Keith, The Toronto Star, this morning, reported an increase, again, in the levels of business and personal bankruptcies in Canada. Recently, the CBC website reported the following concerning consumer indebtedness in Canada:
Personal debt at record level in Canada: study
Last Updated Mon, 03 Nov 2003 18:22:26
OTTAWA - Canadians have a little more cash in their wallets but are
piling up more personal debt, suggests a five-year study from a social
activist group.
The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) released "The
Personal Security Index, 2003" Monday, a review of Canadian life from 1998
to 2002.
"(Canadians) have on average a little more money in their pockets -
but a little less confidence that it will buy them what they need," said
report co-author Spyridoula Tsoukalas.
% of Canadians living below poverty line
1993 2000
Total 18 14.7
Families 14.6 11
Single individuals 40.5 37.3
Children in two-parent families 13.5 11.4
Children in single-parent families 63.3 47.6
Source: Canadian Council on Social Development
The amount of disposable income (income left over after taxes) grew by
$1,500 from 1998 to 2001, says the report.
But Canadians are reaching record levels of personal debt, borrowing
more to buy homes and goods.
The study compares mortgage and consumer debt to disposable income. In
2002 Canadians borrowed an equivalent of 98.4 per cent of their disposable
income; in 1984 it was 56 per cent.
People living in Alberta are most likely to say their income is
adequate to meet their basic needs (54 per cent), while people living in
British Columbia are least likely (21 per cent).
The study tackles attitudes toward health care across the country. It
suggests Canadians are losing faith they will get the care they need.
"(Canadians) have less confidence in their access to key government
services such as health care - and hold little hope that the situation will
change," said Tsoukalas.
In 2002, 53 per cent of Canadians feel they could access health-care
services. That's down from 59 per cent in 1998. And only 40 per cent of
Canadians feel the government can do something to improve the situation.
People living in the Atlantic provinces had the most faith in the
health-care system (61 per cent), while people in B.C. had the least (43 per
cent).
Written by CBC News Online staff
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Hudson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 3:55 AM
Subject: [Futurework] The coming crash
> Credit card debts are now at about 130% of disposable income in England,
> and it's much the same in America and Australia (not sure about Canada) .
> This means that if consumers stopped all spending on non-essential items
> and saved hard it would take well over a year to pay off their debts. At
> the same time (in England, and I guess in America) house buyers are
> over-exposed way beyond anything previously.
>
> Greenspan and the Bank of England have been encouraging consumers to
vastly
> over-extend themselves by setting absurdly low interest rates. It's all
> going to crash. When? Who knows? But it cannot be all that far off.
>
> I know ..... I know .... long-time FWers will say that I've been
> forecasting an economic crash ever since the latish 90s. It didn't happen.
> We were overtaken by the madness of the IT boom -- which turned out not to
> be a boom. That's all gone now (even though share prices are still too
> high.) Pensions funds -- state and private -- are deep in trouble all over
> the developed world.
>
> There's the mother and father of all crises to come -- all caused by the
> arbitrary setting of currency values and the capricious settings of
> interest rates. There's no possibility of any equilibrium in this
> situation. It can only go on until there's a crash.
>
> Keith Hudson
>
> Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org>,
> <www.handlo.com>, <www.property-portraits.co.uk>
>
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