Scotiabank forecasts recession for Canada

(CTV.ca) - A Scotiabank report is forecasting recessions for both Canada and the United States that could last well into 2009.

 

But the report says a potential recession in Canada would not be nearly as bad as one in the U.S. The bank expects Canada’s housing market to continue to slow, exports to the U.S. to drop and unemployment to rise as companies cut back on expenses.

 

The economic report for the bank’s customers, exclusively obtained by CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife, also forecasts particularly gloomy news ahead for Canada’s ailing auto sector.

 

“We expect 2008 U.S. passenger vehicle sales to fall to 13.7 million units — the lowest level since 1993 — from our previous estimate of 14.1 million. Our 2009 forecast has also been reduced to 13.5 million units, compared with an average of 16.7 million over the past decade,” the report says.

 

The report that September’s job numbers, to be released this week by Statistics Canada, will show a “mild decline in employment.”

 

The report says Canada’s housing market should continue to slump going into 2009, but the impact will not be as severe as the sub-prime housing crisis in the United States.

 

“Canada’s sub-prime market is only (five to six per cent) of outstanding mortgages whereas the U.S. is over three times that amount. Canadians are also more conservative and have lower debt tolerance than the U.S. while the funding model is also completely different,” the report says.

 

The bank is also forecasting that the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve will cut rates by a full percentage point, taking the overnight rates down to one per cent.

 

The Scotiabank report could put Conservative Leader Stephen Harper in a difficult position during the last full week of campaign for the 2008 election.

 

Conservative insides say that Harper has been playing it safe on the economy because he doesn’t want to rattle the market. His opponents, however, have been playing up the economic slowdown as an election issue.

 

But as incumbent prime minister, Harper’s words have more impact than his opponents and if he starts to say that the economy is in trouble, there could be an adverse reaction on the stock market.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CTV.ca, Oct. 5, 2008 ]

Wary of Public Outcry, Revised $800B Wall St. Bailout Stuffed with Earmarks to Sway Election-Year Incumbents

(DemocracyNow.org) - On Capitol Hill, the House is preparing to vote again on the revised $800 billion Wall Street bailout plan after rejecting a similar bill on Monday. All 432 seats in the House are up for election next month, and many “no” votes on Monday reflected lawmakers’ fears of a voter backlash for the unpopular bill. An array of “pork barrel” projects have been inserted into the legislation to win support from nervous incumbents.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: DemocracyNow.org, Oct. 3, 2008 ]

Foreign Invasion Sends Markets Reeling

(dissidentvoice.org) - The realization of how foreign central banks contributed to our current financial maelstrom has been lost in the debate over resuscitating the US economy and saving failing financial institutions. For over two decades foreign central banks, particularly Japan’s and China’s, have been pumping money into America, de facto loaning us money, so that we could buy their goods, thereby stimulating their economies. This deliberate policy choice, to build their economies on the backs of US consumers not only led to a deterioration of our country’s balance sheet but contributed to the excesses we are know suffering from.

Push Versus Pull

Whether foreign capital is “pushed” or “pulled” into a country has important implications. Money that is pulled into a country does so because its investments are attractive. Money that is pushed into a country does so for a variety of factors extraneous to the host country. In this case the host country, the US, is getting money not because of the investment opportunities it provides but rather because foreign countries want to stimulate Americans to buy their goods. History shows that money pushed into a country can lead to financial bubbles and borrowing binges in the host country as it must readjust to the inflow. Think of it like giving your college age child large sums of money each week.

READ MORE HERE

House prices fall for first time in 12 years

(NationalPost.com) - It took 12 years, but the housing boom in Toronto is finally over.

For the first since 1996, prices in the city have begun to fall. Houses are now sitting on the market longer and less of them are selling, in a trend that appears to be picking up steam.

The Toronto Real Estate Board said yesterday that the average price of a home sold in September in the City of Toronto dipped to $393,647, a 6% decline from a year earlier. Across the Greater Toronto Area the average price of a home sold last month was $368,549, a 3% drop from a year ago.

TREB president Maureen O’Neill maintained the market remains stable and the board noted prices in the city are still up 6% from 2006.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: NationalPost.com, Gary Marr and Danielle Wong, Oct. 4, 3008 ]

House prices tumble amid freefall in sales

(TheStar.com) - It’s a new reality for some vendors when realtor Duncan Fremlin appraises a property for sale in the increasingly choppy waters of today’s real estate market.

“It’s a tough conversation to have, because sellers don’t want to hear that they may not be getting what they expected,” said Fremlin.

“When you do the comparables it’s not about what you may have got last year, it’s what the houses in your area got this month.”

So far, it hasn’t been a good month.

Prices in the Greater Toronto Area market fell for the first time in more than a decade, down by 3 per cent from year-ago levels, according to figures released yesterday.

Average existing home prices dropped to $368,549 in September, from the $380,132 recorded in the same month last year, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: TheStar.com, Tony Wong, Oct. 4, 2008 ]

 

Why We Can’t Afford Cheap Gas

(AlterNet.org: Environment) - We can’t let the talk about alternative energy rise and fall with the cost of gas, or the environment and our economy will pay a mighty price.

With the cost of crude oil again nearing the $100-a-barrel mark (even after last week’s financial meltdown) and this summer’s record gas prices in the rearview mirror, automotive executives and industry analysts are already heralding the return of gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. Car makers are rolling out new truck models, and even Republican presidential candidate John McCain, in a new Michigan TV spot, promises to “spur truck sales.” Never mind that only months earlier, these same analysts, as well as auto executives and consumers alike, insisted that the future of the automotive industry lay in more fuel-efficient models like hybrid and electric cars. Now, however, it seems that many involved are slowly slipping back into the pre-$100-per-barrel mindset that was so popular when pump prices were under $4 a gallon and drivers of SUVs and trucks roared down the roads with clean consciences.

But if history is any indication, this period of relief and a possible shift back to gas-guzzling cars must be met with cold-eyed skepticism. Sure, cheaper gas means much needed short-term financial relief. Looking past the next year or two, however, cheaper oil and a resurgence of gas-guzzling vehicles would be seriously detrimental to the United States, as similar oil crises in the past have shown that the periods immediately after a spike in oil prices — not the crises themselves — have arguably inflicted far greater damage on the country. During these relief periods, critical efforts to develop alternative energies and fuel-efficient technologies — begun under the culture of urgency that an energy crisis instills — have been squashed, allowing Americans to revert to the same old habits, tendencies and behaviors that got them into trouble in the first place.

Take, for example, the October 1973 U.S. oil embargo. After a group of African and Middle Eastern countries briefly stopped supplying the United States with oil, prices in early 1974 climbed from $3 to $11 per barrel, setting off a nationwide energy panic and resulting in massive lines at gas stations. In response, President Richard Nixon proposed lowering speed limits on federal and state highways and temporarily banning the sale of gasoline on Sundays. Nixon also announced his “Project Independence,” a set of energy-related recommendations aimed at achieving the quixotic goal of making the United States energy independent by 1980.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: AlterNet.org: Environment, Andy Kroll, Sep. 29, 2008 ]

Virus hits Facebook, MySpace social networking sites with bogus emails

(The Canadian Press) - MONTREAL — A virus has been infecting popular social networking sites MySpace and Facebook, tech experts said Thursday.

On Facebook, the virus is causing email messages to be sent to people on “friends” lists asking them to watch a video supposedly on YouTube. A user has to download what purports to be a plug-in to watch the video.

Tech expert Marc Saltzman said the plug-in is actually a virus.

The bogus email appears to come from a friend, he said.

“Even when you go to the fake site, it has their name and profile picture right on the site, so you really believe it,” said Saltzman, a syndicated tech columnist who received several of these emails a few days ago.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: The Canadian Press, August 8, 2008 ]

SCUM ALERT: Government won’t interfere in wireless texting charges: Prentice

(CBC.ca) - Minister of Industry Jim Prentice said Friday the government had no intention of introducing new legislation to regulate cellphone companies over changes in text messaging services.

Prentice had met with the heads of Bell Mobility and Telus over the companies’ new texting charges introduced in July, which called for customers whose cellphone plans did not include texting bundles to be charged 15 cents for incoming text messages. Previously, customers without text plans were only charged for outgoing messages.

The charges were not popular with consumer groups, and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton called them a “cash grab” and called for the government to step in.

But Prentice said in a statement Friday that after meeting with the two companies, he was “assured that customers charged for spam could contact their service provider to have the charges removed from their bills.”

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca, August 8, 2008 ]

HERO ALERT: Class action suit filed against Bell, Telus for new texting fees

(CBC.ca) - A Quebec man has launched a class action lawsuit against Bell Mobility and Telus, following a move by the cellphone providers to charge customers for incoming text messages.

Eric Cormier, who has subscribed to Bell Mobility for the past decade, says by introducing the new fees, the companies have changed the terms of their cellular contracts.

“This was something that was free up until then and the problem for the consumers is that they cannot re-negotiate the contract,” said lawyer Noel Saint-Pierre.

“What we’re trying to get the court to say is that for the duration of a contract … the telephone company should not be able to unilaterally modify the conditions of the contract.”

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca, July 28, 2008 ]

SCUM ALERT: Bell introduces controversial new texting charges

(StopThePropaganda.com) - One of the most blatant corporate money-grabbing schemes in recent history has just been slapped in the faces of Canadian Bell Mobility subscribers. This tactic is clearly meant to force mobility subscribers into spending more by upgrading their service accounts or duping subscribers into paying for text messages they did not request. Yes, you heard it right. Bell subscribers will have to pay 15 cents for each unsolicited, unwanted, unrequested text message they recieve. Want to bet that unsolited text messaging with start increasing?

(CBC.ca) - Bell Mobility went ahead Friday with its plan to begin charging some customers for incoming text messages, despite mounting consumer and political pressure to drop the changes.

Under new texting charges announced last month, customers whose cellphone plans did not include texting bundles will be charged 15 cents for incoming text messages.

Previously, customers without text plans were only charged for outgoing messages. Customers with a text messaging rate plan or bundle are not affected by the new charges.

Telus announced a similar plan, with its changes set to take effect on Aug. 24.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca, August 8, 2008 ]

Bell moves to limit internet downloads of competitor ISPs

(CBC.ca) - Bell Canada Inc. is moving to impose download limits on customers of independent internet providers, an act the smaller firms say is designed to eliminate broadband competition and prevent the introduction of new television services.

The Montreal-based company, which cut its own Sympatico customers off from unlimited downloading last year, has proposed extending that plan to firms renting portions of its network in order to provide their own services. That would include a number of smaller wholesale ISP customers such as Chatham, Ont.-based TekSavvy Solutions Inc., Cobourg, Ont.-based Eagle.ca and Mississauga-based Acanac Inc.

The limits would range from two gigabytes per month for customers with slower connections of 512 kilobits per second up to 60 GB for those with the faster speeds of five megabits per second, according to Acanac president Paul Louro. Customers who exceed those limits would incur extra charges, much like cellphone subscribers do when they surpass their monthly minutes.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca, Peter Nowak ]

Bush signs bill to provide mortgage relief

(BuzzFlash.net) - With no fanfare, President Bush signed a mortgage relief bill that he had threatened to veto. He changed his mind on the veto last week. While blaming Democrats for forcing an imperfect bill, he said: "hurting homeowners could not wait." The bill gives the US Treasury powers that it has not had since the Depression.

» original news

Russia takes control of Turkmen (world?) gas

(BuzzFlash.net) - From the details coming out of Ashgabat in Turkmenistan and Moscow over the weekend, it is apparent that the great game over Caspian energy has taken a dramatic turn. In the geopolitics of energy security, nothing like this has happened before. The United States has suffered a huge defeat in the race for Caspian gas. The question now is how much longer Washington could afford to keep Iran out of the energy market. Curiously, the agreements reached in Ashgabat on Friday are unlikely to enable Gazprom to make revenue from reselling Turkmen gas. Quite possibly, Gazprom may now have to concede similar terms to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the two other major gas producing countries in Central Asia. In other words, plain money-making was not the motivation for Gazprom. The Kremlin has a grand strategy. Russia and China have a heavy agenda to discuss in energy cooperation far beyond the price of Turkmen gas supplies. But suffice it to say that Gazprom's new stature as the sole buyer of Turkmen gas strengthens Russia's hands in setting the price in the world gas (and oil) market. And that has implications for China. Moscow would be keen to ensure that Russian and Chinese interests are harmonized in Central Asia. Besides, Russia is taking a renewed interest in the idea of a "gas cartel". Medvedev referred to the idea during the visit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Moscow last week. Note: Continuation in the comments section.

» original news

U.S.-China trade has cost 2.3 million U.S. jobs: report

(BuzzFlash.net) - The U.S. trade deficit with China cost 2.3 million American jobs between 2001 and 2007, the Economic Policy Institute said on Wednesday in a report likely to fuel debate about free trade ahead of November elections. Even when they found new jobs, workers displaced by job loss to China saw their earnings decrease by an average of $8,146 each year because the new jobs paid less, according to the report, funded in part by labor unions. Contrary to popular belief, jobs lost to China were not necessarily low-skilled, the report showed. Thirty-one percent of the jobs lost were among workers with college degrees.

» original news

Cellphone users to be charged for incoming text messages

Do you have a Bell or Telus cellphone? Soon you will be paying for text spam too!

According to CBC News, after August 24, 2008, Bell and Telus subscribers can expect to be paying for all incoming text messages to their cellphones for the price of .15 cents per text message.  

Do you consider this an example of price gouging? Do you think cellphone services are over-priced? 

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca  ]

AND - Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

Biofuel production boosts food prices by 75%, report suggests

The production of biofuels has driven up food prices 75 per cent, according to an unpublished World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

In an article published Friday, the British daily cites a confidential report authored by Don Mitchell, a senior economist at the bank. The newspaper suggests the report has not been released so as not to embarrass U.S. President George Bush, whose government had suggested biofuels accounted for a three per cent increase in food prices.

READ MORE HERE

Petro Dollar Method / Nothing Lasts Forever 9/11

These films below are mainly based on the theory that a petro dollar exists. The narrator ties in 9/11, conspiracy, Iran, China, Russia, war, oil piplines, debt, wall street, profiteering, etc. with some examples to back up the theory of the petro dollar. However, these films will offer only a generalized theory so you may want to do more research on the theory of the petro dollar afterwards.

READ MORE HERE

Oil hits high near $146, then eases _ but not much

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices briefly soared to a new high near $146 a barrel Thursday, extending the previous day’s record-shattering rally before easing somewhat as the dollar gained ground against the euro.

Americans hitting the road for the July Fourth holiday were confronted with an unwelcome record of their own: The average retail price for regular gasoline jumped to within two-tenths of a penny of $4.10 a gallon, according to AAA, the Oil Prices Information Service and Wright Express.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: The Associated Press ]

Stocks punished as oil hits new highs

North American equity markets fell sharply as oil prices touched another record high near $144 US a barrel on Wednesday.

The S&P/TSX composite index shed 432 points to close at 14,034.11 — the market’s lowest close since April 30.

Stocks in Toronto were led down by a 7.5 per cent drop in the mining sector. The materials sector was down almost five per cent while industrials were off about four per cent, and the information technology group shaved 3.5 per cent. The financial sector fell about 2.2 per cent.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca ]

Oil prices a speculative bubble? Not so fast!

The breathtaking run-up in oil prices is linked to the crisis of world financial institutions. What the U.S. Government should not do.

The quadrillion dollar question is, of course, “Why the breathtaking run-up in the price of oil?”

U.S. congressional hearings on the subject and the potentially controversial decision of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to inspect and scrutinize the U.S. financial sector (blamed in part for the price explosion) reflect grave and growing worldwide concerns.

Oil remains on the front burner this summer.

Analyses and commentaries, virtually in the millions, keep contrasting “market fundamentals” with “speculation” (“real” with “financial” factors). It may be argued that this is a false dichotomy. Much of what is treated as “speculation” ought to be considered among “fundamentals” once we extend this category to include some harsh and unchangeable realities in international monetary and financial affairs.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Energy Bulletin ]

The Wal-Martization of our cities

Why is a proposed big box retail emporium on Eastern Avenue in Leslieville symptomatic of our urban crisis? The answer is that in this topsy-turvy world, what looks like investment is disinvestment, what looks like jobs is deskilling and what looks like sustainability is its toxic opposite.

READ MORE HERE

NYC losing global influence to other cities overseas

Although New York City's global ties are "part of its DNA," the study warned that the city is losing the competition for global influence to other money centers. Tokyo, which is home to 50 of Fortune Magazine's Global 500 companies, ranked first in global influence among cities, according to the report commissioned by the Partnership for New York City, a pro-business group. Paris ranked second with 26 corporate headquarters. New York City tied for third with London, with 22 corporate headquarters each, and Beijing was fourth with 18. Around the U.S., nearly half of the foreign employers plan to cut their stakes or shun new investments because they say they see better opportunities in other countries, according to the study authored by London-based consultants DTZ.

READ MORE HERE

Prices & speculators - June 28

Although some policy-makers have blamed producing countries for steadily rising oil prices, many experts say more fundamental factors are a growing demand-supply imbalance, a weak dollar, and market speculation.

"Most members of OPEC are already producing at peak capacity, and Saudi Arabia, which has the greatest spare capacity, has been incrementally increasing its production --with the result that its spare capacity has been plunging to relatively low levels," Dariush Zahedi, a research fellow at the Institute of International Studies in at UC Berkeley, told IPS.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Energy Bulletin ]

Consumer confidence hits a new 28-year low

Consumer confidence fell more than expected in June, hitting another 28-year low as surging prices and mounting job losses contributed to a bleak outlook, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers survey released on Friday.The Surveys of Consumers said the final June reading for its index of confidence fell to 56.4 from May's 59.8. The report said the pace of consumer spending is likely to sink at least through the start of 2009. "Moreover, gas prices have risen to an all-time peak, food prices posted the largest increases in decades, home prices have fallen faster than any time since the Great Depression, and there has been widespread distress associated with foreclosures," the report added. Also weighing on consumers, data earlier this month showed U.S. employers shed jobs for a fifth straight month in May and the unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent, its highest in more than 3-1/2 years.

READ MORE HERE

Advanced Imperialism: A Phase of Capitalism

On April 26, 1917, V.I. Lenin published a major piece on imperialism titled “Imperialism – Highest Stage of Capitalism“. Lenin was able to draw from J.A. Hobson, Imperialism, and Rudolf Hilferding, Finance Capital. Lenin conducted extensive research on imperialism from wide array of writers, but he was very critical of many writers including Hobson and Hilferding. Lenin’s work on imperialism remained a premier until Harry Magdoff published The Age of Imperialism in 1969 and Kwame Nkrumah, Neo-Colonialism-The Last Stage of Imperialism, in 1965.

 

Since 1990, the world has changed and considerably more so since the inter-imperialists rivalry of the classical imperialism period of 1870-1945. There have been changes in the development of capitalism, finance, resource control and international investments. Along with the changes in capitalism there have been a series of world wide financial and economic crises. In other words, we are in the period of advanced imperialism. It is not fundamentally ideological, military, or social but principally socio-economic – a new phase of capitalism.

READ MORE HERE