Business News OpinionsShareholders of Encana voted to split the giant into two. It is hardly a surprise.
I’m not a professional investor. It is not my intention to give out stock tips. I’m more interested in the exercise of looking at the fundamentals of a company to help gauge its value.
I have had several conversations with some of my friends and neighbours recently. It occurs to me that almost all of them expressed discontent about the amount of property tax they (we) all have to pay annually. A few of them moved recently from Toronto where property tax is much higher. I patiently explained to them that Calgary has one of the lowest property tax rate in Canada among all major cities and still, I wasn’t able to convince them. Here is the statistics I thought I could share with the class (and my very friendly neighbours).
Source: Edmonton Property Tax Reporth
Source: Edmonton Property Tax Reporth
It conflicts with the last presentation of the Distinguish Speaker Series Seminar.
Europeans are working hard to meet Kyoto targets. It is often argued the Cap and Trade system will only work to reduce emissions in theory. A recent report from the European Environment Agency delivers encouraging results. As expected, several EU countries are doing much better than their counterparts. (See Below)
(Source: EEA website)
The Cap and Trade system enables the leading countries to sell excess pollution rights to the lagging ones that have maxed out their assigned quotas. In a sense, the leading countries are rewarded for such efforts while the laggards are punished in this zero-sum mechanism. The preliminary results are encouraging.
Access the full report here.
This morning, Statistics Canada reports Consumer Price Index (all goods and services) increased to 0.1% in October of 2009. Read the full news release from StatCan.
Thanks to David Thiessen for sending this article in.
I have not read Joel’s original work. However, after reading the article, I think he misses the point. Other than consumer surplus, the acts of gift exchanges carry sentimental (intangible) premiums, or sociologists call them social credits, that can’t be observed in individual transactions. Social credits are accumulated over time, not from any isolated incidents.
To test the hypothesis, try not giving away Christmas presents to your in-laws this year and explain to them that “your gift is a waste of resources, according to Joel Waldfogel.”
I came across this article. I find it counter-productive to ask such a question. Bank economists are no better than Nostradamus in predicting major events.
Jack Mintz wrote an article about the cost and pricing of power transmission.
It has been widely speculated that China will allow its currency, Yuan, to appreciate against USD ahead of Obama’s trip to the emerging economic powerhouse.
Check out Report on Business and The Wall Street Journal for details.
As we can see from the graph above, the Chinese government has allowed Yuan to appreciate roughly 20% against USD between 2005 and 2008, and the exchange rate has been holding steady since the current recession started back in 2008. (Note: Yuan has pegged against USD at 6.8 since July 2008 to boost exports.)
Personally, I am not holding my breath for such an announcement in the immediate future. I see no reason for China to adjust its short-term exchange rate policy any time soon. The rise of Yuan is a distance gradual eventuality, not an immediate short-term policy.
