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‘Really there is a recession right now’: Canadians lose faith in economic "miracle" amid prolonged slowdown
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Apr 19, 2013, 6:11:52 PM4/19/13
to
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/15/canada-economy/
OTTAWA/TORONTO — Factory worker Nelson Claros has little time for talk of
the Canadian economic miracle.
The 50-year-old was laid off last year from his job of 22 years at a bus-
assembly plant northwest of Toronto, and has since applied for 130 jobs.
His best offer: A job at $12 an hour, half his previous wage and not
enough to pay his bills.
Companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be a
miracle economy?
“Really there is a recession right now. They don’t call it a recession,
but the companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be
a miracle economy?” he asked.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Canada’s recovery from a mild 2008-09
recession was quick and job-filled, and the country added nearly 900,000
jobs to take the jobless rate to 7.2% from 8.7% at the depths of the
downturn.
No bank needed a government bailout, the housing market did not collapse
and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty repeatedly boasted about how Canada was
outperforming its partners in the Group of Seven rich industrialized
economies.
But recent growth has consistently fallen short of expectations and a very
rough patch late last year turned disappointment into dread. Economists
had been betting on a quicker U.S. recovery to boost Canadian exports, as
well as a pickup in business spending.
The slowdown could spell trouble for the Conservative government of Prime
Minister Stephen Harper, which is showing signs of mid-term stress and
losing ground in opinion polls to the third largest party, the Liberals.
Policy makers predict a brighter second half of 2013, but people like
Claros and business leaders are not so sure.
“I don’t see any solution for the problem of people who are laid off right
now,” said Claros, a single father of four, who is living off his
severance pay and is waiting for the 31 weeks of unemployment insurance he
is eligible for.
Related
Wages among high-skilled workers showing ‘disappointing growth’
U.S. re-shoring policies will force Canada’s economy up the value chain
Weak economy to make for ‘challenging’ year for business: BoC survey
Some 54,000 Canadians joined Claros in the ranks of the unemployed in
March, the worst monthly job losses in more than four years.
Previous engines of growth – housing and consumer spending – are slowing,
and businesses are shying away from investments.
And with the government striving to balance its budget and the Bank of
Canada talking of rate hikes rather than cuts, official stimulus programs
are off the table, at least for now, leaving resource-rich Canada hitching
its economic star to uncertain hopes of a strong energy sector and a U.S.
recovery.
Harper wants Canadians to look at the bigger picture and not draw gloomy
conclusions from the latest data.
“We can expect we’re going to have good months and bad months in terms of
numbers. The trendlines remain generally positive,” he told reporters in
Calgary on Thursday.
Still, Canadian growth is set to weaken for the fourth straight year in
2013 and trail the U.S. performance for a second year. But at a forecast
1.6%, it will likely surpass the euro zone countries and Japan by a wide
margin.
LOWERING EXPECTATIONS
The labor market is far healthier than that of the United States, but job
growth has lagged population growth, making the recovery incomplete. There
are 1.4 million unemployed Canadians competing for jobs compared to 1.1
million prior to the crisis.
Alysa Golden, an unemployed social worker with 20 years of experience,
said the last online job posting that fit her skills had 1,600 views in
the first 24 hours it was posted. The 49-year-old is starting to lower her
expectations in terms of salary and interest.
“With two kids, we really need something steady coming in, sooner rather
than later.”
Wage growth has been decent at 2% a year, but experts say nervous
consumers won’t spend enough to provide a significant boost to the
economy, especially as households have a record $1.65 of debt for every
dollar earned.
“I do see things continuing on much as they have, where there will be
economic growth, there will be some jobs created, but it won’t be enough
to significantly reduce unemployment or improve the labor market,” said
Erin Weir, economist for the United Steelworkers union.
As for housing, most are pleased to see an end to the overheated prices of
a year ago. But a slowing housing market is dampening growth and raising
fears of a U.S.-style crash.
Dustin Kroft, owner of Rent-a-Son moving company in Toronto, said he has
“that sort of pit in your stomach” feeling after seeing an estimated 17%
fall in sales in March. “It has been a while since I felt that,” he said.
The latest figures suggest the housing sector is cooling, not crashing,
after the government tightened mortgage rules in mid-2012 to prevent a
real estate bubble.
WAR FUNDS
Business investment remains slow and outgoing Bank of Canada Governor Mark
Carney wants the private sector to unleash some of what he has called the
“dead money” to stimulate the economy.
But companies need to put cash in a “war fund” until better times, said
Betty Lou Pacey, founder and chief executive officer of BL Innovative
Lighting, a small Vancouver-based business that exports optical fiber for
lighting.
She cites the massive U.S. fiscal deficit as the biggest external threat
for exporters, whose sales growth depends on healthy U.S. demand. Her own
company has a couple of costly projects “percolating” that would be easier
to commit to if circumstances were better.
“You’re not going to go hog wild and spend all your money. It would be
foolish for a business to do that.”
And despite the more bullish mood on energy prices, some oil sands
producers are shifting strategy in the face of stiff competition from
cheaper-to-produce U.S. domestic oil. Last month, Suncor Energy Inc
scrapped plans for a multibillion-dollar Voyageur upgrading plant, saying
returns would not meet previous expectations.
Canadian businesses expect to boost capital spending this year by a mere
0.8%, the worst rate since 2009, Statistics Canada said in a report
earlier this year.
“Our country’s little engine is really not very big,” said Pacey,
referring to the hard-hit manufacturing sector.
“So that little engine is vital to the life of this country and we need
some alarm bells going off.”
--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.
Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.
Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.
Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---
OTTAWA/TORONTO — Factory worker Nelson Claros has little time for talk of
the Canadian economic miracle.
The 50-year-old was laid off last year from his job of 22 years at a bus-
assembly plant northwest of Toronto, and has since applied for 130 jobs.
His best offer: A job at $12 an hour, half his previous wage and not
enough to pay his bills.
Companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be a
miracle economy?
“Really there is a recession right now. They don’t call it a recession,
but the companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be
a miracle economy?” he asked.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Canada’s recovery from a mild 2008-09
recession was quick and job-filled, and the country added nearly 900,000
jobs to take the jobless rate to 7.2% from 8.7% at the depths of the
downturn.
No bank needed a government bailout, the housing market did not collapse
and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty repeatedly boasted about how Canada was
outperforming its partners in the Group of Seven rich industrialized
economies.
But recent growth has consistently fallen short of expectations and a very
rough patch late last year turned disappointment into dread. Economists
had been betting on a quicker U.S. recovery to boost Canadian exports, as
well as a pickup in business spending.
The slowdown could spell trouble for the Conservative government of Prime
Minister Stephen Harper, which is showing signs of mid-term stress and
losing ground in opinion polls to the third largest party, the Liberals.
Policy makers predict a brighter second half of 2013, but people like
Claros and business leaders are not so sure.
“I don’t see any solution for the problem of people who are laid off right
now,” said Claros, a single father of four, who is living off his
severance pay and is waiting for the 31 weeks of unemployment insurance he
is eligible for.
Related
Wages among high-skilled workers showing ‘disappointing growth’
U.S. re-shoring policies will force Canada’s economy up the value chain
Weak economy to make for ‘challenging’ year for business: BoC survey
Some 54,000 Canadians joined Claros in the ranks of the unemployed in
March, the worst monthly job losses in more than four years.
Previous engines of growth – housing and consumer spending – are slowing,
and businesses are shying away from investments.
And with the government striving to balance its budget and the Bank of
Canada talking of rate hikes rather than cuts, official stimulus programs
are off the table, at least for now, leaving resource-rich Canada hitching
its economic star to uncertain hopes of a strong energy sector and a U.S.
recovery.
Harper wants Canadians to look at the bigger picture and not draw gloomy
conclusions from the latest data.
“We can expect we’re going to have good months and bad months in terms of
numbers. The trendlines remain generally positive,” he told reporters in
Calgary on Thursday.
Still, Canadian growth is set to weaken for the fourth straight year in
2013 and trail the U.S. performance for a second year. But at a forecast
1.6%, it will likely surpass the euro zone countries and Japan by a wide
margin.
LOWERING EXPECTATIONS
The labor market is far healthier than that of the United States, but job
growth has lagged population growth, making the recovery incomplete. There
are 1.4 million unemployed Canadians competing for jobs compared to 1.1
million prior to the crisis.
Alysa Golden, an unemployed social worker with 20 years of experience,
said the last online job posting that fit her skills had 1,600 views in
the first 24 hours it was posted. The 49-year-old is starting to lower her
expectations in terms of salary and interest.
“With two kids, we really need something steady coming in, sooner rather
than later.”
Wage growth has been decent at 2% a year, but experts say nervous
consumers won’t spend enough to provide a significant boost to the
economy, especially as households have a record $1.65 of debt for every
dollar earned.
“I do see things continuing on much as they have, where there will be
economic growth, there will be some jobs created, but it won’t be enough
to significantly reduce unemployment or improve the labor market,” said
Erin Weir, economist for the United Steelworkers union.
As for housing, most are pleased to see an end to the overheated prices of
a year ago. But a slowing housing market is dampening growth and raising
fears of a U.S.-style crash.
Dustin Kroft, owner of Rent-a-Son moving company in Toronto, said he has
“that sort of pit in your stomach” feeling after seeing an estimated 17%
fall in sales in March. “It has been a while since I felt that,” he said.
The latest figures suggest the housing sector is cooling, not crashing,
after the government tightened mortgage rules in mid-2012 to prevent a
real estate bubble.
WAR FUNDS
Business investment remains slow and outgoing Bank of Canada Governor Mark
Carney wants the private sector to unleash some of what he has called the
“dead money” to stimulate the economy.
But companies need to put cash in a “war fund” until better times, said
Betty Lou Pacey, founder and chief executive officer of BL Innovative
Lighting, a small Vancouver-based business that exports optical fiber for
lighting.
She cites the massive U.S. fiscal deficit as the biggest external threat
for exporters, whose sales growth depends on healthy U.S. demand. Her own
company has a couple of costly projects “percolating” that would be easier
to commit to if circumstances were better.
“You’re not going to go hog wild and spend all your money. It would be
foolish for a business to do that.”
And despite the more bullish mood on energy prices, some oil sands
producers are shifting strategy in the face of stiff competition from
cheaper-to-produce U.S. domestic oil. Last month, Suncor Energy Inc
scrapped plans for a multibillion-dollar Voyageur upgrading plant, saying
returns would not meet previous expectations.
Canadian businesses expect to boost capital spending this year by a mere
0.8%, the worst rate since 2009, Statistics Canada said in a report
earlier this year.
“Our country’s little engine is really not very big,” said Pacey,
referring to the hard-hit manufacturing sector.
“So that little engine is vital to the life of this country and we need
some alarm bells going off.”
--
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America.
Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still
has his job.
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptness.
Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 200% and leaves millions without health care.
Obama helped bankrupt Illinois. Democrat run Chicago closes 54 public
schools.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---
Greg Carr
Apr 19, 2013, 6:24:14 PM4/19/13
to
On Apr 19, 3:11 pm, "Leroy N. Soetoro" <leroysoet...@usurper.org>
wrote:
> --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: n...@netfront.net ---
Interesting news article about the economy. No need for Obama stuff in
a Cdn ng. I have seen more ppl wearing Obama t-shirts than I have
Romney/McCain combined in the course of my daily life in any case.
wrote:
Interesting news article about the economy. No need for Obama stuff in
a Cdn ng. I have seen more ppl wearing Obama t-shirts than I have
Romney/McCain combined in the course of my daily life in any case.
r@not.cda SpamƁusteᴙ
Apr 19, 2013, 6:25:56 PM4/19/13
to
On 4/19/2013 3:24 PM, Greg Carr wrote:
> On Apr 19, 3:11 pm, "Leroy N. Soetoro" <leroysoet...@usurper.org>
> wrote:
--
> On Apr 19, 3:11 pm, "Leroy N. Soetoro" <leroysoet...@usurper.org>
> wrote:
=====================================================================
SPAMMED INTO NON-RELEVANT GROUPS / COUNTRY
=====================================================================
Gunner Asch
Apr 19, 2013, 6:52:03 PM4/19/13
to
On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:11:52 +0000 (UTC), "Leroy N. Soetoro"
<leroys...@usurper.org> wrote:
>http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/15/canada-economy/
>
>OTTAWA/TORONTO — Factory worker Nelson Claros has little time for talk of
>the Canadian economic miracle.
>
>The 50-year-old was laid off last year from his job of 22 years at a bus-
>assembly plant northwest of Toronto, and has since applied for 130 jobs.
>His best offer: A job at $12 an hour, half his previous wage and not
>enough to pay his bills.
>
>Companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be a
>miracle economy?
>
>“Really there is a recession right now. They don’t call it a recession,
>but the companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be
>a miracle economy?” he asked.
>
>It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Canada’s recovery from a mild 2008-09
>recession was quick and job-filled, and the country added nearly 900,000
>jobs to take the jobless rate to 7.2% from 8.7% at the depths of the
>downturn.
Thats what so many Canadians fail to understand. Their economy is
<leroys...@usurper.org> wrote:
>http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/15/canada-economy/
>
>OTTAWA/TORONTO — Factory worker Nelson Claros has little time for talk of
>the Canadian economic miracle.
>
>The 50-year-old was laid off last year from his job of 22 years at a bus-
>assembly plant northwest of Toronto, and has since applied for 130 jobs.
>His best offer: A job at $12 an hour, half his previous wage and not
>enough to pay his bills.
>
>Companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be a
>miracle economy?
>
>“Really there is a recession right now. They don’t call it a recession,
>but the companies are closing, there are a lot of layoffs. How can this be
>a miracle economy?” he asked.
>
>It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Canada’s recovery from a mild 2008-09
>recession was quick and job-filled, and the country added nearly 900,000
>jobs to take the jobless rate to 7.2% from 8.7% at the depths of the
>downturn.
hooked soundly and completely into Americas economy.
If America falls..so does Canada.
Fact of life.
Gunner
Greg Carr
Apr 19, 2013, 11:41:39 PM4/19/13
to
Canada has a lower unemployment rate than the USA and the annual
deficit and debt per capita is more than a third less.
Gunner Asch
Apr 20, 2013, 1:54:10 AM4/20/13
to
>Canada has a lower unemployment rate than the USA and the annual
>deficit and debt per capita is more than a third less.
But if America falls..Canada goes with it.
You do..do understand that..right?
Gunner
paul
Apr 20, 2013, 2:03:48 AM4/20/13
to
On Apr 20, 1:54 am, Gunner Asch <gunnera...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:41:39 -0700 (PDT), Greg Carr
> On Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:41:39 -0700 (PDT), Greg Carr
the rent.
I've seen photos of you. You're a short, half assed loser in life.
If I stabbed you in the gut, you wouldn't go to the hospital because
you can't afford it.
You live in CALIFORNIA and can't get out! Pathetic.
Get off of these discussion groups and get a job. You stupid fucking
Hillbilly.
Gunner Asch
Apr 20, 2013, 2:35:25 AM4/20/13
to
fools are so lacking in reality, intelligence or ..smarts.
1. My name is Mark,not Mike
2. my Canadian friends in BC are hooking to make their rent. Selling
their pussies to get enough money to live.
3.Im 6'2" tall, hardly short,
4. US medicine would cover your attack quite nicely. In return..you
would be given a nice little bit of land on the backside of a hill
somewhere. As deep as a backhoe can dig.
And you can own your very own bit of the beautiful desert..forever.
5. Yes..I live in California. If I wasnt a property owner..Id have
left long ago.
6. I made $4k in the last two weeks. Net
I own my own company.
7. Hillbillies are in the East.
Now was there anything else you wished to look stupid about?
Or did you think that caps what appears to be a lifelong bit of
ignorance and buffoonery? I doubt it..you will reply and go even
lower.
Gunner
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