Today Red Flag Deals posted an old Canadian $1 Bill to Facebook. I left a comment that I have some old ones, one dating back to 1937. They said they’d love to see a photo. Well here it is below.
BUT I was wrong. I don’t have a 1937 $1 bill. I have a 1937 $2, and a 1937 $10. Right year, wrong denomination.
Anyways, here are a few samples of some old paper money I have kicking around, from oldest to newest
1870 $0.25
1923 $0.25
1937 $2
1937 $10
1954 $1
1954 $5
(CLICK FOR FULL SIZE)
First off, I can’t imagine a world where I would vote for Harper. There are a number of reasons why he will not get my vote, but to be honest, one of the biggest ones is the use of Attack Ads. I hate them. Its ridiculous. He spends all his effort saying how “bad” everyone else is, and little to no effort saying why he is the “good” one. Come on grow up. This is ridiculous.
So I guess, this post is actually directed at all the other leaders. I know that most of what I am about to post is really just a pipe-dream. I am a realist, and know that you need money for this stuff, but if even a small portion of the following could be put into place, it would certainly be a good thing.
Forget the current tax write-off limit of $500 for recreational programs for kids. Instead fund these recreational programs and make them free! In reality, this could potentially save money in prevention of health issues. There are obesity problems across North America and Canada is no stranger. If Kids could enjoy sports programs, gym memberships, pool passes, etc for free, they would be more active and healthier Canadians. This would ultimately promote a life-long healthy lifestyle which in turn would help eliminate some (not all) future health issues, saving the healthcare system money in the long run.
The Environment is a hot topic these days. There needs to be better funding for people to do environmentally friendly things. Big government rebates or tax write-0ffs for things like the purchase of hybrid and electric cars, solar panels, solar hot water systems, and other products that can lessen the strain on the environment. There are some programs for some of these things, but they aren’t good enough – they are no where near good enough to convince someone to go this route on these merits alone.
While you’re at it, why not also extend this to things like bicycles and bus passes. These would help keep people out of there cars for there commute. Free mass transit would certainly convince some people to leave there cars at home.
Right now there is absolutely NO financial incentive to be environmentally conscience, and without that financial push, many people just won’t do it.
First I want to say I am NOT a pot smoker, never have been and never will be. BUT, those who smoke pot are going to do it anyways. Period. And this fuels crime related to smuggling, grow ops, etc. It also costs taxpayers millions upon millions in law enforcement.
Just legalize it already. Then tax the shit out of it. Not only will this SAVE money from the removed policing costs, it will be a huge revenue stream in tax dollars. Then use those dollars to further fund health care or education, or some other worthwhile cause.
Why is it that we have interest on Student Loans? There are several countries out there that grant student loans at 0% interest. One complaint people have is that Canadian talent moves south of the boarder for employment. Not all, but at least some of this, would be due to the insane student loan debt that they need to pay off. A 0% interest rate on these loans would help lessen the burden slightly, keeping some of these people here.
This would also help improve the pruchasing power of recent graduates, which helps to stimulate the economy, so indirectly, the government would still get much of this money via other taxes (HST for example). We would also have a system with slightly fewer bankruptcies, fewer people needing government assistance etc.
Well, thats it for my rants for now. I will put a Part 2 out there soon!
If a chocolate bar cost Nestle 5 cents to make and they sold it for $125, would you still buy it? Probably not. But millions of Americans pay a markup like this on many of their prescription drugs, many of which cost pennies for the pharmaceutical companies to produce, but yet they sell them for hundreds of dollars! Markups of more than 100,000% are not all that uncommon!
Here is a great little info-graphic about just this subject. Its crazy, absolutely crazy.
Source: Online Colleges and Universities
While I live in the north, the back of my house has a southern exposure. I would love nothing more than to stick some solar panels on my roof and start making some use of this wasted energy. The problem – its far too expensive. Some rough estimates put the cost at around $30,000 for the installation of solar panels suitable for our needs.
If I look at my current electric bill, we are spending around $1,200 a year on hydro – therefore, even if we were able to get 100% of our electric needs from these solar panels, it would still take 25 years till we would break even. More likely, we would only get half of what we need at most (factoring in cloudy days as well as nights, in which case it may take 50 years till we break even. Yes, a benefit for the environment, but certainly no financial gain.
Wait? How long do solar panels last? Would they even last 50 years? I’m not sure – perhaps financial gain is impossible.
A few years ago I saw something about a company that would come and install solar panels on the rooftops of big business (grocery stores, department stores, etc) at their cost, then sell the power back to the retailer at a rate lower than that of the power company. By doing so, the retailer saved money, the solar company makes money, and the environment can breathe a bit easier. Seems like a win-win-win situation. My question is, where did they go?
After a few Google searches I was unable to find this company – I have to admit I didn’t look very hard, but still. It seems like such a fantastic idea that should have taken off, yet it just disappeared into nowhere.
All we need to do in order to get more people and business on Solar and take a bite out of this whole global warming thing is make it cost effective. Only a select few will go solar strictly for the environmental benefits, but if you throw in actual financial savings (and perhaps even a small profit via net metering) it would be a no brainier!
I think its time for the governments to put more funds into R&D for Solar to help improve the technology and drive down the cost. It seems that the answer to the world wide power crisis is just sitting there staring at us, and nobody is doing anything about it. Come on people…
This last weekend my wife, daughter and I spend some time in Richmond (BC). Richmond, and really most of neighboring Vancouver, are full of rich folk. Here I am driving along in my 2008 Mazda 5 surrounded by vehicles like new BMW 7 series, Mercedes and Austin Martins with the occasional Lamborghini and Ferrari thrown in. Thank god there is also the odd mid-80’s Nissan Sentra, and Hyundai Pony’s around to keep me from the bottom of the food chain.
People have money – they buy nice cars, I get it – I’d do the same, but what get’s me is the parents that buy their kids half million dollar cars as their first vehicle. What’s up with that??
For those who are unfamiliar with BC law etc, The graduated licensing system in BC requires student drivers to have a red “L” on the back of their car (it’s a little 5 x 7 inch magnet), and new drivers, in their first 2 years have to display a green “N” on the back.
On this trip I saw many green N’s on BMW’s and other fancy cars, but there were two that really caught my attention. One was on a new Audi R8 – cost, about $160,000. The other was on a new Lamborghini Murcielago, cost about $450,000. Are you kidding me? Really? What on earth has a 17 year old done to deserve his parents buying him a $450,000 car! New drivers should have to drive cheap little beaters till they learn how to properly drive – I seriously doubt that any 17 year old can truly handle a 631 horsepower V-12. But I could be wrong.
Perhaps I am just jealous. When I first got my license I was stuck driving my dads 85 Ford Bronco II. For a 16 year old it was great to have access to a car, but still, it’s no Lamborghini.
I have had some nice cars since. My Mazda 5 may be a mini-van, but it’s practical for my family, and still kinda fun to drive… Fun to drive? A mini-van? Did I just say that? Man I must be getting old. I miss my 07 GTI, and old 72 Datsun 240z.
Not too long ago the provincial Government announce the launch of the HST (Harmonized sales tax) which is to be put into place later this year. This tax came as a surprise to most, and for the vast majority, most people are seriously ticked off about it.
The new HST will also show all restaurant bills jump up from the previous 5% tax up to 12% tax. That’s an additional 7% on all food purchased in restaurants.
People are fed up.
A petition has been started at www.NoMealTax.ca . I urge you to visit the site, and if you agree, sign the petition. As of the writing of this article 164,315 people have signed the petition so far.
My wife and I, like many, have a Nintendo Wii. I am no expert, but I like to think I am pretty good at some of the games for the Fit etc. Certainly this is no hard core console – gamers seeking groundbreaking graphics, action, and online play go the direction of the Xbox and PS3 (btw, I SUCK at Xbox, just ask my friend Ross! Its kind of embarrassing actually…)
Today I saw something that I have to ask my self “Why”. Sure I like the Wii, but even if I was super rich, like Billionaire status, I have to say I would most likely refrain from purchasing the £300,000 Golden Wii.
What is this world coming too!?!?
The Swine Flu, Bird Flu, and many others. All just a government conspiracy. Sure these viruses exist, but why? They are all created by the drug companies for profit. These drug companies, working along side the government create viruses and their vaccines right along with them. They then release the virus, and when the public is good and scared, they release the vaccine and rake in the money. The viruses act as a biological weapon against countries that can not afford the vaccine.
They use the viruses not only as a form of mass profit, and it works.
Okay, I don’t really believe this, although I do admit it may be possible. I was reading recently in Discover magazine about a battle with who “owns” the rights to the H5N1 (bird flu). Biological material as intellectual property is a hot issue, and has been around for a while. Indonesia is fighting for the rights – it’s a rather confusing battle, and one that you can read about on page 40 of the December issue of Discover.
But when reading the article, it got me thinking, that while they most likely do not do this, what is stopping these multi-billion-dollar drug companies from creating a virus or disease, and the cure at the same time, then infecting a bunch of people and selling them the cure for profit. The technology is certainly there, and while this is probably not happening, it is also certainly far from impossible.
Now I want to start off by saying that I am not trying to pick on Americans, but it seems that the majority of the stupid lawsuits out there come from the states. Not all, but I have to say, I can’t remember the last time I heard of some ridiculous suit being filed in Canada (or elsewhere for that matter).
The latest stupid suit is from New York, where Dalton Chiscolm is suing Bank of America for 1,784 Billion Trillion dollars. To put that into perspective, that number looks like this:
$17,840,000,000,000,200,164,000
According to world bank, in 2008 the GDP was an estimated $60. Trillion, or:
$40,800,000,000,000
As you can see, that is significantly less… Even if he has a valid case, I am not sure how he figures he could be entitled to more money than has ever existed on planet earth – a number .more than 500 million times the GDP of only a few years ago. I am sure this suit is likely for publicity or attention – perhaps his mother never hugged him as a child or something and he is lonely, I don’t know.
If you ask me, people who file suit over ridiculous things, or for ridiculous amounts, should be locked away forever. It’s just a huge waste of tax payer dollars. (But I guess it did give me something to write about)
Recently my wife, daughter, and I went camping at a local provincial campground. On the last evening of our stay, a branch fell from an obviously dead tree, and dented the roof of our car.
The damage to the car is around $270 – the deductible, $300 – So certainly there is nothing my insurance company can do.
I, as the victim, want the park to pay for the damage.
Now I realize that in the majority of cases, it would be considered an act of nature, and I would not have a leg to stand on – its just my tough luck. In this case, I feel it is different – I feel like there is some negligance involoved.
If a branch fell from a healthy tree, with or without wind, then so be it – its probably not preventable, but in this case, the branch that fell was dried up and dead, and fell from a dried up and dead tree – on a day with zero wind! To me this was 100% preventable. The tree was also located immediately along side the campsite, in plain view, its not like it was well hidden in the woods.
(Also, the park assigns you a spot, you dont get to choose your spot – so what is a person supposed to do if they are assigned a spot with a dead tree? refuse the spot, lose your reservation fee, and go home? Perhaps…)
Every year the provincial parks apparantly have arbourists evaluate the park and remove and handle “problem trees”. They missed this one – its obvious from the photos, that something should have been done to this tree.
I called the company that manages the provincial park, and they deny any responsibility to my claim and basically brushed me off. I honestly don’t think I will get any where, but needed to vent a little. Please vote and let me know your opinion.
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