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Tag: public sector

  • The social fallout of a dying credit bubble
    OCTOBER 21, 2010

    This post will ruffle feathers, but it's not my intention. I don't mind speaking the unpopular messages when I have to. Let me start by saying that I am a public sector employee. I have nothing against the public sector and those who work in it (how could I since I am one of them...). I think the vast majority of public sector workers are hard working and provide valuable services to the people of this country. But as a collective, the public sector needs to get its head out of the clouds and see what's coming.

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  • Public sector pension bubble; Is your retirement chained to your home?
    NOVEMBER 12, 2010

    Pension tension The CD Howe institute released an interesting report today in which they suggested that there is a bubble in federal public sector pensions. The report calculated that the government's federal pension unfunded liabilities are some $208 billion, which is $65 billion more than the government had calculated. The implication is that Canada's deficits and total debt have been understated for many years. From the report:

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  • Changing social trends in the news...
    DECEMBER 01, 2010

    'The times they are a changin' One of the topics that greatly interests me is the change in societal attitudes and norms, and how these affect the broader economy.

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  • Trends in the news
    JANUARY 09, 2011

    I thought I might take this post to highlight a series of articles that detail various trends that I see as being big stories over the next few years. The bolded titles are also links to the original article. Canadian pension plan funding dips in 2010 Back in my 2011 predictions I made the following statement:

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  • Toronto condo data; China about to hit a wall?; Fiscal austerity to weigh on public sector jobs; The Age of Deleveraging; Another video primer
    JANUARY 20, 2011

    Toronto condo data The Toronto Real Estate Board released their most recent rental market report yesterday. It showed both a substantial jump in rental transactions and a jump in rental inventory.

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  • BMO weighs in on troubling RSP trends and public sector unions
    FEBRUARY 28, 2011

    Canadian GDP was rocking in Q4, though I would like to dig below the surface at some underlying trends. I'll hopefully get to that tomorrow. In the meantime, the two must-reads of the day come courtesy of BMO: 1) Troubling Trend Sees Canadians Dipping Into Their RRSPs Prior To Retirement This research report was released on Saturday. Among the troubling trends:  

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  • Roubini, Rosenberg remind us what risk is; Public sector on the chopping block
    JUNE 13, 2011

    Quite the start to the week.  The TSX was hammered again and is not down over 9% from its highs of just a few weeks ago.  The standard definition of a stock market correction is 10%, so we're closing in on that.  With debt woes continuing to plague Europe, and threatening to at some point bite the US in the butt, it seems that the underlying risks to the global recovery are once again being recognized.

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