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.