The BMJ’s Christmas issue is full of goodness as usual. Ingested foreign bodies and societal wealth: three year observational study of swallowed coins Objective: To examine the relation between coins ingested by children and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But sadly, for it would’ve made a fine headline had the results been different, Conclusion: Therecontinue reading
Business Archives
Contagion risk (non-flu version)
Business reporters fell over each other today in an effort to categorize the impact of Dubai’s announcement that it was implementing a six-month “stand-still” on the debt of the real estate arm of its conglomerate Dubai World, essentially asking debtholders to hold onto bonds past maturity. Complicating the efforts of reporters to put the storycontinue reading
Apparently forethought isn’t one of the skills they should plan to share
Ah, woe. Carol Goar reports that retiring baby boomers plan to spend time volunteering, but: But for the most part, the non-profit sector is not waiting with open arms for retired baby boomers with skills to share and time to spare. “Logically, it should be a great opportunity,” says Michael Hall, vice-president of Imagine Canada,continue reading
Well, THAT’ll fix the recession
Funding one (1) 26-week internship is now worthy of a Federal press release: Government of Canada helps post-secondary graduate gain work experience in aquatic research The Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute will receive $14,189 for its Aquatic Health Researcher project through the Career Focus program of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy. This funding willcontinue reading
Perpetuating inequality
David Cay Johnston on why the government’s lack of interest in cracking down on Canadian users of tax havens is a problem: “If the current law does not give the government the investigative tools to find wealthy and sophisticated tax cheats, then those tools need to be provided. Otherwise, you have a de facto policycontinue reading
I’ll have what they’re having
You might think that, in a GDP report that revised the first quarter contraction to 6.1% from the already amazing 5.4%, a growth figure of 0.1% for June is not a conclusive sign that a recovery has taken hold. This is, apparently, because you are not Canadian business journalist, or economist employed by the Bigcontinue reading
The elusive bear
Ontario forests are full of bears, but many hikers and campers never see the elusive animals at all. These days, financial bears are just as hard to find. I know I’m not the only one puzzled by the buoyant mood among economists and financial writers in Canada — ex-Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg and thecontinue reading
Floating on a sea of oil
So remember a year ago all those rumours about oil being stored at sea? Well, now there’s so much of it out there that I’d think twice before swimming in any ocean for a while. One oil-watcher calls it “the largest and longest continuous glut of supply that I have seen in 30 years ofcontinue reading
Wait… a contracting economy is *bad*?
Missed this the other day, but it jibes nicely with the giddy excitement about the Canadian economy reporting a mere 5.4% (annualized) contraction in the first quarter of 2009. -5.4%, guys! Practically growing! Never mind that the outlook is not for growth for the rest of the year, but for continued, if not necessarily ascontinue reading
Relax already
Next casualty of the recession: spas. Any place whose doors I’ve darkened in the last ten years has been in touch over recent months; some highlights from this week: We’re writing to share some news about some incredible Limited Time Only Offers. …Serious Savings While Appointments Last! 50% OFF Selected Facials As a welcome back,continue reading