http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/taxseason/story/2011/02/22/f-taxseason-cpp-future.html
(D - now I know why CARP used that exact term: job killer.)
(D - the pitch.)
The idea of gradually boosting CPP payouts and premiums is supported by several provinces, seniors groups and unions. The Canadian Labour Congress is the main labour group spearheading the drive to double CPP payouts by 2050...
(D - I can guarantee their proposal will 'incidentally' suggest the Boomers should be eligible for this maxed-out rate.)
By "modest," the CLC means an extra 0.43 per cent increase in contributions each year for the next seven years — a maximum of an extra $185 in the first year, rising to an extra $1,298 in seven years' time.
(D - the retort.)
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents more than 100,000 smaller businesses, says research it commissioned suggests the CLC's proposal to eventually double CPP benefits would be a job killer.
Ten years into its "full shock" scenario, a cumulative total of 1.2 million person-years of employment would be irretrievably lost, it says. The CFIB-sponsored analysis also says wages in the long run would be forced down by 2.5 per cent as people are forced to transfer current savings to the future.
"Putting more of today's earnings aside for tomorrow will put more of today's spending power aside as well," says the CFIB's chief economist, Ted Mallett.
The CFIB also refers to what it calls the "crowding-out effects" of increasing CPP premiums.
-------------
D - all of these proposals to hike pension benefits ignore who is paying for them versus receiving them. Funny how they are suddenly very popular now, what with the Boomers preparing to retire en masse. So they did not save as much as they would have liked in the most incomparably lucrative working careers any generation before or since will ever see. Well, TOUGH.
Funny how it suddenly becomes 'fair' to try to squeeze a bit more blood from the GenXYZ stone then.
Fair, my A*S!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
quebec protest and tuition hikes. history.
http://www.grpseo.org/99_00AnnualReport.html
Increasing education costs
All costs associated with post secondary education have increased while available funding has not kept pace.
The following chart shows university tuition increases of over 300% over a three-year period.
College tuition increases of almost 300% over a ten-year period in Ontario are shown.
(...we can expect other related costs to make up for this seemingly low rate of tuition increase. For example, we can expect increasing and new "mandatory" student fees, such as technology fees.)
--------------
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/071018/dq071018b-eng.htm
Canadian full-time students in undergraduate programs are paying on average 2.8% more in tuition fees for the 2007/2008 academic year. This compares with a 3.2% increase for the previous year, and average annual increases of 4.3% during the last decade.
Canadian full-time undergraduate students are paying an average of $4,524 in tuition fees for the 2007/2008 academic year, up from $4,400 the year before. In 1998/1999, they paid $3,064 on average, and in 1988/1989, they paid $1,185.
During the 1990s, the undergraduate tuition fees increased at an annual average rate of more than 9.6%. Since 2000, increases have slowed to an average of 3.8%.
--------------
D - notice anything? If you deregulate tuition increases, the governments NEVER just index it to inflation.
Charest's education minister, Line Beauchamp, refused to sit down with student protestors unless they drop their key demands of a tuition freeze or free education.
I, for one, hope they don't acquiesce. They know full well what awaits them if they do - the same 'treatment' other Canadians U (and college) students have received.
Aside - I read up on CEGEP "junior colleges" in Quebec. The public ones amount to a free year of post-secondary education, compared to the rest of Canada.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Harper's federal budget
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/the-economists/oas-change-pushes-burden-of-saving-back-to-canadians/article2386903/
Flaherty announced two big changes to OAS. The first is to extend the age of eligibility for benefits from age 65 to 67. This won’t take effect until 2023 and is being phased-in over six years, so anyone currently older than 54 will see no change. It is interesting to note that the United States legislated similar changes in the 1980s...
The second change to OAS didn’t capture as many headlines, but it introduces an innovative option that deserves some attention. As of July 2013, new OAS recipients will have the option to defer their benefits for up to five years. For each year of delay, the benefits will be increased by 7.2 per cent over the base benefits. This bonus for delayed claiming means a monthly cheque that had been $540 a month would become $579 with one year of delayed claiming. The UK has a similar adjustment...
---------
D - that's right. Boomers are totally exempt. (Unless we use the CARP age 45 now standard. I wonder if CARP will increase that age slowly back to age 55 again to exempt GenX?)
Boomers get Freedom 55. Whereas Generation X (and Y) gets age 67, possibly as late as 72.
We did not just take this lying down. We took *it* face down, and hard.
Flaherty announced two big changes to OAS. The first is to extend the age of eligibility for benefits from age 65 to 67. This won’t take effect until 2023 and is being phased-in over six years, so anyone currently older than 54 will see no change. It is interesting to note that the United States legislated similar changes in the 1980s...
The second change to OAS didn’t capture as many headlines, but it introduces an innovative option that deserves some attention. As of July 2013, new OAS recipients will have the option to defer their benefits for up to five years. For each year of delay, the benefits will be increased by 7.2 per cent over the base benefits. This bonus for delayed claiming means a monthly cheque that had been $540 a month would become $579 with one year of delayed claiming. The UK has a similar adjustment...
---------
D - that's right. Boomers are totally exempt. (Unless we use the CARP age 45 now standard. I wonder if CARP will increase that age slowly back to age 55 again to exempt GenX?)
Boomers get Freedom 55. Whereas Generation X (and Y) gets age 67, possibly as late as 72.
We did not just take this lying down. We took *it* face down, and hard.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
too late for traditional Eskimo solution?
D - USA is dealing with same demographics we are.
Slightly different response, though.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0328/Republicans-back-a-Republican-budget-why-that-s-news
Five budget realities no politician will talk about (not even Ron Paul)
Investors around the world appear to be content to loan huge amounts at very low interest rates to fund spending that is currently 56 percent higher than revenue. It seems reasonable to assume that this cannot continue forever, and spending will eventually have to adjust to reality.
In this area, Ron Paul is far bolder and more specific than any of his opponents. He proposes large cuts to defense and discretionary spending. But other spending such as Medicare, Social Security, and interest would continue to grow...
Last summer, the president reportedly proposed linking future Social Security benefits to a slower-growing index than the one currently in use, which would have resulted in major savings. The idea went nowhere. Romney now proposes the same thing, but only for wealthy recipients. But since the wealthy receive roughly the same benefits as the middle class from entitlement programs, changing their benefits will save very small amounts of money.
(D - whereas just such a partial de-index quietly took place in Canada recently. It will impact later generations more as the math compounds over time.)
Through Medicare, the federal government has promised to pay our medical bills when we retire. In return, we pay 1.45 percent of our wages, and employers pay another 1.45 percent. When economists add up expected tax revenue and subtract promised benefits over the next 75 years, discounting future amounts by an assumed interest rate, they find that the government is short by $37 trillion. Federal spending on medical care is the biggest contributor to the government’s budget problems, and many economists believe that even this figure understates the true problem.
----------
D - In Canada, pressure for 'austerity budgets', as well as a good portion of petty mean-spiritedness has led to pressure to dismantle public union 'gold-plated pensions'. First of all, the private sector CEOs and board directors are the 1s who receive truly golden handshakes - and they got us into this economic melt-down!
So let's call public union pensions only SILVER plated.
Now let's extend the reasoning - the need to share the pain. I do not see that reasoning getting applied to Boomer senior benefits.
----------
D - the only way we'd ever balance the long-neglected budget at this point...
Q: Do Eskimos really abandon their elderly?
A: ... yes, in the past some Eskimos did kill old people when circumstances were sufficiently desperate. Pressure from missionaries and national authorities, improving economic conditions, and no doubt evolving notions of acceptable behavior among native peoples eventually brought an end to the practice. The last reported case was in 1939, but the custom was a rarity long before that. In any case, the common perception of taking Granny out to the nearest ice floe and setting her adrift is wrong. I can't prove it never happened, but it wasn't the usual method.
Senilicide (the killing of old people) was never universal among Eskimos. It was common in some parts of their range but more so among the Inuit (Greenland to Northern Alaska) than the Yuit (western and southwestern Alaska). Even among the Inuit, some groups found the custom repugnant.
Where it was practiced, senilicide was rare except during famines. As long as there was enough food to go around, everyone got their share, including the relatively unproductive
Slightly different response, though.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0328/Republicans-back-a-Republican-budget-why-that-s-news
Five budget realities no politician will talk about (not even Ron Paul)
Investors around the world appear to be content to loan huge amounts at very low interest rates to fund spending that is currently 56 percent higher than revenue. It seems reasonable to assume that this cannot continue forever, and spending will eventually have to adjust to reality.
In this area, Ron Paul is far bolder and more specific than any of his opponents. He proposes large cuts to defense and discretionary spending. But other spending such as Medicare, Social Security, and interest would continue to grow...
Last summer, the president reportedly proposed linking future Social Security benefits to a slower-growing index than the one currently in use, which would have resulted in major savings. The idea went nowhere. Romney now proposes the same thing, but only for wealthy recipients. But since the wealthy receive roughly the same benefits as the middle class from entitlement programs, changing their benefits will save very small amounts of money.
(D - whereas just such a partial de-index quietly took place in Canada recently. It will impact later generations more as the math compounds over time.)
Through Medicare, the federal government has promised to pay our medical bills when we retire. In return, we pay 1.45 percent of our wages, and employers pay another 1.45 percent. When economists add up expected tax revenue and subtract promised benefits over the next 75 years, discounting future amounts by an assumed interest rate, they find that the government is short by $37 trillion. Federal spending on medical care is the biggest contributor to the government’s budget problems, and many economists believe that even this figure understates the true problem.
----------
D - In Canada, pressure for 'austerity budgets', as well as a good portion of petty mean-spiritedness has led to pressure to dismantle public union 'gold-plated pensions'. First of all, the private sector CEOs and board directors are the 1s who receive truly golden handshakes - and they got us into this economic melt-down!
So let's call public union pensions only SILVER plated.
Now let's extend the reasoning - the need to share the pain. I do not see that reasoning getting applied to Boomer senior benefits.
----------
D - the only way we'd ever balance the long-neglected budget at this point...
Q: Do Eskimos really abandon their elderly?
A: ... yes, in the past some Eskimos did kill old people when circumstances were sufficiently desperate. Pressure from missionaries and national authorities, improving economic conditions, and no doubt evolving notions of acceptable behavior among native peoples eventually brought an end to the practice. The last reported case was in 1939, but the custom was a rarity long before that. In any case, the common perception of taking Granny out to the nearest ice floe and setting her adrift is wrong. I can't prove it never happened, but it wasn't the usual method.
Senilicide (the killing of old people) was never universal among Eskimos. It was common in some parts of their range but more so among the Inuit (Greenland to Northern Alaska) than the Yuit (western and southwestern Alaska). Even among the Inuit, some groups found the custom repugnant.
Where it was practiced, senilicide was rare except during famines. As long as there was enough food to go around, everyone got their share, including the relatively unproductive
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Harper's choices pit generations vs 1 another
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/first-majority-budget-will-reveal-harper-unleashed/article2380035/
This budget won’t just cover the next four years. Mr. Harper says he wants to make an impact that lasts for generations...
In framing his plan as generational in scope, the government risks pitting generations against each other once the details emerge.
Ottawa says it’s looking to gradually raise the eligibility age for Old Age Security Pension, likely from 65 to 67. The Tories claim this will help younger Canadians by ensuring the program is sustainable. The question is how the younger generation – the cut-off age for the phase-in is not yet known – will react to the news that they can no longer count on receiving more than $6,000 a year from Ottawa when they're 65.
Former Tory cabinet minister Perrin Beatty, now president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said years of minority Parliaments have prevented governments from making needed, but controversial, long-term changes.
Now, at the front end of a majority mandate, is the time to make those changes, he said.
-----
D- seriously, Harper just inherited this mess after not mere terms, but DECADES of neglect. And he can either raise the retirement age, increase CPP payin, or cut back CPP payout.
And a strong Boomer voting contingent renders the latter unthinkable. It'd be political suicide. Whereas right now that is not true of of picking on the GenXYZ contingent.
This budget won’t just cover the next four years. Mr. Harper says he wants to make an impact that lasts for generations...
In framing his plan as generational in scope, the government risks pitting generations against each other once the details emerge.
Ottawa says it’s looking to gradually raise the eligibility age for Old Age Security Pension, likely from 65 to 67. The Tories claim this will help younger Canadians by ensuring the program is sustainable. The question is how the younger generation – the cut-off age for the phase-in is not yet known – will react to the news that they can no longer count on receiving more than $6,000 a year from Ottawa when they're 65.
Former Tory cabinet minister Perrin Beatty, now president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said years of minority Parliaments have prevented governments from making needed, but controversial, long-term changes.
Now, at the front end of a majority mandate, is the time to make those changes, he said.
-----
D- seriously, Harper just inherited this mess after not mere terms, but DECADES of neglect. And he can either raise the retirement age, increase CPP payin, or cut back CPP payout.
And a strong Boomer voting contingent renders the latter unthinkable. It'd be political suicide. Whereas right now that is not true of of picking on the GenXYZ contingent.
millenials (GenY) not buying cars
http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/why_don_t_young_americans_buy_cars
the Millennials -- that giant generational cohort born in the 1980s and 1990s whose growing consumer power is reshaping the way corporate America markets its wares. Unfortunately for car companies, today's teens and twenty-somethings don't seem all that interested in buying a set of wheels. They're not even particularly keen on driving.
The Times notes that less than half of potential drivers age 19 or younger had a license in 2008, down from nearly two-thirds in 1998. The fraction of 20-to-24-year-olds with a license has also dropped. And according to CNW research, adults between the ages of 21 and 34 buy just 27 percent of all new vehicles sold in America, a far cry from the peak of 38 percent in 1985...
The billion-dollar question for automakers is whether this shift is truly permanent, the result of a baked-in attitude shift among Millennials that will last well into adulthood, or the product of an economy that's been particularly brutal on the young.
-----------------
D - they'd rather buy electronic toys.
------------------
The Millennials have become notorious for delaying, or entirely skipping, the traditional markers of adulthood. But as my colleague Derek Thompson has argued, that's largely because the economic milieu that shaped their parents' and and grandparents' lives has disappeared. How can you buy a home when you're underemployed and saddled with student debt? Why would you want to after the horror of the collapsing housing bubble? And why would a 25-year-old woman get married when so many of the men she knows are out of work, while she's financially independent?
Collectively, the Millennials still have a tremendous amount of spending money. But although they may have been synonymous with youth culture way back in the 20th century, cars are extremely adult investments -- exactly the type twenty-somethings tend to shy from now. Even a bottom-tier Kia Sedan will run you $12,000, not counting the monthly cost of insurance, repairs, and filling up on $3.90-a-gallon gasoline. If there are reasonable, nearby alternatives to owning -- say, paying for a Zip Car membership, or taking the subway -- why commit to the expense?
Of course, Millennials are more likely than past generations to live in an urban community, and this may be part of what terrifies car markers. About 32 percent reside in cities, somewhat higher than the proportion of Generation X'ers or Baby Boomers who did when they were the same age, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center report. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, surveys have found that 88 percent want to live in an urban environment. When they're forced to settle down in a suburb, they prefer communities like Bethesda, Maryland, or Arlington, Virginia, which feature plenty of walking distance restaurants, retail, and public transportation to nearby Washington, DC.
If the Millennials truly become the peripatetic generation, walking to the office, the bus stop, or the corner store, it could mean a longterm dent in car sales. It's doubly problematic if they choose to raise children in the city. Growing up in the 'burbs was part of the reason driving was so central to Baby Boomers' lives. Cars keys meant freedom. Car keys meant freedom. To a city dwellers, they mean struggling to find an empty parking spot.
-----------------
D - nice summary of the Millenials!
the Millennials -- that giant generational cohort born in the 1980s and 1990s whose growing consumer power is reshaping the way corporate America markets its wares. Unfortunately for car companies, today's teens and twenty-somethings don't seem all that interested in buying a set of wheels. They're not even particularly keen on driving.
The Times notes that less than half of potential drivers age 19 or younger had a license in 2008, down from nearly two-thirds in 1998. The fraction of 20-to-24-year-olds with a license has also dropped. And according to CNW research, adults between the ages of 21 and 34 buy just 27 percent of all new vehicles sold in America, a far cry from the peak of 38 percent in 1985...
The billion-dollar question for automakers is whether this shift is truly permanent, the result of a baked-in attitude shift among Millennials that will last well into adulthood, or the product of an economy that's been particularly brutal on the young.
-----------------
D - they'd rather buy electronic toys.
------------------
The Millennials have become notorious for delaying, or entirely skipping, the traditional markers of adulthood. But as my colleague Derek Thompson has argued, that's largely because the economic milieu that shaped their parents' and and grandparents' lives has disappeared. How can you buy a home when you're underemployed and saddled with student debt? Why would you want to after the horror of the collapsing housing bubble? And why would a 25-year-old woman get married when so many of the men she knows are out of work, while she's financially independent?
Collectively, the Millennials still have a tremendous amount of spending money. But although they may have been synonymous with youth culture way back in the 20th century, cars are extremely adult investments -- exactly the type twenty-somethings tend to shy from now. Even a bottom-tier Kia Sedan will run you $12,000, not counting the monthly cost of insurance, repairs, and filling up on $3.90-a-gallon gasoline. If there are reasonable, nearby alternatives to owning -- say, paying for a Zip Car membership, or taking the subway -- why commit to the expense?
Of course, Millennials are more likely than past generations to live in an urban community, and this may be part of what terrifies car markers. About 32 percent reside in cities, somewhat higher than the proportion of Generation X'ers or Baby Boomers who did when they were the same age, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center report. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, surveys have found that 88 percent want to live in an urban environment. When they're forced to settle down in a suburb, they prefer communities like Bethesda, Maryland, or Arlington, Virginia, which feature plenty of walking distance restaurants, retail, and public transportation to nearby Washington, DC.
If the Millennials truly become the peripatetic generation, walking to the office, the bus stop, or the corner store, it could mean a longterm dent in car sales. It's doubly problematic if they choose to raise children in the city. Growing up in the 'burbs was part of the reason driving was so central to Baby Boomers' lives. Cars keys meant freedom. Car keys meant freedom. To a city dwellers, they mean struggling to find an empty parking spot.
-----------------
D - nice summary of the Millenials!
Friday, March 23, 2012
prisons not schools
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/22/zakaria-incarceration-nation/
D- welcome to the future, courtesy of Harper and the perennial appeal of the refuted "tough on crime" position.
Bipartisan forces have created the trend that we see. Conservatives and liberals love to sound tough on crime, and both sides agreed in the 1990s to a wide range of new federal infractions, many of them carrying mandatory sentences for time in state or federal prison. And as always in American politics, there is the money trail. Many state prisons are now run by private companies that have powerful lobbyists in state capitals. These firms can create jobs in places where steady work is rare; in many states, they have also helped create a conveyor belt of cash for prisons from treasuries to outlying counties.
Partly as a result, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education in the past 20 years. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons vs. $5.7 billion on the UC system and state colleges. Since 1980, California has built one college campus and 21 prisons. A college student costs the state $8,667 per year; a prisoner costs it $45,006 a year.
----------
D - what politician of any stripe won't invent some new subset specialty crime, with a higher average sentences, based on whatever trend is the flavour of the day?
----------
This wide gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world is relatively recent. In 1980 the U.S.’s prison population was about 150 per 100,000 adults. It has more than quadrupled since then. So something has happened in the past 30 years to push millions of Americans into prison.
---------
D - this could be CANADA in 30 years...
In 2001, Canada had about 32,000 people in prison or about 0.13% of the total population. Globally, the United States was the country with the highest percentage of inmate population (about 0.7% of the total population).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/06/17/pol-mandatory-minimums.html
D - vice crimes, and crime caused due to the illegal status of non-victimizing vice crime behavior, cost a LOT.
Enough to fund TWO FREE YEARS of post-secondary education, perhaps.
I think 6 pot plants mean 'grower' min-mand. sentences in Harper's new law.
In the U.S., our Congressional Budget Office initially estimated mandatory minimums would increase costs of federal prisons by $55.2 million over the first five years. In fact, over the first five years the added costs totalled $3.216 billion, 58 times our estimates
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Canada+repeating+mistakes+drug+sentencing/6224266/story.html#ixzz1pzccrUP4
D - and that ignores the tax revenue from legalized vice crime behavior. Takes a negative and turns it into a plus.
Users don't OD or get tainted drugs cuz of the drug they want. It is just cuz the drug is ILLEGAL.
D- welcome to the future, courtesy of Harper and the perennial appeal of the refuted "tough on crime" position.
Bipartisan forces have created the trend that we see. Conservatives and liberals love to sound tough on crime, and both sides agreed in the 1990s to a wide range of new federal infractions, many of them carrying mandatory sentences for time in state or federal prison. And as always in American politics, there is the money trail. Many state prisons are now run by private companies that have powerful lobbyists in state capitals. These firms can create jobs in places where steady work is rare; in many states, they have also helped create a conveyor belt of cash for prisons from treasuries to outlying counties.
Partly as a result, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education in the past 20 years. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons vs. $5.7 billion on the UC system and state colleges. Since 1980, California has built one college campus and 21 prisons. A college student costs the state $8,667 per year; a prisoner costs it $45,006 a year.
----------
D - what politician of any stripe won't invent some new subset specialty crime, with a higher average sentences, based on whatever trend is the flavour of the day?
----------
This wide gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world is relatively recent. In 1980 the U.S.’s prison population was about 150 per 100,000 adults. It has more than quadrupled since then. So something has happened in the past 30 years to push millions of Americans into prison.
---------
D - this could be CANADA in 30 years...
In 2001, Canada had about 32,000 people in prison or about 0.13% of the total population. Globally, the United States was the country with the highest percentage of inmate population (about 0.7% of the total population).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/06/17/pol-mandatory-minimums.html
D - vice crimes, and crime caused due to the illegal status of non-victimizing vice crime behavior, cost a LOT.
Enough to fund TWO FREE YEARS of post-secondary education, perhaps.
I think 6 pot plants mean 'grower' min-mand. sentences in Harper's new law.
In the U.S., our Congressional Budget Office initially estimated mandatory minimums would increase costs of federal prisons by $55.2 million over the first five years. In fact, over the first five years the added costs totalled $3.216 billion, 58 times our estimates
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Canada+repeating+mistakes+drug+sentencing/6224266/story.html#ixzz1pzccrUP4
D - and that ignores the tax revenue from legalized vice crime behavior. Takes a negative and turns it into a plus.
Users don't OD or get tainted drugs cuz of the drug they want. It is just cuz the drug is ILLEGAL.
profile of parents that save for school
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004-x/2011001/article/11432-eng.htm
However, parental expectations regarding the financing of their children's postsecondary education do not always match their actual experiences. Shipley (2003) found, for example, that the percentage of children receiving scholarships was far less than the share of parents who expected income from this source. Instead, the percentage of students taking out private loans from financial institutions or from family, friends or a spouse was much higher than parents had expected before their child went on to postsecondary studies.
Similarly, Ouelette (2006)2 found that, generally, no single source of funding was sufficient to cover the basic costs of postsecondary programs for a majority of students.
These (government) programs are designed to ease and increase savings, thereby alleviating some of the financial burden on students during and after graduation.
(D - but are of little use for the abjectly poor family. In fact, in many respects, it merely serves to subsidize the middle class.)
With the exceptions of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec, the proportion of savers generally follows the same trend as average tuition fees for Canadian full-time students, suggesting that a strong relationship exists between the cost of postsecondary education and postsecondary education savings patterns across the country.
As shown in Chart 2, the proportion of parents who had saved for their children's postsecondary education increased with income. Not surprisingly, the proportion of savers was highest among the highest income quintile group.
(D - still, about 1/2 that rate still saved in the lowest quintile.)
Previous research has established that a close relationship exists between income and educational attainment. That relationship is reflected in patterns of saving for children's postsecondary education. As shown in Chart 2, parents with less than a high school diploma saved in about the same proportion as those from the lowest income quintile (at 45% and 48%, respectively). At the opposite end, parents with university undergraduate and graduate degrees, at 78% and 80%, respectively, had about the same proportion of savers as those in the highest income quintile (83%).
The balance between saving for retirement and saving for children's postsecondary education can create a juggling act for many parents, with the necessity to ensure their own financial security in retirement, on the one hand, and the desire to give their children the opportunity to pursue a postsecondary education, on the other.
---------------
D - the young GenY parents, who have the highest tuition debts to date,
have their debt, house mortgage, their kids' schooling, then retirement to consider. Brutal. And education will get neglected as Boomers cause a fisal crisis in their old age.
post-secondary education 'n debt
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/03/23/canada-debt.html
omeowners still carrying mortgages owe an average of $161,200 in all forms of debt. That represents 82 per cent of all outstanding debt in the country.
Conversely, renters in Canada owe significantly less with an average of just $36,200.
Higher education, higher debts
Canadians that attended post-secondary education were more likely to carry heavy debt burdens as well. The average university graduate in Canada who owes money has a debt burden of $145,400, while Canadians who attended post-secondary education somewhere other than a university owes $114,300.
The typical borrower who did not attend post-secondary education owes $90,900, or nearly $25,000 under the national average.
-------------
D - there is something to be said for living at home during college or university. The problem is that you can stagnate- just hang out with your old high school friends. You need to actively join activities and network at your new school also.
I certainly appreciate the allure of only visiting the family during long holiday weekends though.
omeowners still carrying mortgages owe an average of $161,200 in all forms of debt. That represents 82 per cent of all outstanding debt in the country.
Conversely, renters in Canada owe significantly less with an average of just $36,200.
Higher education, higher debts
Canadians that attended post-secondary education were more likely to carry heavy debt burdens as well. The average university graduate in Canada who owes money has a debt burden of $145,400, while Canadians who attended post-secondary education somewhere other than a university owes $114,300.
The typical borrower who did not attend post-secondary education owes $90,900, or nearly $25,000 under the national average.
-------------
D - there is something to be said for living at home during college or university. The problem is that you can stagnate- just hang out with your old high school friends. You need to actively join activities and network at your new school also.
I certainly appreciate the allure of only visiting the family during long holiday weekends though.
free unpaid internships for work
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/career-tips/first-things-first-getting-a-foot-in-the-door/article2378195/
Andrea Alexis-James did a four-month unpaid internship at a media service company to meet requirements for her degree in creative advertising from Toronto’s Seneca College.
The job involved a lot of repetitive tasks, “which is what I was told would be expected of me at an entry level,” she recalled. “But I got a lot of benefit because it gave me practical experience, which I thought would lead to a full-time paying job.”
Things didn’t work out that smoothly. At the end of her internship in 2009, the company was downsizing, not hiring.
After several months of fruitless job hunting, she found another media company that would take her on as an unpaid, part-time intern in sales.
Ms. Alexis-James’s experiences aren’t unusual for newcomers to the labour force. Doing multiple, frequently unpaid internships, has become an increasingly common rite of passage for recent graduates trying to break into a career.
Continued economic uncertainty has forced nearly three-quarters of young people moving into the work force to make compromises, including accepting unpaid internships, to get work
--------------
D - a bud of mine tried to get into advertising a decade or so back.
Sadly, Melrose Place was on TV. Every boy, girl and their dog wanted to be in advertising. He did not have the luxury to work for free.
TV, BTW, is a lousy basis to pick a career.
You don't get to wear leather hot pants in forensics, either.
Andrea Alexis-James did a four-month unpaid internship at a media service company to meet requirements for her degree in creative advertising from Toronto’s Seneca College.
The job involved a lot of repetitive tasks, “which is what I was told would be expected of me at an entry level,” she recalled. “But I got a lot of benefit because it gave me practical experience, which I thought would lead to a full-time paying job.”
Things didn’t work out that smoothly. At the end of her internship in 2009, the company was downsizing, not hiring.
After several months of fruitless job hunting, she found another media company that would take her on as an unpaid, part-time intern in sales.
Ms. Alexis-James’s experiences aren’t unusual for newcomers to the labour force. Doing multiple, frequently unpaid internships, has become an increasingly common rite of passage for recent graduates trying to break into a career.
Continued economic uncertainty has forced nearly three-quarters of young people moving into the work force to make compromises, including accepting unpaid internships, to get work
--------------
D - a bud of mine tried to get into advertising a decade or so back.
Sadly, Melrose Place was on TV. Every boy, girl and their dog wanted to be in advertising. He did not have the luxury to work for free.
TV, BTW, is a lousy basis to pick a career.
You don't get to wear leather hot pants in forensics, either.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
quebec tuition rate hike now proposed
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-students-take-to-the-streets-in-largest-tuition-protest-to-date/article2377965/
The students are opposed to a $325 tuition-fee increase in each year of the next five years. Despite the hikes, students in the province would still pay well below the Canadian average...
The protests have sharply divided public opinion, with the latest poll showing that 50 per cent support the government’s move and 42 per cent back the students.
The threat of student unrest has kept Quebec political leaders from touching tuition fees over the years; the fees have remained unchanged in the province for 33 of the past 43 years...
(Charest) noted that even after the hikes, Quebec students will end up paying 17 per cent of the cost of their education.
---------------
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/students-block-montreal-bridge-to-protest-tuition-hikes/article2375037/
The province is nearly doubling tuition fees over five years; however, the rates for in-province students are so low that they would still be among the lowest in Canada, after the hikes.
Students say it’s a question of principle – that even modest fee hikes will reduce access to education.
---------------
D - if other provinces protested like this, their tuition rates would also be lower. We sleepwalk right into that slaughter house...
The students are opposed to a $325 tuition-fee increase in each year of the next five years. Despite the hikes, students in the province would still pay well below the Canadian average...
The protests have sharply divided public opinion, with the latest poll showing that 50 per cent support the government’s move and 42 per cent back the students.
The threat of student unrest has kept Quebec political leaders from touching tuition fees over the years; the fees have remained unchanged in the province for 33 of the past 43 years...
(Charest) noted that even after the hikes, Quebec students will end up paying 17 per cent of the cost of their education.
---------------
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/students-block-montreal-bridge-to-protest-tuition-hikes/article2375037/
The province is nearly doubling tuition fees over five years; however, the rates for in-province students are so low that they would still be among the lowest in Canada, after the hikes.
Students say it’s a question of principle – that even modest fee hikes will reduce access to education.
---------------
D - if other provinces protested like this, their tuition rates would also be lower. We sleepwalk right into that slaughter house...
Saturday, March 17, 2012
students in Montreal anti-police riot
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/688135--montreal-police-use-chemical-irritants-to-try-to-disperse-downtown-crowd
This year’s anti-police march comes at a particularly sensitive time. There have been battles in recent weeks at massive student protest marches against tuition hikes. One student suffered a serious eye injury amid a police intervention at a march last week. ...
Protesters lobbed objects at officers, vandalized some stores and smashed two police vehicles. Authorites responded by firing off chemical irritants in a bid to disperse a crowd of about 1,000 people.
There were reports of about 15 arrests — although that number was expected to grow, given there were more than 200 detained last year.
----------------
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/688937--montreal-mayor-tired-of-mayhem-from-anti-police-brutality-march
Seven officers were slightly injured, as were two civilians who tussled with protesters, he said.
But eyewitnesses also saw demonstrators who were injured, including at least one man who was cut by an exploding stun grenade.
The police chief commended the work of officers, calling their actions “professional” as they confronted projectile-tossing protesters.
Some in the crowd also vandalized stores and smashed two police cruisers, including one that was flipped over on its roof.
-------------
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/684299--injured-student-fights-to-save-eye-in-tuition-fight
MONTREAL — Student demonstrators symbolically covered their right eyes Thursday as they marched through Montreal to recognize a peer who fears losing sight in one eye.
The demonstration was the latest in a series of protests against Quebec’s plans for tuition fee hikes. It unfolded in an atmosphere of heightened tensions, one day after a fellow demonstrator suffered a partially detached retina following a violent fracas with riot police.
Student groups say Francis Grenier, 20, was wounded following the explosion of a police stun grenade Wednesday in downtown Montreal.
On Thursday, hundreds of protesters, some wearing eye patches and others covering an eye in reference to Grenier, flooded city streets and jammed rush-hour traffic.
-------------
D- one thing is for sure. Quebec won't hike tuitions if they can possibly help it.
Students in the rest of Canada - and the younger generations in general - should take note. So we don't have a slick media lobby machine. There are other ways.
This year’s anti-police march comes at a particularly sensitive time. There have been battles in recent weeks at massive student protest marches against tuition hikes. One student suffered a serious eye injury amid a police intervention at a march last week. ...
Protesters lobbed objects at officers, vandalized some stores and smashed two police vehicles. Authorites responded by firing off chemical irritants in a bid to disperse a crowd of about 1,000 people.
There were reports of about 15 arrests — although that number was expected to grow, given there were more than 200 detained last year.
----------------
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/688937--montreal-mayor-tired-of-mayhem-from-anti-police-brutality-march
Seven officers were slightly injured, as were two civilians who tussled with protesters, he said.
But eyewitnesses also saw demonstrators who were injured, including at least one man who was cut by an exploding stun grenade.
The police chief commended the work of officers, calling their actions “professional” as they confronted projectile-tossing protesters.
Some in the crowd also vandalized stores and smashed two police cruisers, including one that was flipped over on its roof.
-------------
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/684299--injured-student-fights-to-save-eye-in-tuition-fight
MONTREAL — Student demonstrators symbolically covered their right eyes Thursday as they marched through Montreal to recognize a peer who fears losing sight in one eye.
The demonstration was the latest in a series of protests against Quebec’s plans for tuition fee hikes. It unfolded in an atmosphere of heightened tensions, one day after a fellow demonstrator suffered a partially detached retina following a violent fracas with riot police.
Student groups say Francis Grenier, 20, was wounded following the explosion of a police stun grenade Wednesday in downtown Montreal.
On Thursday, hundreds of protesters, some wearing eye patches and others covering an eye in reference to Grenier, flooded city streets and jammed rush-hour traffic.
-------------
D- one thing is for sure. Quebec won't hike tuitions if they can possibly help it.
Students in the rest of Canada - and the younger generations in general - should take note. So we don't have a slick media lobby machine. There are other ways.
genx in promotion pinch. trapped in middle.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/management-advice/gen-x-workers-feeling-the-promotion-pinch/article2370587/
The study found promotion rates for members of Generation Y – those born between 1982 and 2000 – have held steady at close to 20 per cent over the three years from 2008 through 2010, while boomers’ promotion rates fell from 5 per cent to 3 per cent. Unexpectedly, promotions of the group dubbed Gen X –born between 1961 and 1981 – fell from 11 per cent to less than 10 per cent.
This was a surprising finding, “because this should be peak years of upward mobility,” Dr. Hunter said...
Voluntary turnover among Gen Ys between 2006 and 2010 declined from 25 per cent to 16 per cent, which can be attributed in part to the economic volatility over the period, but could also be the result of companies shaping work environments to better suit younger employees, Dr. Hunter said.
The survey’s findings are particularly significant for Canadian banks, in which Gen X is by far the largest generational group, comprising up to 60 per cent of the work force, said Karen Forward, a vice-president in PwC’s financial services advisory practice.
-----------------
D - since pensions were not paid for by each generation for itself, we are now in a bind. Do we let Boomers retire at 55 - but pick up the tab for their social program exploitation? Or now let them keep working - and have jobs for GenX stagnate instead.
The study found promotion rates for members of Generation Y – those born between 1982 and 2000 – have held steady at close to 20 per cent over the three years from 2008 through 2010, while boomers’ promotion rates fell from 5 per cent to 3 per cent. Unexpectedly, promotions of the group dubbed Gen X –born between 1961 and 1981 – fell from 11 per cent to less than 10 per cent.
This was a surprising finding, “because this should be peak years of upward mobility,” Dr. Hunter said...
Voluntary turnover among Gen Ys between 2006 and 2010 declined from 25 per cent to 16 per cent, which can be attributed in part to the economic volatility over the period, but could also be the result of companies shaping work environments to better suit younger employees, Dr. Hunter said.
The survey’s findings are particularly significant for Canadian banks, in which Gen X is by far the largest generational group, comprising up to 60 per cent of the work force, said Karen Forward, a vice-president in PwC’s financial services advisory practice.
-----------------
D - since pensions were not paid for by each generation for itself, we are now in a bind. Do we let Boomers retire at 55 - but pick up the tab for their social program exploitation? Or now let them keep working - and have jobs for GenX stagnate instead.
young adults staying at home longer
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/0315/Three-in-10-young-adults-live-with-parents-highest-level-since-1950s
The rise in the boomerang phenomenon illustrates the effect the recession and the weak economy are having on young adults,” says Kim Parker, a senior researcher at Pew and the author of the study. “Young adults were hit particularly hard in the job market and are having to delay reaching some basic financial milestones of adulthood because of this.”
In 1980, some 11 percent of young adults lived in multigenerational households, suggesting that a strong economy helped youngsters gain independence more quickly. Today, some 29 percent of 25- to 34-year olds either never moved out of their parents’ home or say they returned home in recent years because of the economy, according to the Pew report. Among 18- to 24-year olds, that figure is even higher – 53 percent of young adults in that age group live at home.
------------------------
D - multigenerational homes are a reaction in Japan to very long mortgage payoff times for very expensive residential real estate.
The rise in the boomerang phenomenon illustrates the effect the recession and the weak economy are having on young adults,” says Kim Parker, a senior researcher at Pew and the author of the study. “Young adults were hit particularly hard in the job market and are having to delay reaching some basic financial milestones of adulthood because of this.”
In 1980, some 11 percent of young adults lived in multigenerational households, suggesting that a strong economy helped youngsters gain independence more quickly. Today, some 29 percent of 25- to 34-year olds either never moved out of their parents’ home or say they returned home in recent years because of the economy, according to the Pew report. Among 18- to 24-year olds, that figure is even higher – 53 percent of young adults in that age group live at home.
------------------------
D - multigenerational homes are a reaction in Japan to very long mortgage payoff times for very expensive residential real estate.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
quebec student protest tuition hikes.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/injured-student-fights-to-save-eye-after-quebec-tuition-clash/article2363168/
A day earlier, seven people were arrested during a pair of Montreal protests — the latest in a string of demonstrations by students who believe Quebec's rock-bottom tuition rates are a basic right.
------------
D - oh, those whiny maggots! ... NOT.
Rephrased - "by students who believe that political activism ensures societally beneficial reasonable cost tuition is worth advcocating for."
Notice the difference?
Quebec has low tutions because the students don't passively accept tuition hikes.
There is a lesson here.
D - do you suppose the author would have felt sufficiently emboldened to snipe at retirees protesting about old age benefits? I don't think so.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/842221/tuition-fees-increase-in-most-provinces-students-call-for-federal-leadership-on-education
youth giving up on finding work
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jobs/young-leading-exodus-from-lacklustre-canadian-labour-market/article2364070/
The country’s jobless rate fell two notches to 7.4 per cent in February, but that was because fewer people were looking for work, rather than any pickup in the labour market, Statistics Canada said Friday. The country’s labour participation rate has ebbed to its lowest level in a decade.
Young people are leading the exodus. Their jobless rate hit 14.7 per cent last month – its highest level since October, 2010 – amid five straight months of employment declines. Poor prospects mean almost 200,000 of them have left the labour force since the recession began. The youth participation rate has tumbled to a 16-month low and is approaching 1995 levels. “This is a really significant issue,” said Francis Fong, an economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank who wrote a paper this week predicting the youth jobs market will remain tough for years to come...
This generation of younger workers are our future labour force … and they are facing some pretty unique pressures that other generations didn’t have to go through,” Mr. Fong said.
He said the economic consequences will include muted consumer spending among the young, heavy debt loads and delayed home buying.
Among the university crowd, the mood is one of a deep sense of frustration...
Statscan’s broadest measure of unemployment is the so-called R8, which includes discouraged workers and those working part-time who would rather have a full-time job; that measure stood at is 11.4 per cent in February, a slight improvement from 11.7 per cent a year earlier.
----------------
D - it can be tough to convince older folks that the times, they really are different. That growing up is tough today.
For more, check out suicide rates intergenerationally compared for youth...
3 genX western premiers
-
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/western-canadas-gen-x-premiers-cast-as-the-new-powerful/article2365307/
“The three of us sat together and we had a chat about this,” recalled Ms. Clark. “It’s a rare confluence of events. The population is moving to the West, the economy is almost solely based in our three Western provinces, we are all from free-enterprise parties, we are already working with this [free-trade] base. And we all happen to have been born in the same year. We are all Gen Xers.”
Demography is not destiny, but Ms. Clark may be on to something. Each of the three Western premiers, all born in 1965, say they have been shaped by the classic Generation X experience: growing up in the shadow of the baby boomers, who gobbled up jobs leaving little behind but scraps. While boomers outperformed their parents, Gen Xers were told to lower their expectations and recognize the constraints that can exist on government.
These three Gen X premiers are conservative in their views, regardless of party label. All three believe in free-enterprise politics. All three juggled work with raising children. Two of them attended the University of Saskatchewan at the same time, members of the campus Progressive Conservative club. They all completed their education amid a troubled economy and an era of state largesse, which would ultimately shape their approach to managing government...
Defining Generation X
Canadian economist and demographer David Foot defines Generation X as those born between 1960 and 1966. The generation faced a harsh recession as they emerged from high school, and scant career prospects.
-------------
D - but if Boomers vote them in, not like GenX elected officials can deviate from the Boomer 'script' much.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/western-canadas-gen-x-premiers-cast-as-the-new-powerful/article2365307/
“The three of us sat together and we had a chat about this,” recalled Ms. Clark. “It’s a rare confluence of events. The population is moving to the West, the economy is almost solely based in our three Western provinces, we are all from free-enterprise parties, we are already working with this [free-trade] base. And we all happen to have been born in the same year. We are all Gen Xers.”
Demography is not destiny, but Ms. Clark may be on to something. Each of the three Western premiers, all born in 1965, say they have been shaped by the classic Generation X experience: growing up in the shadow of the baby boomers, who gobbled up jobs leaving little behind but scraps. While boomers outperformed their parents, Gen Xers were told to lower their expectations and recognize the constraints that can exist on government.
These three Gen X premiers are conservative in their views, regardless of party label. All three believe in free-enterprise politics. All three juggled work with raising children. Two of them attended the University of Saskatchewan at the same time, members of the campus Progressive Conservative club. They all completed their education amid a troubled economy and an era of state largesse, which would ultimately shape their approach to managing government...
Defining Generation X
Canadian economist and demographer David Foot defines Generation X as those born between 1960 and 1966. The generation faced a harsh recession as they emerged from high school, and scant career prospects.
-------------
D - but if Boomers vote them in, not like GenX elected officials can deviate from the Boomer 'script' much.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Federal omnibus bill. to young offenders.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/03/06/f-bill-c10-objections.html
Harsher sentences for young offenders
Changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act will impose tougher sentences for violent and repeat young offenders, make it easier to keep such offenders in custody prior to trial and expand the definition of what is considered a "violent offence" to include "creating a substantial likelihood of causing bodily harm" rather than just causing, attempting to cause or threatening to cause bodily harm.
The new legislation will also require the Crown to consider adult sentences for offenders convicted of "serious violent offences" and require judges to consider lifting the publication ban on names of offenders convicted of "violent offences" even when they have been given youth sentences.
Some of the concerns around these provisions raised by some of the professionals who work with young offenders include:
The publication of names of some young offenders will unjustly stigmatize them for life. Quebec has asked that provinces be allowed to opt out of this provision.
The changes shift the emphasis of the Act from rehabilitation to "protection of society," which critics say will put the focus on punishing young offenders rather than steering them away from a life of crime. Quebec, in particular, which prides itself on the success of the rehabilitative aspects of its youth justice system, has argued for stronger language prioritizing rehabilitation.
Stiffer, longer sentences will turn young offenders into hardened criminals and undermine any potential for rehabilitation.
As with other parts of the crime bill, critics says harsher sentencing rules and increased emphasis on incarceration will disproportionately affect aboriginal and black Canadians, who are already over-represented in the criminal justice system.
-----------
D - this is part of a trend that was under way already in the '90s.
I was taking crim courses at Windsor U starting in 1991.
I've watched almost all aspects of the Young Offenders Act erode over the last coupla decades.
D - busy today, but I'll map the timeline of various youth criminal age thresh-holds this week.
Then provide linkage with the opposing rights & privileges we accord the young. The results are pretty shocking in graphic format.
Harsher sentences for young offenders
Changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act will impose tougher sentences for violent and repeat young offenders, make it easier to keep such offenders in custody prior to trial and expand the definition of what is considered a "violent offence" to include "creating a substantial likelihood of causing bodily harm" rather than just causing, attempting to cause or threatening to cause bodily harm.
The new legislation will also require the Crown to consider adult sentences for offenders convicted of "serious violent offences" and require judges to consider lifting the publication ban on names of offenders convicted of "violent offences" even when they have been given youth sentences.
Some of the concerns around these provisions raised by some of the professionals who work with young offenders include:
The publication of names of some young offenders will unjustly stigmatize them for life. Quebec has asked that provinces be allowed to opt out of this provision.
The changes shift the emphasis of the Act from rehabilitation to "protection of society," which critics say will put the focus on punishing young offenders rather than steering them away from a life of crime. Quebec, in particular, which prides itself on the success of the rehabilitative aspects of its youth justice system, has argued for stronger language prioritizing rehabilitation.
Stiffer, longer sentences will turn young offenders into hardened criminals and undermine any potential for rehabilitation.
As with other parts of the crime bill, critics says harsher sentencing rules and increased emphasis on incarceration will disproportionately affect aboriginal and black Canadians, who are already over-represented in the criminal justice system.
-----------
D - this is part of a trend that was under way already in the '90s.
I was taking crim courses at Windsor U starting in 1991.
I've watched almost all aspects of the Young Offenders Act erode over the last coupla decades.
D - busy today, but I'll map the timeline of various youth criminal age thresh-holds this week.
Then provide linkage with the opposing rights & privileges we accord the young. The results are pretty shocking in graphic format.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Ottawa scraps youth job centres
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1140427--government-scraps-student-job-centres-as-youth-unemployment-climbs
Diane Finley’s latest cutback came at a particularly inopportune time.
The minister of human resources quietly scrapped Canada’s 300 student employment centres five weeks ago.
The youth unemployment rate had just leapt to a 15-month high of 14.5 per cent — almost double the national average.
The Prime Minister had just announced plans to reduce retirement benefits, inducing baby boomers to stay in the workforce longer.
Intergenerational tensions were bubbling up.
Last week, the minister’s decision leaked out, prompting students, parents, low-income advocates and opposition critics to accuse her of penalizing the young to solve the government’s budgetary woes.
---------------
D- in the meantime, Ontario's Liberals reformed student loan grants. If you look closer, you'll see it was motivated, in part, by the desire to lower gov't operating costs with one central consolidated bureaucracy.
http://www.theargus.ca/articles/news/2012/02/30-off-for-some-5-5-increase-for-all
The 2012 rebate is a recent initiative by Ontario’s Liberals to reduce post-secondary tuition by 30%. With March coming up and another 5.5% increase in the works, this grant will lighten the financial burden of Lakehead students.
At least some of them.
Unfortunately, many students don’t qualify: mature students, graduate students, international students, students from out of province, students studying out of Ontario from the province, students who didn’t enter post-secondary school straight out of high school, students who lack predetermined grades, and part-time student are all out of luck...
The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario has claimed that the $423-million funding the rebate could have been better spent slashing tuition fees for all. “They (CFS-Ontario) have taken a very different approach than any of the other student associations, and they change their mind all the time,” Murray said in response to criticisms from Canada’s largest student organization. “During the election it was a (tuition) freeze, after the election it was a 12 per cent cut. Every time we've turned around and done something, the glass is always half empty for them, and they change their position from month to month.”
(D - good point.)
---------
http://ontariondp.com/en/armstrong-new-grant-will-do-nothing-to-stop-tuition-fee-hikes-and-deepening-student-debt
Last year, Ontario undergraduate and graduate students saw the highest annual tuition fee increases, at 5.4% and 10.6%, respectively.
Today the government has also scrapped the Ontario Textbook and Technology Grant, as well as the Ontario Trust for Student Support and phased-out the Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the Top Scholarships that many students depend upon to fund their studies and buy textbooks.
“We need to see tuition fees brought under control and measures to deal with mounting student debt that plagues Ontarians far beyond their student years. A new grant that only helps some students, and is funded by scrapping existing supports, does not solve the underlying problem of expanding tuition costs and deeper debt for graduates,” said Armstrong.
------------------------
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/650992--ontario-liberals-kill-42-million-in-university-research-grants
Ontario Liberals kill $42 million in university research grants
TORONTO — The nearly broke Liberal government quietly scrapped $42 million in university research grants days before launching a 30 per cent tuition rebate for undergraduates.
The Toronto Star reports that in a sign of the lean days ahead, the province slashed key parts of the Ontario Research Fund — promoted by the Liberals to support scientific excellence to boost economic growth — due to “current fiscal challenges.”
The $42-million loss will be felt over the next two years of grant application funding, said George Dixon, vice-president of university research at the University of Waterloo.
“This was highly targeted research money designed to move the economic base of the province forward,” said Dixon, who is also chair of the Ontario Council on University Research, a group representing 20 universities and the Royal Military College.
The money was used to support research in areas such as clean technologies and the bio-economy, advanced health technologies, digital media, water research and even genomics.
“We are in a new normal now when it comes to new programs,” said Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid on Friday.
---------------
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1137877--drummond-report-ontario-liberals-poised-to-streamline-1-3b-in-business-subsidies
Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid said Tuesday that Queen’s Park wants to streamline $1.3 billion in business support programs to save “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
At the same time, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan confirmed the cash-strapped administration is hoping to reduce the $2.3 billion earmarked for tax credits to business.
The changes were recommended in former TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond’s Feb. 15 report on reforming government to balance the books.
While Duguid declined to say when or what subsidies would be cut, he served notice action is coming.
“The fact is we need to get a razor-sharp focus on the results of these programs, geared toward our number one priority — growth and jobs,” the economic development minister said.
“We fully intend to move forward with a consolidation of our business support programs. We’ve identified at least 50 … and there’s likely more,” he said, complaining that eight different ministries administer such funds.
In Drummond’s 668-page report, it was recommended the government move to “a more user-friendly, one-window portal” where grants, loans, and loan guarantees could be accessed and administered more efficiently.
Diane Finley’s latest cutback came at a particularly inopportune time.
The minister of human resources quietly scrapped Canada’s 300 student employment centres five weeks ago.
The youth unemployment rate had just leapt to a 15-month high of 14.5 per cent — almost double the national average.
The Prime Minister had just announced plans to reduce retirement benefits, inducing baby boomers to stay in the workforce longer.
Intergenerational tensions were bubbling up.
Last week, the minister’s decision leaked out, prompting students, parents, low-income advocates and opposition critics to accuse her of penalizing the young to solve the government’s budgetary woes.
---------------
D- in the meantime, Ontario's Liberals reformed student loan grants. If you look closer, you'll see it was motivated, in part, by the desire to lower gov't operating costs with one central consolidated bureaucracy.
http://www.theargus.ca/articles/news/2012/02/30-off-for-some-5-5-increase-for-all
The 2012 rebate is a recent initiative by Ontario’s Liberals to reduce post-secondary tuition by 30%. With March coming up and another 5.5% increase in the works, this grant will lighten the financial burden of Lakehead students.
At least some of them.
Unfortunately, many students don’t qualify: mature students, graduate students, international students, students from out of province, students studying out of Ontario from the province, students who didn’t enter post-secondary school straight out of high school, students who lack predetermined grades, and part-time student are all out of luck...
The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario has claimed that the $423-million funding the rebate could have been better spent slashing tuition fees for all. “They (CFS-Ontario) have taken a very different approach than any of the other student associations, and they change their mind all the time,” Murray said in response to criticisms from Canada’s largest student organization. “During the election it was a (tuition) freeze, after the election it was a 12 per cent cut. Every time we've turned around and done something, the glass is always half empty for them, and they change their position from month to month.”
(D - good point.)
---------
http://ontariondp.com/en/armstrong-new-grant-will-do-nothing-to-stop-tuition-fee-hikes-and-deepening-student-debt
Last year, Ontario undergraduate and graduate students saw the highest annual tuition fee increases, at 5.4% and 10.6%, respectively.
Today the government has also scrapped the Ontario Textbook and Technology Grant, as well as the Ontario Trust for Student Support and phased-out the Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the Top Scholarships that many students depend upon to fund their studies and buy textbooks.
“We need to see tuition fees brought under control and measures to deal with mounting student debt that plagues Ontarians far beyond their student years. A new grant that only helps some students, and is funded by scrapping existing supports, does not solve the underlying problem of expanding tuition costs and deeper debt for graduates,” said Armstrong.
------------------------
http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/650992--ontario-liberals-kill-42-million-in-university-research-grants
Ontario Liberals kill $42 million in university research grants
TORONTO — The nearly broke Liberal government quietly scrapped $42 million in university research grants days before launching a 30 per cent tuition rebate for undergraduates.
The Toronto Star reports that in a sign of the lean days ahead, the province slashed key parts of the Ontario Research Fund — promoted by the Liberals to support scientific excellence to boost economic growth — due to “current fiscal challenges.”
The $42-million loss will be felt over the next two years of grant application funding, said George Dixon, vice-president of university research at the University of Waterloo.
“This was highly targeted research money designed to move the economic base of the province forward,” said Dixon, who is also chair of the Ontario Council on University Research, a group representing 20 universities and the Royal Military College.
The money was used to support research in areas such as clean technologies and the bio-economy, advanced health technologies, digital media, water research and even genomics.
“We are in a new normal now when it comes to new programs,” said Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid on Friday.
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http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1137877--drummond-report-ontario-liberals-poised-to-streamline-1-3b-in-business-subsidies
Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid said Tuesday that Queen’s Park wants to streamline $1.3 billion in business support programs to save “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
At the same time, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan confirmed the cash-strapped administration is hoping to reduce the $2.3 billion earmarked for tax credits to business.
The changes were recommended in former TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond’s Feb. 15 report on reforming government to balance the books.
While Duguid declined to say when or what subsidies would be cut, he served notice action is coming.
“The fact is we need to get a razor-sharp focus on the results of these programs, geared toward our number one priority — growth and jobs,” the economic development minister said.
“We fully intend to move forward with a consolidation of our business support programs. We’ve identified at least 50 … and there’s likely more,” he said, complaining that eight different ministries administer such funds.
In Drummond’s 668-page report, it was recommended the government move to “a more user-friendly, one-window portal” where grants, loans, and loan guarantees could be accessed and administered more efficiently.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
GenZ, body image and the media
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/teens/teen-behaviour/in-an-airbrushed-world-how-do-you-define-whats-truly-hot/article2355862/
The slogan on the Levi’s magazine ad declares that “Hotness comes in all Shapes and Sizes.” The problem is the three models, standing sideways in tight jeans, are barely distinguishable from each other.
“There’s maybe a difference between a size 0 and a size 4. Where are the size 8s, the size 12s?” points out Shannen Maili-McAleer, 16.
In all the debate about the perils of Photoshop and the impossibility of perfection, teenagers stand at ground zero, saturated in social media and bombarded with messaging. The side effects are showing: This month, a fresh group of young women jumped on a YouTube trend, posting pleading videos asking: “Am I Ugly?” A newly released study on mental health and young Canadians found that 39 per cent of female Grade 10 students believe they are fat, a number that’s substantially higher than those who are actually overweight.
Studies shows that depression, anxiety and eating disorders are on the rise – especially among young women, and when Alyssa says everyone knows someone who purges after binge eating, or takes laxatives to lose weight, the rest of the girls nod.
“Girls analyze their bodies a lot more,” she says. “Guys might say, ‘I wish I was little more muscular.’ But with girls, it’s like, ‘My thighs are too big. I have too many zits.’”
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D - 1/3 of UK women would trade intelligence for more bust. Otherwise, almost all women would rather be lighter, not heavier. The guys are split on heavier or lighter for their own ideal selves.
D - sure, they know the images are not representative of anything -even what those models generally look like.
D - heck, models are not even allowed to be adult any more. Adults are so BIG.
http://www.popphoto.com/news/2011/08/10-year-old-french-models-ignites-sexualisation-debate
D - I'm pals with a model, Mel. She's maybe 5' 6" and was not even 110lbs when I met her. I guess they call her build 'waifish'. Anyway, she developed the slightest hint of a figure, and that changed which type of modelling she could do in Asia when very young.
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