G’morning, readers. The stories that jumped out to me this morning were all troubling for various reasons. I don’t want to put you in a bad mood all day but a few of these might make you mad. Well, a few of these should make you mad. No fluff here!
1 TRY A LITTLE DEFICIT I wouldn’t even let federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty do my taxes – and as a journalist I am obligated to be bad at math. Even with my questionable mathematical skills I can say that increasing the deficit by $5 billion over the March budget forecast is a pretty bad job. That brings the total deficit up to $26 billion, restricting the possibility that the Conservative government will meet two of their election promises: income splitting and doubling tax-free savings accounts.
2 CREDIT CARD SEASON This is the year for spending. TransUnion’s quarterly analysis of national credit trends reports that Canadian consumer’s debt has increased at its greatest rate in nearly two years. “It should be noted that in the past five years debt levels have now increased 400 per cent more than the rate of inflation.” Inspiring.
3 CONCERNS ABOUT PAT Apparently the NDP isn’t excited for all the new slogans that new CEO of Tourism Saskatchewan, Pat Fiacco, will provide for our province.
4 BATTLING AUSTERITY Strikes were organized in European countries for today, the European Day of Action and Solidarity. Spain and Portugal organized general strikes.Violence broke out at a few of the demonstrations and 81 people have been arrested in Spain. The Guardian has the best coverage of this that I’ve found.
5 A FEAST FOR THE MEDIA The United States’ media is still freaking out about the General David Petraeus scandal. Now, as the media is prone to do, the focus has turned to the better-looking of the women involved. Take a look at the picture on that story of Jill Kelley! C’mon!
6 FORD IN COURT In 2010, George Foulidis, owner of the Boardwalk Pub in Toronto, sued Rob Ford for suggesting that Foulidis bribed city officials for a lucrative vending contract. The Boardwalk Pub secured a 20-year lease extension without being put up for tender. The $6 million libel case is now in court but the trial will be pushed back because of Ford’s duties as a high school football coach.
Well that was a lot of fun. I hope you didn’t get too bummed out. To keep you motivated today, here is some new music from Regina’s Nick Faye. Faye and his band “The Deputies” went out to a family farm to record an EP. Give “Eleanor” a watch/listen: