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Home/ Groups/ Fall 2012 Challenges Assignment
Cristina Raileanu

Commodities and resources - 0 views

  • Out west, we’ve had it pretty good. Unemployment is low, incomes are high, and the GDP is set to grow faster than almost anywhere.
  • We are not here for ourselves alone.
  • we focus on what immigrants can do for us (fill jobs) rather than on what we can do for them (provide beautiful communities and the chance to participate in building something amazing).
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  • “We must build pipelines. The world needs our oil. Nothing can get in the way. This is not negotiable.” Oil and pipeline companies are running headlong into some unanticipated opposition from folks who don’t see it the same way.
  • That means being a world leader in environmental stewardship, rather than arrogantly comparing ourselves to Nigeria or Sudan and patting ourselves on the back because our human rights are better than theirs.
  • Alberta is in a unique situation. It’s been blessed enormously in resources, wealth, natural beauty and smart people. We really can do anything if we set our minds to it, but not if we do it only for short-term financial gain.
Brijesh Patel

Drowning In Debt? - 2 views

  • Some basic tips: “Don’t add any more to your debt,” Mr. Schwartz said, “Put your credit cards away. Stop using your line of credit. Live on cash or debit.”
  • Canadian borrowing levels have hit record levels, with household debt-to-income ratio recently reaching a high of 164.6 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
  • But consulting a trustee, which comes with no charge, doesn’t always mean filing for bankruptcy, he explained. Trustees can help set budgets, steer consumers toward consolidation loans, mortgage refinancing or consumer proposals as a way to climb out of debt, he said.
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  • Pay down the debt with the biggest interest rate first, or select a small debt, and pay it off.
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    Pay down the debt with the biggest interest rate first
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    In 2011, 77,993 consumers filed for bankruptcy
lebiez piranaj

Even Boomers are getting pummeled by student loan debt | Business Insider | Financial Post - 1 views

  • Americans over 60 still owe 4.2% of student loan debt, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
  • Ten per cent of those loans are delinquent, while another 11.2% are in default.
  • Three factors account for the loans: Attending college after high school, going back as an adult, or co-signing for a child’s loans
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  • Stay organized
  • The government’s National Student Loan Data System tracks all your federal student loans, making it just a bit easier to stay on top of what (and who) you owe money to
  • See if you qualify for debt forgiveness
  • Have a talk with your lender
  • Consolidate monthly payments
  • consolidating the loans might make things easier—that is, if you don’t choose a predatory service
  • Pay off private student loans first
  • Private student loans almost always have higher interest rates and less repayment flexibility, so it’s best to address them first, says Miranda Marquit, personal finance writer for Yielding Wealth
  • Depending on your professional field, you could qualify to have part or all of your federal student loans erased
  • If you’re having trouble keeping your head above water, just calling your lender could cut hundreds of dollars from your monthly tab
faseehthemoonman

Economy improving short-term, but future not so bright for Canada: Carney - thestar.com - 1 views

  • second worst export performance in the G20 group of nations
  • country’s exports of manufactured goods has been cut in half, he said, a large reason why employment in the factory sector has fallen nearly 500,000 jobs.
  • He notes that since the recession, emerging markets have accounting for two-thirds of global growth and one-half of import growth, a trend expected to continue for decades.
faseehthemoonman

Canada's Economic Future: What Have We Learned from the 1990s? - Bank of Canada - 1 views

  • To conclude, our economy has been expanding robustly over the past five years, inflation has remained low, employment and incomes have been rising. And we are now seeing encouraging signs of a productivity payoff from the restructuring of the past decade
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    "r"
faseehthemoonman

My Education Has Value » Unemployment not as dire as after past recessions - 1 views

  • Young people aged 15 to 24 years are also finding jobs faster than any other age group, the accounting group found. Nearly half of unemployed youth found a job within one to four weeks in 2011, while the average unemployment period was just 11 weeks
  • 5 per cent still jobless after looking for work for a year
  • Youth underemployment is a huge issue.
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  • The need to research the causes of underemployment. The need to develop more higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs
  • Greater use of school-employer partnerships to better match employers’ needs and workers’ skills.
faseehthemoonman

High unemployment to persist in Canada: analysts | CTV News - 1 views

  • unemployment rate bobbing within a narrow band 0.1 percentage points above or below eight per cent.
  • unemployment rate will average 7.7 per cent next year and will still be above seven per cent in 2013, long after the economy has returned to normal.
  • rate of joblessness approaches 17 per cent
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  • Although Canada has recouped the more than 400,000 jobs that vanished during the downturn, there are still more than 300,000 officially
  • He notes that the biggest hit on jobs since the 2008 crisis has been to manufacturing, warehousing and transportation -- three related industries
  • The new full employment level is likely a rate of about seven per cent, agrees Douglas Porter of BMO Capital Markets, as opposed to six to 6.5 per cent before the recession.
  • According to his forecast, Canada's unemployment rate will reach that level by the end of 2012, when the Bank of Canada estimates the economy will be back at full capacity.
faseehthemoonman

Consumer Debt: Canadians Focusing On Paying Off Bills, Worrying Less About Retirement - 0 views

  • Overall, the poll done for the bank by Harris/Decima showed 17 per cent of respondents selected debt reduction as their main priority in 2013
  • Managing day-to-day spending/budgeting came in third, selected by eight per cent of respondents and down from 14 per cent last year
  • At the same time, debt management increased as a priority for that age group to 18 per cent from 14 per cent
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  • Having been named the top priority three years in a row, there is an opportunity for more Canadians to turn awareness of debt management into action and outline some clear steps towards paying down their debt in 2013
  • 2,009 adults 18 years of age and over and is considered to have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
faseehthemoonman

Student Debt: University students borrowing their way into unemployment | Full Comment ... - 0 views

  • probably borrowed money at that — to get themselves a university degree that will prove essentially useless to them the instant they graduate
  • not the fluffy emotional value of making new friends and discovering the joys of binge drinking, but the literal value — how much financial return they can reasonably expect to make on their investment of tens of thousands of dollars.
  • verage level of education debt held by Canadian students upon graduation hover around $27,000 each.
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  • low-paid job in the service industry or working for the government
  • The average estimate made by these students as to how much they’ll be making within 10 years, when they’re in their late twenties, was $90,000
  • They are realizing now that their arts degrees might not be enough to land a job, but they’re already paid for
Nikita Klyuev

Canadians' debt mountain growing at fastest pace in two years - 0 views

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    Credit reporting agency TransUnion's latest quarterly analysis of Canadian credit trends found average consumer non-mortgage debt jumped 4.6% year-over-year in the third quarter to an average of $26,768.
Nikita Klyuev

David Rosenberg's 5 reasons Canada's household debt panic is overblown - 0 views

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    Canadian debt/income ratio isn't as bad as it looks. Because Canadians pay for their health care through their taxes, their disposable income is distorted relative to the U.S. In terms of personal income, the ratio is actually closer to 118%, rather the scary 165%. Canadian household debt relative to assets (19%) and net worth (24%) is below prior peaks of 20% and 25%, respectively. Rosenberg estimates Canada would need to see a 20% drop in the housing market to get net worth/income ratio down to the U.S. level. Canadians have more equity in their homes - 69% of the value compared with 43% in the U.S. "This equity gap is a prime reason why Canadian household net worth/income ratio (at over 500%) is some 35 percentage points above U.S. levels," Rosenberg writes. Canadians are better able to service their debts. Canadian wage growth at 4% a year is about double what it is in the U.S. - a rise that pretty much matches the average interest rate they are paying. The debt-servicing ratio in Canadian households is now just over 7% - a level it has only been below in the past 15% of the time. So even though Canadian interest rates are 75 basis points higher than in U.S, it is not hampering our ability to handle debt.
Rohan Zahur

Breaking down Canada's consumer debt - 0 views

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    There is more debt in canada thehn ever before
Nikita Klyuev

Why budgets don't work for spendthrifts - 0 views

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    Credit cards: Johnson suggests getting a credit card that gives you cash back rather than points, saying the money is more useful. The Penniless Parenting blog says spendthrifts should use cash as much as possible and recommends carrying around a $50 or a $100 bill. See how long that bill can last without being broken.
Erica Yeo

The Second Great Contraction by Kenneth Rogoff - Project Syndicate - 3 views

  • But the real problem is that the global economy is badly overleveraged, and there is no quick escape without a scheme to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors, either through defaults, financial repression, or inflation.
  • but to debt and credit, and the deleveraging that typically takes many years to complete.
  • Many commentators have argued that fiscal stimulus has largely failed not because it was misguided, but because it was not large enough
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  • I argued that the only practical way to shorten the coming period of painful deleveraging and slow growth would be a sustained burst of moderate inflation, say, 4-6% for several years.
    • Erica Yeo
       
      Inflation = Higher wages and hopefully fixed debt. People and businesses will be able to pay off debt more quickly.
Erica Yeo

Household debt in Canada - 3 views

  • In 1980, the ratio of household debt to personal disposable income was 66%; that ratio recently passed the 150% figure (Statistics Canada 2011). This means that, in aggregate, households owed more than $1.50 for every dollar of disposable income.
  • It also examines whether the relationships between debt and financial capability persist when other characteristics like income and educational attainment are taken into account.
  • younger people and parents with children at home were more likely to hold debt. Individuals under 45 made up 45% of the population, but 54% of borrowers. Similarly, married people with children accounted for 30% of the overall population, but 39% of debtors. They were also more likely to have higher levels of debt. Couples with children held one-half of all household debt, with an average debt of $144,600, higher than the overall average of $114,400. Similarly, individuals under 45 held 61% of household debt, $129,200 on average.
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  • Higher education levels were also associated with an increased probability of holding debt and higher average debt. Individuals with at least some postsecondary education comprised about one-half of the population but almost 60% of those with debt. And university graduates had an average debt that was 60% higher than those with less than postsecondary education—$145,400 compared to $90,900.
lebiez piranaj

Canada's Income Inequality: What Is It, And How Bad? - 1 views

  • income inequality could be “the new global warming.”
  • in the last three decades income for the richest Canadians has increased far faster than it has for the poorest
  • As the income gap widens and rich neighbourhoods become unaffordable for middle- and low-income families, good schools become less accessible
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  • As of 2009, the average Canadian family had an after-tax income of $60,000, an increase of 16 per cent from the Canadian average of $52,000 in 1980
  • the top 10 per cent have pulled ahead of the pack
  • The average income that families in the bottom 20 per cent make from employment has decreased by 60 per cent since 1980, whereas the average earnings in the top 10 per cent has grown by 45 per cent
  • Canada’s Gini was estimated to be 0.32 – a middling value
  • More telling is that in the past decade, Canada’s Gini has risen faster than all but five of the OECD’s 34 countries
  • Wilkinson says that as the income gap widens, problems related to social status increase
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    The article talks about how income inequality is increasing in Canada. It talks about how the rich are getting a bigger income over the years then the poor. 
lebiez piranaj

Ontario Income Inequality: Canada's Largest Province Facing Growing Poverty, Cuts To So... - 4 views

  • "Ontario's budgets for the last 15 years have repeatedly prioritized tax cuts while casting concomitant cuts to social programs as necessities rather than choices,"
  • there is a growing income gap among Ontarians
  • the percentage of Ontarians living below the low income measure rising from 9.4 per cent in 1981
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  • between 1981 and 2009, Ontario had the country's second highest increase in the poverty rate
  • It blames tax cuts coupled with reductions in social programs for many of the problems it outlines."Ontario's budgets for the last 15 years have repeatedly prioritized tax cuts while casting concomitant cuts to social programs as necessities rather than choices," the report states.
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    There is a widening gap in terms of inequality in Canada and it goes on to say that its being blamed on tax cuts for such inequalities, the article goes on to state that the inequality may be the reason for the province to be facing this growing poverty. 
Cristina Raileanu

Canadian Natural Resources - Home - 0 views

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    This is the website for Canadina natural resources
Cristina Raileanu

Canada Natural Resources Minister 'welcomes' Trans Mountain pipeline expansion - Oil & ... - 0 views

  • We know that 99% of Canada's oil exports are transported to the US, whose need for imported oil will decline sharply in the coming years
  • In British Columbia alone, resource industries support 100,000 direct jobs. They also make up 13% of its economy and account for 80% of its exports.”
  • KMEP last year announced plans to expand Trans Mountain, which extends from Edmonton to Canada’s western coast, to 850,000 b/d from 300,000 b/d by twinning it and adding storage and pump stations
Cristina Raileanu

Province tries to steady natural gas price after spike - Nova Scotia - CBC News - 0 views

  • Energy Minister Charlie Parker said the province wants to diversify its energy sources to include more natural gas, wind, tidal, biomass and hydroelectr
  • The school said it was $400,000 more than they budgeted for.
  • The price dipped again in January. The government said the ultimate goal is to reduce Nova Scotia's dependency on coal and find greener sources of energy to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
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