Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Luke 6:1-11

Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?

Is is right to work on Sunday (or Saturday if you are Hebrew or Muslim)? I’ve asked this a bunch of times with mixed responses. I remember the days when all stores were closed on Sundays except a few pharmacists and the Perette’s (now I am showing how old I am). In that day, Sunday was a day to do not much, by act of law (you couldn’t do much else).

In the past 15 years, the advent of Sunday shopping has caused every day to be a shopping day, and Sunday’s “day of rest” tag seems to have gone by the wayside, but is it wrong to shop on Sunday? I don’t think it’s a wrong thing in the spiritual side of things, as long as you have time to meditate or observe your sabbath in some way, so that you feel renewed. 

Do I work on Sundays? Yes, I have and do usually doing things around the house, some shopping and maybe even career work as well, but I try not to do it too often, I like the idea of one day where you try to relax and contemplate about life. 

Do you work on Sundays (or on your sabbath)?

To paraphrase Jim Morrison, is this the end, my only friend? Don’t know, but it has been a raucous week in the financial world that is for sure. Certainly there has been no limit to the “fodder” for the Personal Financial bloggers guns this weeks, so let’s have at it.

Around the Blogosphere

• Michael James asks the pointed question Who Will Be protected by a Bail Out? The answer is not who you think it is, and it sickens us all.
• The Canadian Capitalist asks a better question Why Bail Out Wall Street ? if we save them this time, what stops them from doing it again?
• Everybody Loves Your Money is quite delighted because he found a great alternate opportunity and cashed out before this whole mess.
• Preet at Where Does All My Money Go points out The Many Uses of $7 Billion, what kind of compact car would I get?
• Paul Kedrosky points out that Hedge Funds Eat Their Young, and these may not be the vehicles you want to be in necessarily either.
• Steve Pavlina writes an article to help folks Deal With The Financial Meltdown , for those seeking help in these dark days.
• Even my mechanic at Parker Auto Care says this is going to hurt him, because he suspects a lot of folks who owe him money aren’t going to pay up in a timely fashion.
• Money, Matter and More Musings points out that John McLane Can Rescue us from this mess.
• The Credit Crunch is going to mean less money for High Tech Start Ups as well, points out Tech Crunch.
• Never Before Have So Many With So Little To Say, said so much to so few
  

  Sums the Whole Blogging Thing Nicely

  If anyone wants to buy me a Christmas gift, a mug with this on it would be nice.

So the bail out in the U.S. continues slowly, with the Senate passing a revised “fix it” plan, which now must go back to the Congress for their approval, so we still could have some roller coaster ups and downs as folks attempt to get things remedied or at least stabilized in the U.S. (and the rest of the financial world really).

Am I optimistic? Yes, but I am an optimistic guy. Is this the end of it? Absolutely not, there is many more turns in the road, my hope is we are not like Wile E. Coyote and suddenly realize there actually is NO road underneath us.

Buffett Gives GE Cash

This one intrigues me, because Warren Buffett seems to be “bargain hunting” right now, while looking like he is a “savior” for a lot of companies. He has “given” GE $3B to help them with their cash flow issues. Evidently Mr. Buffett stated:

“I have been a friend and admirer of GE and its leaders for decades. They have strong global brands and businesses with which I am quite familiar. I am confident that GE will continue to be successful in the years to come.”

He has put his money where his mouth is, because for this cash infusion Mr. Buffett receives a large amount of GE common shares. Mr. Buffett will be coming out of this whole mess (in my opinion) with a lot more money in his pockets.

If Mr. Buffett wishes to give me a ca$h infusion, he is more than welcome. 

Do Not Call the DNCL

I read stories about how the “No Call” registry to stop tele-marketers crashed, but I had no problem, but don’t call them, go to the web site instead at No Call Registry . Evidently I have 31 days to wait for the calls to stop, which should be good (I registered my cell phone as well), however, my guess is the folks who call from 000-000-0000 will continue to call, and if I ever find out who it is, I will report them to the CRTC for having an illegal phone number.

Why is TD Diluting My Shares?

TD is evidently going to be selling $5Bn of “mixed shelf” securities (i.e. shares, class A first preferred shares, warrants to purchase preferred securities and debt securities), this money will be going into their general fund and will be used throughout the company. More Class A shares means dilution of my shares value, by adding more to the pool, not sure I like this idea, but the statement was unclear as to how many Class A shares might be sold, so we shall have to wait and see.