Adam Vaughan and Spacing want to name the Toronto Reference Library after Jane Jacobs. On one hand I think it’s a great idea; on the other I wonder if Jacobs herself would’ve liked it or whether (with her deep distrust of credentials and her belief in natural systems) she’d prefer something a little …wilder.
Jane Jacobs Reference Library?
For external use only
Do not eat your ballot (because you’re voting today, right? RIGHT?). It’s illegal. I’m amused that a ballot-eating question made it into the FAQ. Just how F is that Q A’d, anyway? Polls are open until 9:30 (EDT). Elections Canada will assist with ballot-eating, ride-bribing, prison-sentence-serving and all other questions.
Good timing
Feeling poorer after checking your accounts online? Wondering how the five dog grooming businesses in your neighbourhood will fare during the recession? Well, here’s something else that will make you an adherent of the new austerity: the updated property assessments for 2008 will be mailed to old City of Toronto addresses the week of Octobercontinue reading
JK Galbraith said it best
From The Great Crash, cited in today’s Globe: “Always when markets are in trouble, the phrases are the same: ‘The economic situation is fundamentally sound’ or simply ‘The fundamentals are good.’ “All who hear these words should know that something is wrong.”
Oh ouch
Quotation of the Day for October 9, 2008 “They were waiting for a translation from the original Australian.” – Bob Rae, Liberal Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre, jokingly explaining why the governing Conservative Party took so long to release their federal election campaign platform. He was referring to a scandal earlier in the campaigncontinue reading
There go the oil sands
Via Naked Capitalism, an interesting outlook for oil demand from Oppenheimer. Most important for Western Canada’s oil sands production is this assessment: We don’t expect OPEC to aggressively defend oil prices above $60/b, since higher prices slow economic and demand growth, which are not in OPEC’s best interests. Could oil fall to $60? Well… Givencontinue reading
Opens up a whole realm of naming possibilities
The Star: North York councillors peeved at being overruled by the Ontario Municipal Board – on a condo complex they didn’t want – exacted poetic justice yesterday by giving the project an address the developer won’t soon forget: OMB Folly. … Councillor David Shiner said the move may usher in a welcome precedent: “When wecontinue reading
PMSH, market analyst
Secular bear market? Not according to our Prime Minister, who, echoing the sage advice of W. those many years ago, urges you all to get out there and buy something. “I think there’s probably a lot of great buying opportunities emerging in the stock market as a consequence of all this panic.”
“The financial planet is in total crisis”
That’s the comforting assessment of a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council. Having spent much of last fall and this spring following the credit crisis, and trying to picture the changes it could bring about, I find myself oddly unmotivated to write about it now that, in many ways, the worst case scenariocontinue reading