The News cycle has centred upon issues of inflation, the cost of living, transportation and housing costs. Are we living far beyond our financial capabilities? Are our expectations too demanding?
The true inflation levels are nearing 8.9-10%, something our governments tried to hide in an effort to bring our attention to levels they wish to achieve, nearing 2-3%. Gas has reached levels never seen in our nation. Housing, both rental or owned is out of reach for most citizens. Everything from the food we eat, to what clothes us or entertains us has risen drastically.
Our expectations have brought upon us a feared financial apocalypse, and we need to revise our expectations and lifestyles if we are to survive and possibly prosper.
Energy costs demand that we stop driving gas guzzlers, and move to smaller vehicles or perhaps even electric vehicles. Has the time an average person can afford to drive a sports car or large SUV ended?
Can we move away from costly food items towards local nourishing foods that are less costly? Steak and lobster can be perhaps substituted with poultry, shrimp and pork. Eating healthier while saving on your costs works for me. Purchase intelligently, communicating with the grocer what you want and what you are willing to pay. They can be persuaded to compete more effectively.
Housing has been a magnet drawing many of our friends into costly mortgages and excessive debt. Perhaps it is time that we strive for less costly options like renting. In many large urban centers, you can find people who have been renting happily for decades. The problem is finding rental units. Is it not time for you to pressure public officials to move their revenue expectations from large housing units toward townhomes, well-built apartment buildings and large building lofts. If you make it known that that is what is needed, some developers will build them. And when you rent or buy such a unit don’t play the blind bidding game but strive to pay what the product is truly worth. Make the housing game yours, not the real estate agents and developers.*** 1 in 5 house owners in B.C. say they will have to sell if interest rates escalate further.
***Even our governments may need to review the public’s expectations and bring their spending under control. An assessment of what is truly needed vs what the public would like to see.
The time of passive immediate purchasing must end. Your expectations need to mature and evolve, just as you do daily. It can be said we have entered a period of recession, and depending on what the World Economic Czars do about it, can develop into a horrid situation for many of us. Think 2009 but worse and perhaps lasting longer. Yeah the horror, the horror.
Do you have a grandma or grandpa who lived through the Great Depression? There is a source of inspiration and advice you can tape. Make things last longer, and learn how to repair, reuse and recycle. As long as your car works, use it, and conserve gas by not wasting your fuel. Manage your time, expenses and expectations that would make your elders proud. Vacation locally, and don’t go to the airport to travel far away, it is a place of stagnation, stress and anger, especially Toronto International Airport 🙁
“Well done, is better than well said. The more I expect, the more unhappy I am going to be”(Ben Franklin). The stress you are all feeling, going to work for pay while paying more to go there, and your payroll remains the same. This is a feeling that will be with you for a long time, unfortunately. We are not going forward financially, but rather hopefully remaining where we previously were, only to fall into debt and despair. Two feet forward, three feet back.
The only way you can change your predicament is by changing your ways. Expect less, but expect better. Look for quality over quantity and revise your expectations.
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
