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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It seems odd to me. The Canadian government spends countless funds on so called “free” health care. The truth is, no, it is not free. Cheap yes, but free – no. I pay $108 a month for my wife, daughter and I, in MSP (Medical Service Plan) premiums. This is mandatory. In exchange I can walk into any hospital in Canada and be treated without having to ever EVER pull out my credit card.

I admit, that $108/month is a good deal when it all boils down to it.. I am not trying to knock the system, but it certainly is not free.

But I think that that MSP premiums could be eliminated if the medical system could cut costs. Probably the biggest way to cut costs would be to reduce the number of patients. You can reduce the number of patients by having a healthier society. If you want a healthier society, why not offer tax breaks for things that can improve overall health: recreational programs, gym memberships, etc, and tax the crap out of things that are bad for you; Candy, fast food, alcohol, smokes (I know booze and cig’s are taxed like crazy as it is, but tax them more, and make it harder and harder to smoke – I hate that stuff soooo much)

If the government allowed you to write off anything that would improve your health, the money they lose in taxes would be far outweighed by the money they save in health care costs.

Ahh, its tax time again, and what a great time to put out a little blog post about taxes. I don’t mind paying my taxes – they cover schools, health care, transportation, public safety etc, but what I do wish is that more items were tax deductible.

Sure we can deduct charitable donations, medical expenses, etc, but why can’t we deduct those things that are preventative. The fewer people that use the health care system, the less money the government has to spend on it, therefore, we should be able to write off anything that positively impacts us health wise.

Things like gym memberships, personal trainers, and recreation programs should all be deductible. They all ready are for children, you can write off your kids swimming lessons or soccer practice, but what about us adults?

And then that leads into things that are positive for the environment. If you are planting trees, buying a hybrid car, taking public transit, or buying compact fluorescent light bulbs, this should all be deductible – as should purchasing hybrid and electric vehicles! What about replacing your gas guzzling lawn mower with a reel mower?

The city of Courtenay has just offered to cover 30% of the cost of planting new trees, to help encourage a greener and cleaner city, It would be nice if the federal government would give a little extra cash incentive for everyone to be healthier and greener.

Once upon a time, many years ago, I used to work at Office Depot. The retail days of employment are long behind me, but the job wasn’t bad. While we had our busy days, for the most part, the store seemed much quieter than the nearby Staples.

I always found it interesting that Office Depot advertised very little, where Staples advertises like crazy, and they seem to do a good job with it. I mean, who hasn’t heard of the slogan “that was easy”? Hell, they even sell the “easy button” from their commercials. What has Office Depot done that is memorable in advertising? I can’t think of a single thing – and I worked there for a few years!

Today I read that Office Depot is closing 112 stores in the US and Canada, cutting its workforce by 2,200 jobs. It seems that they are in financial trouble, and this is their band-aid solution. I have to wonder though, if they boosted their advertising, they may be able to boost their sales, and in turn allow those 2,200 people to not lose their jobs.

In the late 90’s GM stock was nearing the $100 mark. Since then it has slowly been falling – now, it sits right around $3, closing today at $3.01. It reached $2.75 just the other day – the lowest it has been since 1946.

The stock market is seeing major drops all over the place right now, so it is no surprise that GM is also down, but to see a low that has not been reached for more than 60 years is down right scary.

GM is in trouble – big trouble. It looks like they may be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, or possibly seeking a government bail out, but regardless, their troubles don’t end at GM, if GM folds, this will have a HUGE ripple effect that will impact…  well… millions and millions.

According to a report at CNN Money, GM spends roughly $31 Billion each year on parts from more than 2100 suppliers. When you cut that cash flow, not only do you put literally thousands of businesses in the pinch, this has the effect of mass layoffs all over the US from the effected companies.

Don’t forget about all the dealerships. Apparently there are more than 14,000 struggling GM dealerships in the US. If GM has major cutbacks, or even folds, this will impact employees at all these locations. All of this will impact thousands upon thousands of people who may see layoffs or other scaled back employment, these people then spend less money (cause they have less) and everywhere their money would normally go is then impacted. The ripple effect is huge.

I’m no expert when it comes to this stuff, but I have to say, it doesn’t look too good to me – and this is only 1 of the “big 3” who are in trouble. Ford and Chrysler aren’t any better off.

Good thing I live in Canada – we are immune to this stuff… right? At least I drive an import.

I always wanted to try my hand at the stock market, but simply did not have anywhere near enough cash to actually try it – not disposable cash anyways. The other day I saw a commercial advertising a free stock contest at stockstar.ca, so I figured, why not!

Their top prize is $25,000 and goes to the person who makes the most “fantasy dollars” between Sept 1 2008 and Jan 30 2009. I didn’t think I had a chance to win, but had to give it a try – after only a week I am giving up – cant seem to make a dime, and don’t have the time to invest to try and make it work. To date my stocks have turned my starting $100,000 into $95,987. That gives me a ranking of 3060 out of 10120 – may not be the worst but I guess I better not change careers!

First place is a guy by the name of “risingstar” and has a portfolio value of $648,267 – to do that in only a month I am left to wonder if he is a stock broker by profession.