Friday, October 10, 2008

Credit to give and no place to put it

My twitter account (Which is like a little news ticker from people or news organizations I wish to follow) has been running the market and economic news a lot lately so I see what is going on around the world as the time zones change and the crisis spreads through each time zone. It is very concerning and I am really interested to see where this goes, so I'm watching.

I was impressed yesterday to hear that:

"The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that Canada will lead the G7 in economic growth next year and avoid a recession. Shortly after that the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based independent think-tank, released a report saying Canada has the world's soundest banking system. Canada's biggest trading partner, the United States, ranked 40th in the world for the soundness of its financial system, behind countries like the Barbados and Namibia."

via.

What have we been doing right?

Well done, whoever has been causing us to be in this position at this time.

5 comments:

  1. What have the banks done right? Well, charging us a $1.00 or more every time we even dare touch our credit cards or debit cards, plus annual fees, etc.!

    :)

    (Sorry, maybe sarcasm isn't in order right now)

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  2. So much of this is tough to figure out for non-economists. For me,. the big thing is trying to figure out how our economy can thrive when our major business partners. suppliers etc are stumbling. I can't see how that won't affect our bottom line as well.

    I love to imagine living in the middle of a prairie bubble, but admittedly, I'm skeptical.

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  3. And Marc - I haven't paid banking fees or annual fees on credit cards for years. There is CDIC insured and FREE versions of both if you do your homework. ;)

    I'm stickin' to the man, and I don't even know who he is. :o)

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  4. Actually, now that you mention it, we have our banking fees waived and as of yesterday, our annual credit card fee is also waived.

    In fact, now that I think even more about it, we have unlimited debits and cheque writing as well.

    ...

    OK everybody, disregard my last comment, or view this comment as a caveat. What I said was the way it USED to be for us.

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  5. I'm no finance expert, but it seems to me that one thing Canada's banking system has done right is resist pressure to extend easy credit. In the U.S., on the other hand, increasing homeownership rates of low income earners was considered a worthy social goal, and so regulations were changed to encourage people to get in over their heads. I know it's easy to blame evil business, but in this case well-intentioned government policy is equally to blame, in my opionion.

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