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CA Economic Fundamentals 2009-01

joeiannuzzi

joeiannuzzi

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What`s Behind the Curtain?
Canada
2009-01
Daily Online Edition

CA Economic Fundamentals 2009-01
 
Having a baby becoming economical decision

Brittany Anderson and her husband married young, with dreams of starting a big family. But 18 months after saying "I do," the troubled economy and poor housing market have forced the couple to put off their family plans and trying to ignore the ticking biological clock.

As the recession continues to impact jobs, incomes and personal debt, the likelihood is that many Canadians will struggle with similar decisions to postpone child-bearing. Determining the right time to get pregnant, however, remains a topic of considerable debate among experts as well as prospective parents.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/s...html?id=1133017
 
There`s reason for hope in the economy

If you`re a born pessimist of the Damon Runyan school ("All life is six to five against"), it`s tough to resist the consensus view that 2009 will bring economic shocks even more painful than those we`ve just endured, including the worst panic in global finance since the Great Depression and a sudden, stomach-churning 40 per cent plunge in Canadian and U.S. stock markets.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/561210
 
Canuck wallets zip shut

A new frugality is settling over Canada this year, as the financial chill is forcing consumers in the Great White North to freeze some of their spending. Although Canadian households are entering 2009 with a more secure financial footing than their counterparts in the U.S., it is the Canadians who are planning to curtail their spending by more than their southern cousins, says a study released yesterday by the Boston Consulting Group.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2009/01/03/7908376-sun.html
 
Funny money in big supply: bank

OTTAWA–There`s been a surge of counterfeit banknotes in circulation, a Bank of Canada report says.

A flood of fake $20 and $100 bills pushed the value of successfully tendered counterfeit bills to at least $5 million by Sept. 30, it says. That`s 50 per cent more than the $3.3 million in fakes passed in all 2007.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/561406
 
Banks to feel the squeeze in `09

The year 2008 was the banking world`s annus horribilis – when the credit crunch toppled banks, torpedoed stocks and triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Gobsmacked bankers, many of whom declared the worst of the crisis over last spring, now admit they have no idea when it might end. The industry`s loss of face is startling, but so too are the challenges that lie ahead in 2009.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/561555
 
Time to have `the talk` with kids... not that talk

The Manitoba Securities Commission has launched a multimedia blitz to encourage parents to have "the talk" with their kids.

Of course, this much-needed discussion centres around money, managing it and not spending it before you have it. (What did you think the talk was about?) Ainsley Cunningham, education and information co-ordinator at the MSC, said the driving force behind the release of interactive kits called Make it Count: A Parent`s Guide to Youth Money Management was to teach kids and teens to handle money responsibly before they get their first credit card, their first bank loan and their first mortgage. Cunningham said the MSC`s goal is to help this budding consumer demographic avoid the record debt levels of its parents.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/tim...hatem_talk.html
 
Economic crisis to get worse: economists

Five prominent economists who correctly predicted the 2008 world economic meltdown say the crisis is only going to get worse.

"Beware the happy talk from those who say we are `turning the corner,` " writes Dean Baker of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic Research. "Ignore the daily ups and downs of the market and tighten your belts. This is going to hurt."

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...8b-92beb7398add
 
Banks won`t loosen credit

Canada`s banks are refusing to loosen consumer and business lending standards despite criticism their "prudent" credit practices are worsening the economic slump.

The Canadian Bankers Association issued a statement yesterday following a private meeting with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in Toronto, arguing that protecting customer deposits remains a key concern for banks.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/562226
 
Car Sales Plummet in December

Canada`s auto market crashed during the holiday season, one more piece of evidence of a deepening recession.

Despite incentives, consumers put away their wallets and showroom sales plunged 21.2 per cent or more than 25,000 vehicles to 94,423 in December from the same month in 2007, manufacturers reported yesterday.

http://www.wheels.ca/reviews/article/493660
 
Housing market not collapsing: builders

OTTAWA - The Canadian housing market is cooling but is not facing a U. S. style meltdown, builders here say.

"A few commentators have drawn a parallel between the Canadian housing situation and the extreme difficulties in the housing market in the United States," the Canadian Home Builders` Association said in a report yesterday that dismisses such comparisons.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/s...html?id=1146831
 
Another interest-rate cut expected

They`re already at record lows, but interest rates could be headed down again later this month as inflation pressures continue to retreat, with news yesterday of record plunges in prices in for raw materials and industrial goods.

In its struggle to cushion the economy`s plunge into recession, the Bank of Canada is now widely expected to chop its key lending rate as early as Jan. 20, and by at least half a percentage point to one per cent, which with promised fiscal stimulus in the federal budget a week later, is hoped will set the stage for an eventual economic recovery.

http://www.timescolonist.com/Business/Anot...0372/story.html
 
Flaherty tells provinces to do their bit

The federal government put the provinces on notice yesterday that they are expected to contribute toward an overall stimulus package that will help meet the agreed-upon Group of 20 target of 2% of GDP, or $30-billion in Canada`s case.

"In the Canadian federal system, it is important not only for the federal government to provide stimulus to the economy, but we need the provinces to be with us on that and spend also.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/s...html?id=1149105
 
Flaherty hints budget to ease credit crunch for Canadians

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday the coming Jan. 27 budget should address concerns regarding access to credit through measures analysts say could see taxpayers exposed to new market risks.

The acknowledgment was made following consultations with chief executives from Canada`s big banks and indicated that Ottawa has recognized lenders require additional support to make credit more freely available.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/bus...f3-8d24136c8aae
 
Labour shortage a growing problem

Canada runs the risk of social unrest, a declining standard of living, and a lifeless economy burdened by high inflation if it fails to deal with labour shortages that threaten to plague the country in decades ahead, says a prominent Maritime think-tank.

"Sometime toward the middle of the next decade, and for the first time in at least a century, the number of people willing and available to work in Canada will be smaller than the number of jobs potentially available for them," says the report, written by Dalhousie University professor Jim McNiven and published Wednesday by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.

http://www.leaderpost.com/news/todays-pape...3367/story.html
 
Lending between family, friends common but risky, survey says

Lending between friends and family is a common but risky practice in Canada, new survey results suggest.

And with credit conditions having tightened, and financial and economic conditions worsening, the practice could become even more common -- and more risky.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/todays...4324/story.html
 
Think-tank warns of social unrest springing from labour shortages

Canada runs the risk of social unrest, a declining standard of living, and a lifeless economy burdened by high inflation if it fails to deal with labour shortages that threaten to plague the country in decades ahead, says a Maritime think-tank.

"Sometime toward the middle of the next decade, and for the first time in at least a century, the number of people willing and available to work in Canada will be smaller than the number of jobs potentially available for them," says the report, written by Dalhousie University professor Jim McNiven and published yesterday by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/todays-p...3041/story.html
 
Canada`s vanishing nest eggs

Company pensions funds have fallen so deeply into deficit that the eroded benefits some plans would now provide could prompt older workers to shelve their retirement plans, in some cases also eroding their motivation to the point where they in effect "retire on the job."

That warning came Thursday in one of two reports on the deterioration in the health of employer pension funds.

http://www.leaderpost.com/Business/Canada+...7235/story.html
 
Skilled worker shortage may curb projects: analysts

A shortage of skilled workers threatens to blunt the effectiveness of any fiscal economic stimulus package that relies heavily on spending on infrastructure, a construction industry economist is warning.

"Infrastructure projects are frequently mentioned as a way of offsetting the slowdown," John Clinkard noted in an analysis published by construction industry research firm Reed Construction Data.

http://www.leaderpost.com/news/todays-pape...7264/story.html
 
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