Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for December 22nd, 2006

Holy moly, do they ever. So where most things in this world keep going up in prices, computers and peripheral prices continue to fall in price. From September to October it dropped by 0.8% to 36.4 (for commercial computers), but the start of the index which is 100, was in 2001, so that means prices have effectively dropped almost 65% since 2001? Wow! For consumer computers it dropped 2.3% and the index is now at around 17. Wow!

So why are computers the only industry where this happens (or so it seems to a lay person such as myself)? Anybody got good ideas?

My other question is what are they comparing to here? Are they saying the price of the same computer in 2001 is now 64% less, or is this a comparable computer in 2006 terms? Good questions these, wonder what the answers are?

Now I may question whether the raises for Teachers and Nurses are a little high (but I do think they deserve raises), but I think we can all agree on one thing, anyone who votes themselves a 25% pay raise, is truly the definition of Chutzpah.

For those of you not up on your Yiddish let me give you the definition first:

chutz·pa –noun Slang.
1. unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall.
2. audacity; nerve.
Also, chutzpah, hutzpa, hutzpah.

Ontario MPP’s voted themselves a 25% pay increase to end the year off, and now want to make sure that they make 75% of what their Federal counterparts make. Don’t you wish you could vote yourself a 25% raise? Maybe MPP’s are underpaid (not as underpaid as Nurses or Teachers, mind you), but a 25% raise? Holy Hand Grenades Batman!

That’s my Christmas gift to you today, try to use the word Chutzpah in your day to day discussions, keep yiddish alive! Oi vay! –C8j