Vancouver Secrets

Setting All Sorts Of Records

The TSX is on as spiral downwards. We’re now into 2004 territory, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll hold that for long.

This follows the TSX biggest monthly drop in a decade in October.

While we’re all focused on the Promised One’s next dog, the bottom has fallen out.

This global recession is way beyond Obama and the Democrat’s pay grade. Canada is powerless to stop this decline.

Gold has dropped below $800 despite all those ads telling us to buy now. (Note to self: never buy any financial product when they advertise it.)

RBC has cut Nortel’s stock target to $0… yep, ZERO.

Oil is closing in on $55, which puts it on track to get into the $40 range next week.

The Canadian dollar is almost less than 80 cents.

So unless your homeless, the immediate future doesn’t look too promising.

What to do?

If your employed - work smarter and harder. Now isn’t the time to be asking for that raise.

If your an entrepreneur, get out and start something… a downturn brings all sorts of opportunities as bloated companies contract and fail.

People still eat, drink and consume. Find a market niche that is being abandoned, and fill it.

If you can make a go of something now, you’ll be in a position to make a killing when things start to turn around.

Canada has a severe shortage of decent online shopping sites, and it’s possible to create on without having to look after inventory or shipping.

Need an idea on how this works? Check out blinds.com. They are a $50 million business that ships direct from the manufacturer.

Lord knows that as companies start to fall there will be lots of opportunities.

Watch for companies that make the news with mass layoffs. This is a signal that there is opportunity in the markets they serve. It’s counterintuitive, but the remaining staff usually takes cover, making them an easy target.

Every negative brings a positive…

So what are your recession plans?

Reagan Warning Us Of The Obama Plan

Reagan could have made this speech today. It was a warning of what lies ahead.

Then we have Obama on using government and the courts to redistribute wealth.

Obama today…

Hopefully, America will realize what the man is promising, in time.

Obama Kids Don’t Only Get To Vote

Precocious Youngster Sells Cookies To Buy Attack Ad

When will it end - oh, the humanity.

Weather Underground Vs FLQ

A lot of buzz about the weather Underground and Ayers lately.

Just to add a little clarity on Obama’s friends and the similarities to our own FLQ.

In 1970, we had a similar situation… which drove the English out of Quebec.

Imagine if Dion was associated with the FLQ.

Food for thought…

Google Search Patterns More Reliable Than Polls?

The Google blog has an interesting post on the search trends during the debate last night on the terms people search during the debate… and how you can get insight into people’s thoughts.

It reflects the topics that grabbed the viewer and also the mood.

People searched the meaning of several key words as the candidates presented: morass, commodity, junket, cynicism, and cronyism were a few. Hmmm.

People were also quite interested in both Meg Whitman and Warren Buffett, both mentioned as possible candidates for the Secretary of Treasury, but the biggest was Senator McCain’s paraphrasing of Theodore Roosevelt’s motto.

Both candidates spoke against genocide while discussing the role of the United States as a peacekeeper, nuclear energy and weapons were prominent topics.

It also seems that Queries containing “Biden” and “Palin” had higher peaks during last week’s debate than did “McCain” and “Obama” queries last night.

Google’s search results agree with my thoughts - the debate sucked last night… Tom Brokaw killed what could have been a good debate.

Wonder of this works for Canadian debates?

FDR Lengthened The Great Depression

photo credit: pingnews.com

One of the new Liberal key talking points is that FDR oversaw the Great Depression - Obama and Biden have repeatedly stated this. The implication is that the left can steer us through this financial crisis.

The truth is that FDR actually extended the great depression by 7 years.

From UCLA:

Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

After scrutinizing Roosevelt’s record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.

“Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump,” said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA’s Department of Economics. “We found that a relapse isn’t likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies.”

Sounds awfully close to what is happening now.

When you hear praise of FDR’s New Deal, be wary.

Substitute Obama for Roosevelt…

From A New Deal
Roosevelt’s Obama’s task in the fall campaign was a relatively simple one: avoid doing anything to alarm the electorate while allowing Hoover’s Bush’s enormous unpopularity to drive voters to the Democrats. He traveled extensively giving speeches filled with sunny generalities; he was perpetually genial; and he continued to criticize Hoover’ Bush for failing to balance the budget and for expanding the bureaucracy. But he only occasionally gave indications of his own increasingly progressive agenda. On one such occasion, at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, he outlined in general terms a new set of government responsibilities: for an “enlightened administration” to help the economy revive, to distribute “wealth and products more equitably,” and to provide “everyone an avenue to possess himself of a portion of that plenty sufficient for his needs, through his own work.”

The rest is history.

Glad BC Doesn’t Have A Say

photo credit: ItzaFineDay

From the Vancouver Sun:

When 1,400 British Columbians were asked to include Obama and John McCain among their possible choices for prime minister, 42 per cent of them chose Obama, well ahead of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who attracted support from 29 per cent of those polled.

Placing third was New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton with 12 per cent.

At the bottom of the heap were Liberal leader Stephane Dion, Green Party leader Elizabeth May and U.S. Republican leader John McCain, with seven, six and five per cent support respectively.

When British Columbians were asked who they would chose as president of the U.S. if they were able to vote, 80 per cent chose Obama, while 20 per cent chose McCain.

Pity poor Stephane Dion; it appears he has as much chance of winning B.C.’s support in his quest to become prime minister as the Vancouver Canucks do of winning the Stanley Cup.

Not only did Dion attract only seven per cent of those polled as a potential prime minister, only one per cent found he was best described as charismatic and only two per cent said he could be best described as inspiring.

Kyle Braid, vice-president public affairs for Ipsos Reid, said the results were fascinating.

“B.C. has got a bit of a case of the Obama envy,” he said. “It’s really pretty incredible, the degree to which a leader from another country has set himself apart from other politicians.

“The numbers also show that Dion has managed to do that as well, but in his case it’s completely in the wrong direction.”

Amazing… especially the part about the Canucks.

Keeping Jobs At Home

Obama Promises To Stop America’s Jobs From Going Overseas

A sensible plan from Obama.

From The War For The White House.