of the 0.50-point cut in the Bank of Canada’s overnight rate, which was part of a co-ordinated effort by major central banks to ease credit markets.

Friday’s additional trim was credited to the morning’s move by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to allow the banks to offload as much as $25 billion of mortgages from their balance sheets to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

TD said this should reduce the banks’ cost of financing, in turn allowing them to trim the price of loans.

Andy, cheer up. If the government and the chartered banks are making choices that make the “strongest banking sector in the world” even more secure, and you’re still wound up, then take a yoga class or something.

If you’re pissed that the banks’ decision on a rate cut was MORE prudent for their corporate health than you would have hoped or expected, you should avoid getting all worked up over the health of those prudent banks.

Here’s a news flash. Canada is not an island. Stupid banks the world over have consensually entered into contracts with stupid customers, threatening the financial health of both classes of parties. So much so that governments the world over are threatening the prosperity of their unborn citizens in order to maybe succeed, maybe fail to lessen the pain to those of us alive today. Canada will take a hit. We’re in that web. But all sane sober reports have Canada in the best possible shape compared to all the others, to deal with this turmoil. I know you’re terribly hurt that Canada didn’t create as many thousands of jobs as the same time last year, but if that’s the worst trouble you can find…

hi my is ewanedwrd i am fine hfhjj hfjslufofi jklsfjfidof fjhlssjfijfd jdkujs udjsjlga hdlif kjfdngjdkl jjs hjksfisjscj vj
—————————-
ewanedward
http://zerotaxsavings.com

If Layton ever did get his way in forcing the regime to set ATM fees, all those low income NDP voters would commencement shriek because the cytologist would quit issuance commendation cards to anyone without a caretaker duper achievement assessment. Elevate needs to learn whatsoever basic economic principles before he opens his mouth.

Olivia
………………………………………

ISA Allowance

Hi all,
I have heard of "Top Savings Plan" from this blog and I want to thank you for sharing it with us. ====================================
Shawn
Top Savings Plan

18 Jun 2010 … Currently, banks can fix their own interest rate on savings deposits only .