A Rainy Day Fund Anyone?
It is important these days to distinguish the truly distressed from the whiners. Many will have to close their business permanently and look for entry-level employment. When 911 hit, we had to close our air charter and tour business, and I had to start off washing cars (later becoming the COO there :-). Many people will lose their current jobs for good. They need help. Yet I dare say that there are lot of whiners: They still have their job and are not subjected to any real hardship (73 doctors died so far in Italy!). Yet they complain – be it that they are holed in with their kids while working remotely, or about their chairs at home not being ergonomic (I’m not making this up). All the cars and toys they bought on credit. They saw no need to build a rainy day fund. And now they have…..
High Expectations of Government
It really gets to me these days how many people aggressively demand government help. One should think that a business who has no cash reserves at all should not be in business in the first place. It does not make sense that such businesses will receive bailouts now – a waste of hard-earned taxpayer money. Canada will most likely incur a federal deficit to the tune of 6% of GDP in 2020. If four million Canadians apply for the full $8,000 of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, that will be a mind-boggling 32 billion dollars. 1.7 million people applied during the first two days. Any government support either comes from the taxes a neighbour has paid, or future generations.
Wake up people and first find creative solutions to help yourselves and your Neighbours!
The bears are still sleeping actually….
Who is complaining about low Oil Prices?
The media is panicking about lower oil prices, while at the same time demanding stimulus packages from government. Go figure! Lower prices for gas and heating oil are the best front line help people can get. Some shale oil gambles will go broke, but big oil won’t. The sell-out prices for heavy oil from Alberta are in large part due to the lack of pipeline capacity – the Trudeau government doesn’t have the courage to follow through with expanding the Trans Mountain Pipeline.
How are You saving Money these Days?
Well, I’m eating less and losing weight! I no longer throw away bread that’s a little older. We mostly take the bus instead of our car – bus rides are even free right now! When by myself, I reduce the temperature in our home / my office from 21.5 to 20.0 degrees. I shovel my own snow – lots this year! We limit our spending to essentials. Disclaimer: We eat at least as well as before the crisis – mental health being at steak 🙂
Fresh air and muscle building – shovelling snow is good for you!
My Wife calls me “Cheffie” now – that’s really dangerous
My wife is essential staff and still goes to the office. So last week I cooked three meals – each of them a first for me: German Rouladen, gourmet hamburgers (not an oxymoron in this case) and Hungarian Goulash. All came out delicious and my wife was impressed….and now has new expectations OMG. About 12 meals for the two of us went into the freezer. A new home restaurant was created: “Chez Cheffie”. With all restaurants closed, we are saving buckets.
Can’t spend it anyway
Because cafés are closed, I only buy very few take-out lattes, and no pastries – my wife now bakes cakes for us and we have coffee at home. Our pool is closed which saves us $50 a month. We usually fly to Vancouver once every two months. Guess what? We ain’t going anywhere. Air Canada and Air North have reduced their flights from five to two a day.
We will fly and meet again!
There are some encouraging signs that infection curves in the most affected countries are flattening. Calls for a reduction of lock downs come from Austria, Denmark and the Czech Republic. While maintaining an open society and with deploying state of the art measures, South Korea did the best job. Even cafés and restaurants remained open. Early mass testing, advanced monitoring of movement patterns, and Koreans remaining calm and considerate made a huge difference. I count on all those resilient and creative people out there! Hope is around the corner!
My World Café - insights & experiences from my travels, café visits and daily life. 