5 Year Chart:
10 Year Chart:
October, 2008:
Canada rated world’s soundest bank system: survey
Four points need to be made here:
(1) Never have I been more grateful for this country’s prudent, risk-averse national character.
(2) Canadians are obsessed with their rank in the world. They should take a bow on this one. Surely this is more important than, say, junior hockey or the pommel horse.
(3) A year ago, the only time anyone wrote about banks was when they were bitching about ATM fees. Time for some perspective: Go hug your banker. And the next time he charges you a buck-fifty for making a $200 withdrawal at someone else’s bank, don’t whine about it, ok?
(4) Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton: Aren’t you now even more ashamed now about your sky-is-falling panic-mongering?
Canada rated world’s soundest bank system: survey
Thu Oct 9, 2008 4:40am EDT
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Canada has the world’s soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.
But Britain, which once ranked in the top five, has slipped to 44th place behind El Salvador and Peru, after a 50 billion pound ($86.5 billion) pledge this week by the government to bolster bank balance sheets.
The United States, where some of Wall Street’s biggest financial names have collapsed in recent weeks, rated only 40, just behind Germany at 39, and smaller states such as Barbados, Estonia and even Namibia, in southern Africa.
The United States was on Thursday considering buying a slice of debt-laden banks to inject trust back into lending between financial institutions now too wary of one another to lend.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report based its findings on opinions of executives, and handed banks a score between 1.0 (insolvent and possibly requiring a government bailout) and 7.0 (healthy, with sound balance sheets).
Canadian banks received 6.8, just ahead of Sweden (6.7), Luxembourg (6.7), Australia (6.7) and Denmark (6.7).
UK banks collectively scored 6.0, narrowly behind the United States, Germany and Botswana, all with 6.1. France, in 19th place, scored 6.5 for soundness, while Switzerland’s banking system scored the same in 16th place, as did Singapore (13th).
The ranking index was released as central banks in Europe, the United States, China, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland slashed interest rates in a bid to end to panic selling on markets and restore trust in the shaken banking system.
The Netherlands (6.7), Belgium (6.6), New Zealand (6.6), Malta (6.6) rounded out the WEF’s banking top 10 with Ireland, whose government unilaterally pledged last week to guarantee personal and corporate deposits at its six major banks.
Also scoring well were Chile (6.5, 18th) and Spain, South Africa, Norway, Hong Kong and Finland all ending up in the top 20.
At the bottom of the list was Algeria in 134th place, with its banks scoring 3.9 to be just below Libya (4.0), Lesotho (4.1), the Kyrgyz Republic (4.1) and both Argentina and East Timor (4.2).
RANKINGS
1. Canada
2. Sweden
3. Luxembourg
4. Australia
5. Denmark
6. Netherlands
7. Belgium
8. New Zealand
9. Ireland
10. Malta 11. Hong Kong
12. Finland
13. Singapore
14. Norway
15. South Africa
16. Switzerland
17. Namibia
18. Chile
19. France
20. Spain
(HT:
Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” (6 of 6) – Don on: Love
***You might want to read part1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 first***
“I wish Ani DiFranco wasn’t a Lesbian.”
So begins Miller’s chapter on love. It’s another fine example of why this book would never have shown up in Christian bookstore even a decade ago. At any rate, Don continues (if you don’t know anything about Ani DiFranco you won’t find this very funny. Personally I think it’s hilarious:
“I am listening to her right now, and I think I would marry her if she’d have me. I would hang out in the front row at all her concerts and sing along and pump my fist and get angry at all the right times. Then, later, on the bus, she would lay her head on a pillow in my lap, and I would get my fingers tangled in her dreadlocks while we watched Charlie Rose on television.”
Don has some interesting fantasies to say the least – this one seems like the artist’s equivalent of a geek fantasy about being the captain of the Starship Enterprise. And last I heard, Don, Ani is no longer a lesbian (exclusively anyway) and is married to a guy from a city 20 minutes from where I live.
“If Ani DiFranco and I got married, I would write books on the bus ride between cities and in the evening, after the concerts, we would watch Charlie Rose, and three or four times each night we would whisper, Good question, Charlie, good question. But none of this will happen because Ani DiFranco is not attracted to men, I don’t think. Otherwise we would be on.”
These are the fantasies of a desperately single, artistically inclined man. Good luck, Don.
Miller is a first rate writer – in this book anyway – and from the audio I’ve heard of him he’s also an engaging and hilarious speaker.
******
Post Script – I’ve read another entire book of his now and I disliked it as much I liked Blue Like Jazz. It is a book that is more focused on theology and in it Don seems to be in way over his head, regurgitating half-baked ideas with a more that subtle liberal bias. I’ll post some thoughts on that eventually.
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Triumph In Waiting: The Rise of Digital Journalism
This is a re-post of an article I published ay Digital Journal in the summer of 2007. It still seems timely considering the numer of attacks I’ve heard by “real” journalists on bloggers.
Triumph In Waiting: The Rise of Digital Journalism
July 28, 2007
One week ago I sent a letter to the editor of the National Post that wasn’t published. 48 hours later I posted the same letter as an article at Digital Journal. I now have readers, new intellectual sparring partners, and money in the bank.
Twentieth century media prophet Marshall McLuhan observed that new technology decentralizes power. Apply that observation to the newspaper business model and you’ll see why, unless you are a full-time professional with a regular gig, it probably makes more sense to write online.
Face this near-universal truth: all media content serves the goal of selling advertising. It was true of terrestrial radio; it is true of newspapers; it is even true of Digital Journal.
But this is where the idea of decentralization comes into play. When you post an article at Digital Journal, advertising revenue is generated. How much? It depends on how good your article is and therefore how many people view it. But whatever revenue it does generate, Digital Journal acknowledges that you assisted in the generation of that revenue and they share it with you.
Compare this with a typical letter to the editor: When you send a letter to the editor, the editor decides whether or not it will be published. This decision is based at least in part on how much advertising revenue your letter creates. It may be indirect, and it may not be much, but the fact is that you provide the paper with free content that they publish for profit. To add insult to injury, if your comment is published you still need to buy the paper the next day to see your letter in print.
Unfortunately, that is the end of the line for your letter unless, of course, you are the subject of a letter to the editor about your letter to the editor. Here is how the system works:
On Saturday a feature article is published. On Monday the first letters to the editor about the feature article are published. Reasonable enough so far, but then it gets a bit strange. On Tuesday the first letters to the editor about other letters to the editor appear under titles like (real example) “Re: Who’s Really Doing The Fear-Mongering? letter to the editor, July 26; Anti-Muslim Fear Mongering, letter to the editor, July 21; At War With Radical Islam, letter to the editor, July 19.”
These letters often make eloquent refutations of letters published earlier in the week, but what’s the point?
There is some generational divide between those who read newspapers and those who read online, but such anonymous or semi-anonymous activity in the online world is known as “drive-by commenting” and is looked down upon. This is why many blogs and most online news sites will not allow you to leave a comment without you first providing valid contact information. To be clear, I am not saying that all letter to the editor writers are cowardly, only that they would probably be perceived as such in the online world if they provided no avenue for contact or follow-up.
Of course where accountability is absent, bad behavior flourishes.
The convenience of the anonymity of being published in the letters section of a newspaper is second only to the convenience of the same anonymity afforded to those who comment on others’ comments. If that sentence sounds convoluted, try following a thread of “conversation” as it happens in a newspaper.
Everyone who posts to the Digital Journal knows exactly how many times their article has been viewed and how many comments it has generated. In the last four days, my article (The Dawkins Defeat) has had almost 900 views and generated 87 comments.
How many people read your last letter to the editor?
Audio and Video from DG08
Available here.
I am way backed up on writing… I have a lot of hand written notes and some audio from the Why Everything Must Change conference and Desiring God 2008 conference.
It will all make it here eventually, but for now enjoy the DG08 audio and video.
Live Blogging the (Canadian) Debate
I hadn’t planned on doing this… in fact, I’ve never live-blogged anything before. And also, I kind of forgot the debate was going to be on so I didn’t prepare at all, but I found myself at the computer, watching TV and figured “Why not?”.
So I live micro-blogged via Twitter. Here’s the transcript, including a few comments I received along the way:
Dion on the attack…. ooooooooo, it’s like being hit by a little girl.via Twitter -
Kim C. -Oh – so fast and swift and taken down unexpectantly? LOL
I like Layton… too bad he wants a socialist dictatorship.viaTwitter -
Go Harper… he’s mentoring them.via Twitter -
Oh here we go… May is talking with about “rich people” – defined as “people with investments”. Woohoo – I guess I’m rich, I have an RRSP.via Twitter -
AnneMarie Krahn – If you’re rich why don’t I know about it?
Layton attacks Dion. Not nice Jack… shouldn’t pick on little girls.via Twitter -
Duceppe just asked about “reimborasabull” for “da turd time” – must be important.via Twitter -
Patrick F:
“Duceppe is doing it for the terd time”
Those jobs ARE going elsewhere Jack… but we’ve gained 100,000 new jobs… where’s the problem?via Twitter -
Marc M at 9:30pm October 2 -
We really need to abandon our senses and fully embrace Euro-liberalism. Pot, abortions, teen sex, gay sex, porn, gambling, draining taxes from hard-working citizens to fund nanny-state government schemes, violence and depravity in media, persecuting Christians, global-warming-Chicken-Little…all things that traditionally make the… the world a better place. Get a lobotomy, vote liberal like a good Canucklehead.
Dion: “Where… am I?”.via Twitter -
Duceppe, you’re not a party.. you’re a killjoy.via Twitter -
Harper sounds sane… but that haircut has to go.via Twitter -
May – Sweden, Germany, the Green Party, sounds like she lives on the wrong continent.via Twitter -
Quick poll for those listening: Who will the new Liberal leader be after the election? Rae or Iggy?via Twitter -
May spoke and didn’t mention Sweden or Germany… progress.via Twitter -
Switch Dion and May… they’re heading the wrong parties.viaTwitter -
Layton is playing “Weekend at Bernie’s” with the corpse of Tommy Douglas. Psssst, Jack, we know…via Twitter -
Stephane “Afterthought” Dion – they wait for him to finish, and then move on.via Twitter -
May agrees with Harper about Jack using the private clinic.viaTwitter -
Deceppe def’n: The number of people in a country is that country’s “bobalashun”.via Twitter -
May, the “Creative Class”… mmmmmmm, elitism anyone?viaTwitter -
Layton: “The arts is important to I.”.via Twitter -
AnneMarie Krahn
I think that education should be important to him…specifically the grammar part.
Dion: “Its not the job of politicians to decide who will be helped by the government.” What? Really?via Twitter -
May: “mean-spirited cuts to artists.” When it involves artists, there are no other kind.via Twitter -
How can you accuse someone of making decisions based on their ideology? Is there any other way?via Twitter -
I may have to add a Green lawn sign beside my Conservative one. Is that allowed?via Twitter -
Dion – Gotta get tough on the causes of crime: poverty, addiction, and mental illness.via Twitter -
Another cause of violence: competent leaders waiting in the wings watching current leader flush party down toilet.via Twitter -
May: literacy = no crime. Tell that to the white-collar criminals.via Twitter -
Layton is too patronizing sometimes… a little cheezy.via Twitter -
Layton: $400 per child per year will help families “get the right start in life.” That’s some frugal people.via Twitter -
Pete O
we get more than that right now with the conservatives
Harper is explaining the following to Dion: “Politics for Dummies”.via Twitter -
Duceppe shouldn’t be allowed to speak on any issues that don’t involve Quebec.via Twitter -
I repeat: Steve Pakin is very good.via Twitter -
Layton wants Harper to guarantee that no one will lose their house or job. Can YOU promise that, Jack?via Twitter -
May on politics: spoken like someone who’s never been in power. Great aspirations but significantly more complicated than that.via Twitter -
I like May… it was the right decision to have her on… performing much better than Dion, Layton, and that guy who wants to leave the country …via Twitter -
Dion is so easily pushed around.. they’re toying with him.viaTwitter -
Good debate… I make a lot of fun of Dion but a person of his many weaknesses should not be the leader of a national party.via Twitter-
CBC television just spent time analyzing Twitter updates during the debate. Interesting.via Twitter -
Follow me on Twitter.
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Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” (5) – Confession is a Two Way Street
***You might want to read part1, part 2, part 3, and part 4 first***
I’m quite certain Don’s chapter on confession is unlike anything you’ve read before. The subtitle of this chapter is “Coming Out of the Closet” and in it Don recounts the experience of setting up a confession booth in the middle of the campus of a liberal secular university with a sign on the outside that said, “confess your sins.” This was supposed to happen during a week in which the campus is shut down so the students can party. That might sound like an uncommon yet bold and arrogant evangelism tactic, but all who entered the booth were in for a surprise.
It was Don’s idea to set up a confession booth but it was Tony the Beat Poet that added the twist. They would build the confession booth as Don had imagined, and they would be in the booth but they would be there to confess to the students. They would be there to own up to the many brutal things that have been done in Jesus’ name. The students expecting to enter the area of the booth where they would confess instead found themselves on the receiving end of the confessions of Christians.
I will tell you now that I don’t believe that all of those brutal things done in the name of Jesus were actually done by Christians. How could they be? These were not merely impulsive acts done in a moment of weakness and frustration; these were events – sometimes years and decades long – that required continual rededication to their completion. But the evidence is staggering and there is no doubt that brutal and murderous things were indeed done in the name of Jesus. And so I think that what Donald Miller and his friends did on that campus was a good thing. It is a refreshing change to outright denial and, much worse, attempts to justify what happened.
“For so much of my life,” Miller writes, “I had been defending Christianity because I thought to admit that we had done any wrong was to discredit the religious system as a whole, but it isn’t a religious system, it is people following Christ; and the important thing to do, the right thing to do, was to apologize for getting in the way of Jesus.”
As the first confessor entered the booth Miller was lacking confidence and wasn’t sure he could actually carry through with his intentions. After a bit of small talk, Miller finally began to confess:
“There’s a lot and I will keep it short. Jesus said to feed the poor and heal the sick. I have never done very much about that. Jesus said to love those who persecute me. I tend to lash out, especially if I feel threatened, you know, if my ego is threatened. Jesus did not mix his spirituality with his politics. I grew up doing that. I got in the way of the central message of Christ. I know that was wrong, and I know that a lot of people will not listen to the words of Christ because of people like me, who know him, carry our own agendas into the conversation rather than just relaying the message Christ wanted to get across. There’s a lot more, you know.”
This is a confession that all but the most arrogant Christian can make. We are all guilty of most of the things Don listed in his confession.
Go to part 6
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Michael Kruse : Emerging Church and Obama
Read the rest of the article here… Kruse makes a keen observation about emerging Evangelicals:
I hadn’t thought of it that way. What do you think?