Our economies not doing well; here's the test.

If you want to know what is going on in the US and Canadian economies and what your chances are of business growth; look to your news stand; not the TV!

You don't have to be a voracious reader! Look at the thickness of the Monday Morning "US Today" or any of the major Canadian Papers. 

In good, financial times the US Today can be an inch thick as it sits folded on the new stand. Canadian Paper, Monday AM will hold a pretty solid 3/4" thickness. 

These days however these same papers are as thin as a nickel for the most part.  That means the Economy is crap. 

The reason for this very accurate barometer of the economy is advertisement or the lack of it. Not only the pages it fills in a paper but the revenue it represents to buy articles from other organizations!

Become aware of the economies of scale between Canada and the US and/or other trading partners. Alberta and Canada's heavy discounts on our oil are skewing the fundamentals of economy! 

Example. 15 years ago when I was a lot more active than I am now I could look at the Monday morning news and pick up the exchange rate between Canada and he US my principal interest. 

If the exchange was 14% (representing the Economies of scale) I knew I was in for a good week, lots of freight moving both ways. However if the exchange dropped 1% to 13% I knew the week was a goner. That 1% meant the Canadian$ was 1% stronger and the buyers in the US shut down their purchases. This left no loads out of Canada and a sharp increase of loads into Canada as suppliers took advantage of the 1% 

We have been running on nickel thick sized papers for years now. The Conservatives discounting of the oil, our major export, has skewed the Canadian Dollar to an irrelevant position now no more than chewing gum for the mind. 

That said, we have to get up every morning and give it our all if for no other reason than something may fall into our cup.

Conservatives burning up the airwaves doing nothing. Panic Mode!

The Conservatives have lead Albertans into the highest cost of living state in North America.  They keep piling on the costs while cutting services.

The Conservative position is easy to understand!

1. Reduce corporate taxes and any other costs to their lowest possible level.  Cut grade schools to save money to foster the corporate welfare.

2. The only income Alberta receives from the oil  industry is the 6% Can$ announced by Loose Lips Liepert before leaving office.  Because it is Canadian dollar, we are at 5% or below US; the world standard for pricing oil.  The Alberta taxpayers pay for the  oil industries roads, water and power lines.  Our oil, conventional and tar sands oil  is still discounted so that rounds the figure of our take of 3% Canadian.

The only  way they can make money following their philosophy is through taxation on non audited profits.  Yes, taxes from workers and companies is the soul source of income that keeps this province running.  Some small bits of cash comes in on lease sales.

The citizens of Alberta are paying the resource companies to take the oil from the province!

The Conservatives are quick to tell us higher oil prices means windfall profits which, is nothing short of an outright lie.  They also tell us how well small business is doing because of the large amounts spent by oil employees.  Another outright lie!

Only 3 in 4 employees decide to live in Alberta;  25% of these employees commute because of the high cost of living in this province!  They use their home address (not Alberta) for filing taxes.  We loose again!

Here is a good read originating with Stats Can.

Booming oil sands industry not enough to keep workers in Alberta: StatsCan

Only 1 in 4 job seekers staying in the province permanently

CALGARY -- A Statistics Canada study suggests that the lure of jobs in Alberta's energy sector isn't enough to persuade out-of-province workers to make a permanent move.

The study found there were plenty of people moving to Alberta between 2004 and 2009. But only one in four who were coming for jobs decided to make Alberta their primary residence. They listed their home province on their tax returns.

"While some of the inter-provincial workers observed in this study subsequently made a residential move to Alberta, at least as identified on their T1 tax return, most did not," wrote the authors, Christine Laporte, Yuqian Lu and Grant Schellenberg.

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PHOTOS

The Syncrude oil sands facility is reflected in a tailings pond near Fort McMurray, Alta., Tuesday, July 10, 2012. (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

"It is likely that factors such as family ties, social networks, organizational arrangements (e.g. daycare, school enrollment), home ownership and quality of life were important factors," they wrote.

"Nonetheless, the prospects of readily available jobs elsewhere had appeal. When weighed against the costs of moving inter provincially, the benefits of working inter-provincially was the option chosen by these individuals," said the report.

"Quite clearly, people react to employment opportunities in various ways,and, more broadly, labour markets adjust in various ways."

About three-quarters of the job seekers were men under the age of 35 from British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada. Roughly half of those were employed in construction and oil and gas extraction. More than one-third of female inter provincial employees were working in accommodation and food services or retail trade.

In 2004, there were between 62,000 and 67,500 inter provincial employees in Alberta, accounting for about 3.8 per cent of provincial employment. By 2008, the number of inter provincial employees had increased to a peak of 133,000, making up 6.2 per cent of the workforce. The figures fell somewhat in 2009 following the recession.

Alberta's booming energy sector, tied largely to development of the oil sands in northern Alberta, has created a chronic shortfall of qualified workers in recent years. As a result, there has been an increased reliance on temporary foreign workers.

More than 330,000 workers live and work in Canada as part of the federal temporary foreign worker program -- a number that has nearly tripled over the last 10 years, with the bulk of those job seekers going west in search of work.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/lure-of-alberta-s-jobs-likely-not-enough-to-get-workers-to-stay-in-province-statscan-1.1439949#ixzz2ehFo6SK8

The point is; This Government is robbing us blind at every level and lying about our fiscal positions.

They are down in the polls which show them as not being elected again.

Unfortunately, the Wild Rose Party who seems to be the second contender now is a lot more of a disaster than the present Conservatives.   Oil and Stephen Harper run their last campaign and, I suspect they will do so again.  Your situation will not be any better when them in office.

If you are one of throes people who feels fortunate because of a prospering business or career, think how well off you would be if you were playing with a full deck!

Don't be afraid of a "Left" wing party!  Absolutely no party could do worse or even as bad as what you have now elected!

Here's previous articles that are specific to our operational future and past.

http://albertathedetails.blogspot.ca/2013/01/province-in-rotten-shape-conservative.html

http://albertathedetails.blogspot.ca/2013/01/alberta-to-point-of-no-future-at-all.html
http://albertathedetails.blogspot.com/2012/08/alberta-losses-billion-due-to.html
and
http://albertathedetails.blogspot.com/2012/08/alberta-putting-aside-fear-what-do-we.html

http://albertathedetails.blogspot.com/2012/02/alberta-royalty-explained.html

http://albertathedetails.blogspot.com/2010/12/alberta-conservativs-pushing-us-style.htmlhttp://albertathedetails.blogspot.com/