morals you have none

I once knew a guy who had a blog name of EDITED FOR PERSONAL INSULTS TOWARD ANOTHER COMMENTER. PLEASE REVIEW TYEE COMMENTING RULES. -- TYEE MODERATOR

wu who

EDITED FOR PERSONAL INSULTS

looks like Mr. T

has got the attention of the rent a weasel croud from the pab!

By the way

The reason for all the noise out here is that BC has a large segment of people who will cheer any policy that kicks the poor in order to feed the rich.

If Campbell doesn't come out with a new policy to do just that on a monthly basis many old people here get all teary eyed and start demanding capital punishment for anyone belonging to a union or a Co-Op.

No, I'm still confused

'Everything which is currently taxed under GST will now also be taxed an additional 7%. (previously known as PST)
Or, to put it in plain English, 'Anything you don't hold onto for dear life will now be taken by your friendly democratic government.'

Roadie

Don't play three card monte.

Night Train 23

As you can see, there's this constant harping on 'business'. The old guys still stuck in the Victorian 'working for de man' big cigar-chomping boss mentality. Whereas, there were approximately 379,700 small businesses operating in British Columbia in 2007. These operations accounted for 98 per cent of all businesses in the province. Micro-businesses, with fewer than five employees each, comprised 83 per cent of small businesses. In 2007, British Columbia had more small businesses per capita than any other province with 86.7 small businesses per 1,000 people. Long-time leader Saskatchewan ranked second among provinces with 86.6 small businesses per 1,000 people followed by Alberta with 79.7. Approximately 1,048,000 people were employed by small businesses in British Columbia in 2007. These jobs accounted for 56 per cent of private sector employment in the province, the highest rate in the country.

It is these 379,700 small businesses that will be saved the trouble and expense of double-filing sales taxes when the HST comes in.

Small businesses hire the most workers, by far. This is one reason that, even in Ontario that is also blending their tax into an HST (13%) AND charging it on gasoline, the group opposed counts a mere 549 signatories (http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stopontariohst) out of a population almost triple the size of BC!

NightTrain23

You'll have to excuse realisticman, he hates the fact that he lived long enough to see the internet occur. Can't stand that it lets every Tom, Dick and Harry post their views. If he had his way, trendy initiatives such as universal education and women being declared to be citizens would never have happened.

After his usual evening sherry he can be heard yelling at Peter Mansbridge to "string them up".

He's also the sort that rings up the local constable every few days to complain that he just saw a communist.

Small business in BC

Cloverdale Reporter
July 29th

"In a recent survey of the Surrey Board of Trade’s membership, 59% of members were against the HST, while 41% of members were in favour of it."

Most of r'man's other businesses love the HST so much they're lined up outside the legislature for blocks, each to ask the government for an exemption.

NightTrain23

Frank actually sleeps in his Mao Suit, complete with cap. Just in case the Great March to storm the Ottawa Bastille begins spontaneously and he has to go immediately. The glory anticipated is, apart from a guillotine on every Main Street, the nationalization of all corner stores as a starter. Canadian Nationalized Railways and Air Canada, along with WestJet will be blended into AeroCanflot. The only food supplied will be Ketchup chips, bison burgers to follow but only as available. The very word 'entrepreneur' will be expunged from the dictionaries and all the children will be given "entrepreneur!" stickers to plaster on any 'business', so as to identify it for condemnation. All this is coming any day soon.

By the way, Frank,
"As a result of a recent article in the Province newspaper, “Businesses choose sides over harmonized sales tax– Article by Andy Ivens – August 25, 2009”, the Surrey Board of Trade has issued the following statement to remove any confusion over the position of the Board with respect to the Harmonized Sales Tax: "The Surrey Board of Trade feels that although some businesses will struggle more than others, in the long run, most businesses will benefit from the implementation of the HST because of the reduction of net tax paid to produce products and services, the streamlining of administration and the reduction of costs in operating just one regime. We support the HST."

Sincerely,
James Stewart, President
Surrey Board of Trade

NightTrain23

You'll have to excuse r'man. Every time he takes a hit from his bong he thinks the world is devoid of problems and sees only happy bosses and workers wearing flowers in their hair and getting together for group hugs in the park when they aren't holding hands and skipping down Robson Street.

As long as his room is knee deep in water pipes he's good.

He gets kind of edgy though when his supply is low.

R'man

Yes, the Surrey Board of Trade also brought in several speakers from places such as Price Waterhouse to brainwash any small businessman who wasn't sufficiently enlightened.

They must be using Mao's little red book as their bible.

What those speakers said boils down to the same as what I keep telling you, "We (business) are getting 2 billion from the government in tax breaks, that's the end result, be happy"

A lot of businessmen came to realize that that is a good thing for them and stopped worrying about the impact on consumers.

If only you could have been at those lunches at the Surrey Board of Trade perhaps you too would have been enlightened and would cease arguing about it.

But I know that's too much to hope for.

Missed the lunch

Aw shucks, I had to go to D.C. and slurp champers with your good buddy Gary Doer. Didn't see Jack there, perhaps he was stuck in Halifax. Gary is so pleased to be on the team. By the way, "ask ...for an exemption". Huh?

r'man

Exemptions? The back of the line is near the Empress Hotel now I'm told. Check it out after you've had "Queen's High Tea" at the same hotel.

Say hi to Colin for me while you're there, and pass on the note from Honest Ed telling him that there will never be another right-wing party so he should just do what he likes.

Did anyone notice

An interesting little story in the Province this morning?

Let me quote it for you:

CALGARY — After two decades of good times, the party's over in Alberta — and the party in power is taking steps to foot the bill.

Grappling with an escalating deficit — and a tide of grassroots Conservative support defecting to a new rival party on the right — Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach announced Thursday that he would "lead by example" and take a 15 per cent pay cut, effective immediately.

The premier's office said his cabinet members will also take a 10 per cent pay cut. The cuts total about $12,196 for Stelmach and $6,391 for each cabinet minister.

In a written statement, Stelmach said the cuts were necessary to show the province's commitment to spending restraint.

"It is important that my government lead by example," the statement said. "We should not be exempt from the need to tighten our spending during these difficult economic times."

It's quite a turnaround from last year, when the premier and his inner circle approved a 30 to 34 per cent cabinet pay hike ....

You suppose the CEO might like to follow that Alberta example?

Did anyone notice

The new EKOS poll out today?

"Canada poll sees potential Conservative majority
Thu Oct 15, 2009

Ekos put the Liberals at 25.5 percent, down slightly from last week and below the 26.3 percent they got in the 2008 election. The Conservatives were at 40.7 percent, up a point from last week and 3 points up from the election."

Frank, when is Jack going to pull the plug, or is he now liking the Conservatives so much that he just has to keep voting with them? Does he want a Senate seat?

r'man

I think Jack is laughing at Iggy.

I wonder how many times a day Iggy wishes he had backed Dion and the Coalition?

HST lunacy

As the saying goes "for every action there is a reaction". The implementation of the HST will once again prove this axiom. There have been many articles stating that a majority of people living in BC are living from paycheck to paycheck. They have no leeway to incur extra taxes. If they are subjected to increased expenditures with nothing in return, then they must reduce their spending in other areas. What will this reduced economic activity have on the overall economy? The answer is obvious, negative. Less economic activity will only lead to a prolonging of the recession. This does not bode well for anyone.

Bill's projections may not be totally accurate, as some of his examples already incur some PST assessments. That being said, his message still warrants our attention. Our cost of living will be impacted big time as we go about our daily lives.

The bottom line is that the implementation of the HST will shift $1.9 billion from big business to the citizens of BC. That $1.9 billion will not be spent on any goods and services, and therefore affect many businesses and not in a positive way.

HST must be stopped before it's too late!!!

couple more points

Thanks for the nice summary crankypants. Just two things to add.

1. A consumption tax does not have a level playing field when it comes to pre-tax prices of goods; therefore, people who can’t get to competitive or bargain stores - such as seniors or new moms or anyone with limited shopping options - and shoppers living in remote, rural, and small towns will be paying more for HST simply because the goods’ base price is higher.

2. There are a huge number of items that will have HST on them that aren’t being spoken of often: (this is just a small, small sample) it will be on the vitamins and dietary supplements grandma and grandpa need to take; it will be on the chocolate bar or bag of chips you just can’t resist; it will be on the non-alcohol beverages you need or want for your emergency kit or your kids lunches or your social gathering; it will be on the vapo rub, the cold med, the sore muscle cream you need to keep your family healthy; it will be on the adult sized clothing you have to buy for your lanky teenager; it will be on the headache meds you will need to buy to survive the HST fallout; etc.

All this talk about business

All this talk about business owners- you'd think the majority of people fall into one of two categories- big business owners and small business owners. Most of us work for someone else- and we're not QUITE naive enough to think the "savings will be passed down to us"- right- by the business owner we work for.
I personally will think twice about what I buy (well I already do, so I'll fine tune it) scale back eating out (or lower my tip to 10% and make sure it IS before tax, therefore affecting the waiter's earnings) and in general put less of my disposable income back into the economy.

Fii

Why punish the wait-staff? I generally give 20. Maybe you have never worked in the service industry. I have.

Christ, should have known

Christ, should have known someone would come up with that one. Oh right, you're one of those people who like to announce that you're tipping more than the average person, yet probably never donate to charity in your life.
I worked in the service industry too, for years, when I was in my 20s. I'm not "punishing" them. I'm making a point that I shouldn't have to supplement their meagre hourly wage which should have been raised a long time ago so that they don't come to RELY on their tips as their main source of income.
But if you want to act high and mighty go right ahead. Pretend you're an aristocrat tossing a coin to the lower classes who serve you (the origins of tipping).

Stiff them and be proud.

Sign up here Fii. You can voluntarily add your name to the database. I'm sure they'll understand your 'point'.

http://www.lousytippers.com/

If they tell you that two wrongs don't make a right, tell 'em they're wrong.

By the way, a monthly donation to a charity goes automatically from my account, as it has done for years.

Isn't it nice that you have extra money to give to charity

Rman? My family doesn't. Which is really strange because in the days when my 3 kids were little, we actually had more $$ to spare. And did donate to charity.

We are living as frugally as possible and still not able to get ahead.

I suspect that my family is more typical than yours, as evidenced by the repeated calls from food banks for more donations, as the number of users rise and the number of donators falls. And I guess you didn't see the picture of all the homeless people sleeping in the church in another Tyee article? Oh, I guess they're all drug addicts and responsible for their own misery. Has nothing to do with the Libs, does it? And neither does the fact that pupils are attending class in leaky, unkempt schools, or that we have the highest rate of child poverty in the country and rising. Or the almost daily scandals that keep breaking out.

Nope. Those Libs are doing a fine job. Such superior financial management skills they exhibit. Oh, and they're so honest too!

Money isn't everything

There are many ways I could otherwise spend the money and I don't mean on frivolities.

An estimated 100 million people worldwide are homeless and this is all the Libs fault? Of course.

Still don't get it do you?

It's not about the tipping. It's about not bowing to social conventions that are outdated and mask the reality- wages for servers SUCK and they shouldn't. They should earn a decent hourly rate. Period. I worked in the service industry for years, and never did I expect people to tip me if they couldn't/if times were bad/if their situation was not financially stable. I appreciated those who were generous, and gave everyone equal friendly and prompt service.
Do you know what I did today? I applied for a part time job at a lovely little cafe. I thought how nice it would be to do one shift a week in a relaxed, cozy atmosphere like I did in the past. I filled out a four page application (forcing myself not to edit the mistakes it was riddled with), the woman interviewed me, and asked me to start on Thursday. Then she told me the pay. $8.50/hr- "plus tips!" she said. I smiled (at this point I felt I was really just doing some sort of experiment, though for $12 an hour I would have picked up a shift or two- all that free coffee!) and said I couldn't afford to live on that wage. I told her that when I worked in a cafe in the early 90s in Alberta I made $8/hr. She smiled awkwardly and said she was sorry "it wasn't what I had expected".
Do you not see what is going on here R-man? I understand that business owners have high costs and are just trying to make a living too, but many of them DO rely on the customer to feel guilted/peer pressured into subsidizing the pathetic slave wages set by the gov't.

Good link you put up there R-man!

"This site is dedicated to all those who make a living, or try to make a living off of gratuity."

Exactly! Why do they need to try and make a living off of a gratuity??? Because the law is such that their wages are set LOWER than even the pathetic average because they are in the service industry. Now if these bright folks would just channel that anger at the real cause of the problem they might actually get something done!

Must be the communist in me, this aversion to over-tipping:

"After the Civil War, wealthy Americans began traveling to Europe in significant numbers, and they brought the tip home with them to demonstrate their worldliness. But the United States, unlike Europe, had no aristocratic tradition, and as tipping spread — like “evil insects and weeds,” The New York Times claimed in 1897 — many thought it was antithetical to American democratic ideals. “Tipping, and the aristocratic idea it exemplifies, is what we left Europe to escape,” William Scott wrote in his 1916 anti-tipping screed, “The Itching Palm.” One periodical of the same era deplored tipping for creating a class of workers who relied on “fawning for favors.”

Opposition to tipping was not limited to the media. In 1904, the Anti-Tipping Society of America sprang up in Georgia, and its 100,000 members signed pledges not to tip anyone for a year. Leagues of traveling salesmen opposed the tip, as did most labor unions. In 1909, Washington became the first of six states to pass an anti-tipping law. But tipping persisted. The new laws rarely were enforced, and when they were, they did not hold up in court. By 1926, every anti-tipping law had been repealed."

Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand...

No tipping there. I like that. I don't like tipping either but I'm not going to try and change the world by withholding money from someone who's trying to make an honest living and gives me good service.

honest wages for honest work - and I have a tip for you.

In a province with the lowest minimum wage and the highest real estate prices in the country I'm pleased to see that 'tipping' is going to make the difference.

Sick humour at the end of this thread, that's for sure.

Yesterday the United Nations announced that one billion people on earth are malnourished or starving - just when will the ignoramuses who are still spouting about the virtues of the market and globalization dry up and blow away?

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32579&Cr=malnutrition&Cr1=

No, of course not, it will be the people who dry up and blow away

They long since reached their best-before date.

Good for Canada...

...stepping up. Good for the Conservatives responding to this crisis. I'm sure we all would be comfortable with a couple of extra percentage points added to our HST on our snack foods and tv-cable and haircuts if it would help feed the world's hungry. Let's tell Campbell to raise the tax higher.

Winnipeg Free Press - 17/10/2009
Canada commits $62M toward global food crisis.

"THE federal government took a step towards helping alleviate the global food crisis Friday by creating a fund to support research partnerships between organizations in Canada and developing countries.International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said the government has committed $62 million to the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, a joint initiative between the Canadian International Development Agency and the International Development Research Centre. ..."

An utter waste of money and time

fund to support research partnerships between organizations in Canada and developing countries.International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said the government has committed $62 million to the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, a joint initiative between the Canadian International Development Agency and the International Development Research Centre.

Little more than a reach around for a government that couldn't care less about international development and food aid - a government that's doing everything it can to restrict or stop the flow of refugees into Canada...

Harper wasted more than that propping up the banks by buying their non-performing mortgages last year.

pathetic!

That's funny.

If you read the reports you would understand that the mortgages purchased by the Federal Government were insured and the government, including you and me, will almost certainly make a profit - as opposed to the banks. The reason, of course, was to inject funds into the system due to the shock of the US crash. Another reason the Canadian financial system is considered the best in the world. CBC covered it.

"September 24, 2009 |
CBC News

Ottawa's decision to take billions of dollars worth of mortgages off the books of Canadian banks may prove quite profitable to the federal government, economists said Thursday.

An exact number on how much Ottawa could profit is difficult to calculate because the terms the government charges banks are fluid, but economists estimate the profits will be in the billions since the federal government is able to borrow at a lower cost than private institutions.

And unlike most lenders, the Canadian government takes on no additional risk because the mortgages are already insured by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., a federal Crown corporation. ..."

Yet another way that the Federal Government has helped keep interest rates low so that all Canadians can benefit in lower expenses and credit and, importantly, not be burdened with escalating interest rates on the mortgages they already have.

Not funny at all - Guess you missed yesterday's G&M

And the concerns about CMHC - we're rapidly building up to our own mortgage crisis in this country too.

Perhaps have a look at Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac and imagine how CMHC is heading down wxactly the same road...

It's just a matter of time - homes are places for families to live - they should not, and cannot, be the many vehicle of consumer savings....when that's the case, it's just a matter of time till it all ends up in a cocked hat.