For the Doomsday Quadruplets* to inspire a run on the banks;
Canada has the world’s soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.
But…But…But…
We’ll see how long it takes for the liberal media to twist that into a crisis point.
In 5, 4, ……
Is it ‘insensitive’ to try to intentionally induce panic, and trash people’s retirement savings, and damage our country’s financial infrastructure?
Does ‘green’ still mean ‘inexperienced’, like it used to? In that case, Dion is correct, he would indeed be the ‘greenest’ PM, evah.
My firm will be buying U.S. firm(s) in whole or in part at a discount rate – much cheaper than our last U.S. acquisition.
Speaking of doomsday Quadruplets, how about a coalition government formed with Dion, Layton, Duceppes and Crazy May? They’ve all said they’d do it to prevent Harper from forming government.
For gawd’s sake May has exposed the hidden agenda of the election by tossing support behind Liberals in riding where it will make a difference to help defeat a Conservative. She and Dinky Dion had this cooked up, they can lie all they wishm it’s the Lieberal way.
I think we need to send in some wake-up pills into the Conservative War room, What the hell’s going on in that place?
We have a great government,we’re in the best shape economically of the industrialized nations. Then we have fools in Opposition and their Media toadies working to take it down.
Where do we go from here, who do we turn to to save us from the disaster of a four headed Leftist monster getting power?
Kate, how about offering your help to the kiddies in the war room?
Which Canadian news agency will be the first to put this on their front page???
Yeah, I can see how PM Harper is messing up the economy.
Speaking of economic shortfalls the best line goes to our able Defence Minister Peter MacKay:
‘But for a spirited defence one should never underestimate our able Defence Minister Peter MacKay. When NDP defence critic Dawn Black asked Peter MacKay to explain why there was a $500 million shortfall in the Airforce’s operating budget? In reply MacKay said the NDP was like a “tailor in a nudist colony”.’
There will be no rallying cries of “Advance to the REAR, quick march!” in Canada under a Conservative administration.
While at other nation’s banks, the “Emperor has no clothes”, most normal Canadians usually only disrobe in their bedrooms or boudoir.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
And you have to go to AUSTRIALIA,
to get perhaps the most important news of the moment in this election.
Un
be
lievable.
Not on Google News Canada,
not on CBC,
Australia.
This after the media chiding Harper for being too “cheery”.
Those attacks sound a lot better when they knowingly withhold the most material, salient facts which undercut the attacks,
don’t they?
******* insisted Canadian banks are solvent, but added he is concerned that credit may be drying up in Canada.
“That will affect the availability of mortgage of funds, the availability of small-business loans, the availability of loans for larger businesses . . . to expand, to re-invest, to buy new technology,” he said Thursday.
(So, who is the mystery doomster?)
“We’ll see how long it takes for the liberal media to twist that into a crisis point.”
Not this time – they’ll parrot the line that it was because Chretien & the Liberals blocked the bank mergers in the 90s. I read the article this morning but forget which site it was on.
SDA readers,
if there’s one time that folks should be emailing this to friends, is right now.
The media are, on one hand accusing Harper of being too cheery,
and on the other witholding or minimizing this very important news.
E-mail this to your friends and encourage them to email it.
The media’s not even pretending anymore.
(A guy) insisted Canadian banks are solvent, but added he is concerned that credit may be drying up in Canada.
“That will affect the availability of mortgage of funds, the availability of small-business loans, the availability of loans for larger businesses . . . to expand, to re-invest, to buy new technology,” he said Thursday.
Ian,
Dont you know, only Liberals produce good things in canada. And nothing is good until the Liberals endorse it…see GST and NAFTA….
In the Globe Konrad Yakubuski quotes PET on deficits.
“In Liberal views, a deficit is an instrument. It is not something you necessarily want or necessarily steer away from. It is something you use to direct the economy when you want jobs.”
Konrad then goes on to skewer him and his delusion. That quote is PET when citicizing Joe Clark for trying to reign in spending….and Liberals wonder why they dont get the respect they think they deserve about deficits.
Criminals !! is what they are – those opposition “leaders”. Yelling fire in a crowded theater.
And for years the media focused only on American troubles. Sub Prime, blah blah. Only in America.
But what did they NOT tell us !?
[European banks are in trouble because their leverage – their assets to equity ratio – is typically much higher than those of their Canadian and U.S. counterparts. In North America, the average leverage ratio is about 20. In Europe, it’s close to 40. At the end of June, the top dozen European banks had a leverage range from, at the low end, 18.8 (Royal Bank of Scotland) to, at the high end, 61.3 (Barclays). The European banks’ sheer size makes them vulnerable too, in the sense that they may be too big to save. For example, the total assets of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest lender, are almost €2-trillion. That’s more than 85 per cent of the country’s GDP. Political squabbling also has the potential to hurt the European banks. If a big bank with operations scattered across the continent, like Italy’s UniCredit or ING of the Netherlands, needs a bailout, who pays? The home country or all the countries where the bank has major subisidiaries?] Globe Investor Oct 9 08
Considering the significant (bad)influence of our beloved media, is ‘Guilty By Omission’ a criminal offense in the same way ‘Guilty By Association’ is ?
I can’t figure out, after the way Canada is doing in this crisis, why you guys aren’t carrying Harper on your shoulders and cheering him from Halifax to Vancouver… But that is just me, an American jealous of your financial stability.
Australia ‘not heading for recession’
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24472400-31037,00.html
The “land down under” is not going under.
Yep, them ‘roos just keep hoppin’ along.
‘The IMF has cut its forecast for world growth for 2008 to 3.9 per cent, a 0.2 per cent decline from its prediction in July.
For 2009 it expects 3.0 per cent growth, a hefty 0.9 per cent drop from its previous forecast.
That compares with 5.0 per cent growth in 2007.’
Yes but isn’t 3.0% growth, still GROWTH in the economy ?
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Tim,
See my comment above….because it isnt the Liberals doing it. It will only sink in if there is foreign mention…and as you can see it gets buried.
Oh and Caadians are generally a spoiled bunch, we never really know how good we have it. So there is a storm raging outside and from isnide our nice cabin we complain that its too noisey.
We are an odd bunch, never fully appreciating what we really have….oh that is until an American says something bad about us.
This is a first. ‘Conservatives’ are patting themselves on the back because Canada’s banking system – a heavily regulated oligoply – is sound.
Canada’s banking system, while sound, is a far cry from the free-market principles that real conservatives proclaim. This banking system is the child of Liberal policies – it was fostered by Liberal governments and policies in the post-WWII period. There is nothing free-market about it, and there is nothing Harper about it. It was meant to be protected from free-market shocks and corrections, and it has been.
All Canadian banks are essentially the same. Slight product differentiation at the very basic level. Is it any surprise Canadian bankers are never in demand. Canadian experience counts for nothing abroad – its a uniquely Canadian experience that mirrors the expansive Canadian system – content in mediocrity. A claim many Canadian conservatives have made.
And yet you ‘Conservatives’ congratulate a system that reeks of everything you complain about. This is like complaining about welfare when you are employed, then cheering for it when you’re unemployed. Takes a crisis to understand the system, apparently.
Hey Tim in Vermont:
Yeah, it’s funny – Canadians have to be the most pessimistic unappreciative bunch you can find.
To paraphrase what Junior Soprano said, we’re like “the woman with a Virginia ham under each arm, crying ’cause she hasn’t got any bread”
And another view from outside our cozy little cabin in the storm
From the Economist
“In what is the first credit-crunch election in a big Western country, Mr Harper’s ejection would set a dispiriting precedent that panic plays better politically than prudence.”
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12381439
P.S. Lots of good quotes maybe Kate can give it some profile.
Write the local and national papers, guys. I just did so with the Halifax ChronicleHerald. Give them no (extra) excuse to bury the story.
“And yet you ‘Conservatives’ congratulate a system that reeks of everything you complain about. This is like complaining about welfare when you are employed, then cheering for it when you’re unemployed. Takes a crisis to understand the system, apparently.” (is that something like you ‘people?’)
Yes, wester, because Liberals like our banking system, the conservatives must hate it. This is about complaining and panicking people while in opposition, but reassuring Canadians when you are in power.
We know very well the oligopical nature of the big Canadian chartered banks.
What is your point? If the Liberals created the secure banking system we have now, why do they want Harper to change it?
Dion talks nonsense when he proposes increasing investor protection to $100,000. CDIC protection refers to chartered bank deposits only, such as bank accounts, GICs and so on. They are unaffected by stock market volatility; their values have not changed, period, during this crisis. How will that help stock market investors?
Mr Chretien has even commented on the strength of our banking sector, though he seems to think he was PM for the entire time it took for the banking system to evolve.
The Liberal record can be long-term good and still shorter-term poor. The party has not repudiated its Central Canadian bias, its top down viewpoint that government must intervene every time something goes wrong, or its corruption.
It is broke because it cannot raise enough money from grass roots sources, and has been cut off from its sugar daddy corporations. In fact, their leader has yet to pay off his debt, despite two extensions of doubtable validity; and, the present campaign is being run on money borrowed from voters’ contributions to be received after the election.
It is laughable when Grits refer to Tories as corporate toadies when Power Corp and Bombadier were among their biggest financial supporters before they were cut off.
As for prescient analysis and leadership, let’s hear from CBC quotes of the leaders:
Harper cited a new report by the World Economic Forum released Thursday that describes Canada’s banking system as the strongest in the world.
“The banks aren’t seeking to be bailed out, and the government won’t be bailing them out. So that isn’t going to happen,” he told reporters in Richmond, B.C..
But Harper said it was “disappointing” that Canada’s banks only reduced their lending rates by a quarter of a percentage point, rather than the full half-point cut imposed by the Bank of Canada on Wednesday.
“I will just say that I am confident that as the situation evolves, the costs of credit will continue to fall for Canadian consumers, and credit will continue to be available for reasonable credit requirements,” he said.
Harper then pivoted to an attack on the platform of his Liberal opponent, whose support has drawn closer to the Conservatives in polls in recent days.
“If you elect a Prime Minister Dion, who will impose and raise carbon taxes, interest rates will be going up. That is the difference,” he said.
Dion’s response:
“I agree with him on one thing; there is a choice between him and me as prime minister,” Dion told reporters after his speech.
“I will be a prime minister that will not be indifferent, that will care and will help us for our pensions, our mortgages, our savings. And I will be a prime minister that will work for our children to have a richer Canada, a fairer Canada and a greener Canada.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/10/09/elxn-harper.html
Yes, if only we were fairer (more Liberal), greener (pooer), then we will be “richer” (happier).
Let’s look at the green shift narrative. John, Mary and the two kids, having just seen the green shift increase their cost of living by $1000, receive their tax cut cheque for $300. This makes them very excited about tidal power in their region.
I guess their children will think it’s fairer.
The short selling ban came off today and look what the bastards are doing to the markets. Short selling should be banned permanently.
I feel sorry the chicken little’s who’ve been frightened into redeeming their mutual funds, it’s all their loss.
I’m glad that my position is covered.
Well, if alReuters news agency can put this story out from Australia, surely it’s in the wire room of every MSM outlet in Canada. How about it, CBC, Toronto Star, Grope and Flail et al.
“Canada rated world’s soundest bank system: survey
By Rob Taylor, Reuters, Thu Oct 9, 2008 7:37am EDT
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Canada has the world’s soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.”
wester, you can bet that Canadian banking experience is in demand elsewhere and that demand will increase. The top ten banks in North America now include three Canadians. I haven’t heard that conservatives complain about conservative banking practices in Canada; those of us who are savers and investors welcome those practices. And for those who want to complain about the Big Five or Big Six oligopoly, there are plenty of other retail savings and credit choices in Canada, most of which are also conservatively run.
Hey Wester, it doesn’t matter who made the banking rules, the point of Kate’s post is that there’s a financial crisis happening in much of the world. Lots of banks in big trouble. The sitting Prime Minister of Canada is saying that Canada is not likely to suffer the same problems that have occurred elsewhere.
The group on your side, two of them in particular, have been screaming that we’re doomed and it’s all Stephen Harper’s fault.
Turns out, Canada’s financial system really is quite sound and is not likely to suffer the same problems that have occurred elsewhere.
As an aside, while Stefane (sp?) Dion is “convinced” that Harper has ruined Canada’s financial system and the economy, he doesn’t have a clue about how he would fix it. He’d spend his first month in power having meetings. Talking to the same people that Harper and Flaherty have already been talking to for the last two plus years.
Bruce:
Yep, the short sellers are out today. After today’s thrashing, stocks will be selling at less than 2 x forward earnings when they are usually in the 8 to 15 x multiples!!
Can anyone say “Bargain Basement FIRESALE!”
The press mantra of FEAR and PANIC is no help either, and of course it is all the fault of Bush Harper, evil conspiracies, rather than naked stupidity.
Oil is at $84.70 and the dollar at 87.31US, which is good for motorists, transport sector, and Canadian export sector.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
‘The doomsday quads’ I really like that description, Kate. Peter Macay’s simile for Dizzy Lizzy – Priceless!! No sane Nova Scotian would cast a vote for that Puffin, offal covering fowl.
Has Deyawn been coil necking his way over the airways with his widdle white flag? I have been at work so I missed this AM news. Has he been weeping for Canadians yet today? He feels our pain so he would like to tax our activities a LOT more – tough love by Deyawn.
Thing of it is P M Stephen Harper has a plan Dion has a plan to get a plan…I will get back to you? He said he would immediately implement “the green shift” if elected. In other news Dizzy miz Lizzy has thrown her green supporters “under the train” Don’t vote for us vote for some other party?? She is backing Dion. I guess I have to say it….. “this means the fat lady has sung for the greens” no surprises here she has not added any value or ideas to this race just a annoying whine like a big-ass mosquito or a dentists drill
Cheers Bubba
“The short selling ban came off today and look what the bastards are doing to the markets. Short selling should be banned permanently.”
You might as well have the government regulate the prices of stocks, then. Markets can get out of skew with or without short selling. Fear and greed can create imbalances on the long side alone. Short selling provides more liquidity to the market and it can help expose untenable positions. What should be banned permanently, and is, is feeding false information into the market to support a short position.
Well the sad part is, people are getting sucked in by the Doomsday Quads and some actually believe that Harper has brought us to the brink of economic chaos. Another case of deception, lies and manipulation from the left. The only check on this would be MSM, but as usual, they will be the last to provide rational thought and fact-based information. Too busy spinning the “story”.
let’s see. we all have to eat, buy clothes, furniture, appliances, booze(as much as needed if you watch tv news) and all the needed thing that we have to have. it would seem those who have sold paper worth nothing are going to suffer. who the hell cares. let them starve with all the socialists who think you and i should cover their ass.
Shamrock –
“What is your point? If the Liberals created the secure banking system we have now, why do they want Harper to change it? ”
“because Liberals like our banking system, the conservatives must hate it. ”
I would put ‘Conservatives’ there ,instead of conservatives. Apart from that, our Canadian ‘Conservative’ friends are quick to attack anything Liberal. Now they pat themselves for being in power when a system built by Liberals, in the face of considerable conservative resistance, is standing up well during a crisis. A political gimmick, of course, but people here actually think Canada is weathering it because of the Conservatives, despite the fact the system has been put in place in spite of the conservatives.
Do I want Harper to change it? Hardly. I am just pointing out that the system was built to be secure and cut risk-taking. Risk-taking is a part of the free market economics that most people here support on ‘principle’.
Oh and theres plenty of folk here who do have that knee jerk reaction you are referring to. Quite often, in fact.
felis corpulentis,
Try working in the sector. Having London or New York or Hong Kong on your CV gets you places, crisis or no crisis. Toronto or Calgary will get you as far as Vancouver. If you’re lucky. The Canadian system is too unique – you get credit for your basic skills and educational qualifications – but the actual experience in Canada counts for nought.
Three banks are NOW in the top 10 because American banks are in a mess. And there has been considerable criticism of the Canadian banking sector, particularly when the system was being put in place. Now, decades later, Canadians are in a Platonic cave.
When the crisis passes, and it will, Canadian banks will duly be replaced by American ones. Don’t pat your back just yet.
And one final thing – the other retail savings and credit choices are, and I don’t mean this as an insult, for low to middle income earners whose savings are, well, low. High income earners will continue to do what they always do – send their money to New York and London. To non-Canadian banks. They might put some money in Canadian institutions during this particular crisis, but it will pass, and we will be back in a 2000 mindset soon.
I wouldnt worry about the shorts. Because when expectations change they buy to cover and the market shoots up.
Fundamentals will prevail. The US economy will readjust, the only goal the feds and other governemnts have is to ensure that the pipes are clear and transparent so buyers and sellers can make their decisions.
Lack of info leads to lack of trust and lack of trust brings faith in the future crashing back to a singularity of now. That cant be allowed to happen, because that is a barter system.
This too will pass, shoot CIBC economist Jeff Runin just revised his TSX target down to 12,000….thats only a 20+% return between now and Decmber 2009….anyway, life carries on.
****** insisted Canadian banks are solvent, but added he is concerned that credit may be drying up in Canada.
Whoc could the doomster be?
****** insisted Canadian banks are solvent, but added he is concerned that kredit may be drying up in Canada.
Whoc could the doomster be?
****** insisted Canadian banks are solvent, but added he is concerned that kredit may be drying up in Canada.
Who could the doomster be?
And Pete, old sport, how about that Dow and TSX? And that 88 cent dollar?
And the guys in the oil patch quoted in the Globe saying they’re up the , um, unfresh water creek?
The markets are down by more than 1/3 since August. That’s a bigger decline that the 1939 crash (though the market still had a long way to go before it touched bottom in 1933 and started to rise in the Roosevelt administration). It’s worse than the ’87 crash, (though the fall-out from that was short-lived. Hopefully, so will this).
Kate, do you still think everything’s hunky dory, or do you plan to pull your head out of the sand? The wheels have been coming off since the sub-prime issue came up 18 months ago. The Bush administration did everything to keep the balls in the air until after November, but they ran out of tricks.
Lloyd:
What part of ‘our banking system is the best in the world’ don’t you understand?
If everybody lives within their means and Harper is re-elected prime minister, then Canada’s economy will continue to be the best in the world.
If ‘my plan is to devise a plan” Dion gets in, we’re in for a much rougher ride.
Wester, you’ve drunk way too much MSM kool aid. If proper risks were taken, there wouldn’t be the crisis such as it is. It is government interference in the marketplace in US that mandated credit for bad risks that led us here.
There is fear and greed in every situation. Ah, yes the ‘Conservative’ party did everything in it’s power to undermine the banking system in Canada. That’s why they support it now, right?
You are the knee jerker here buddy. Not to worry, though; Mr Dion has defied the actual leadership of the party (Ignatieff, Dion) and, to his credit, reiterated the green shift will go ahead come hell or high water. Honest yes, but a vote loser too. Anyway, the Tory vote has bottomed out, according to Nanos, and the left vote is very fluid.
Now NDP can pick away at Lib left over evil banks, Afghanistan and green shift. Luckily for Liberals, Layton has zero political vision, so has already missed opportunity to take opposition from Libs (by simply stating they are same anyway, so a vote for one is vote for another), and will miss this one too.
It’s nice to see the old guard coming out to defend Dion, to prove the party has truly changed, which is another late election error by Dion.
We might just get that majority after all; OK, maybe not.
Oh, Lloyd, spare us the black and white thinking. There is a lot of gray between doing nothing and panicking off decisions. It’s called fine tuning, what governments should do, instead of intervening massively at every bad headline.
werstern
I’m a chevy man, but if hiking a ride a ford stops, I take it
now is that simple enough for you??????
Our banks are OK only if house prices don’t fall, the way they have in the States, and if our banks haven’t bought too many derivatives with garbage in them.
If house prices do collapse in Canada, you’ll see the same kind of walk-aways, hurting the banks and the CMHC.
Fortunately, we have good bank regulation in Canada, despite the rantings of neo-cons.
Our banks are OK only if house prices don’t fall, the way they have in the States, and if our banks haven’t bought too many derivatives with garbage in them.
If house prices do collapse in Canada, you’ll see the same kind of walk-aways, hurting the banks and the CMHC.
Fortunately, we have good bank regulation in Canada, despite the rantings of neo-cons. I believe governments should regulate two things: food and banks. So far, not so good.
By the way, there won’t be a run on the banks. Who has any money in them?
Fister
When you find out what a NINJA mortgage is, get back to the board and apologize for your rhetoric and nonsense………