Labour numbers in Canada this week were weak, but things down south are literally getting worse (sorry, a leftover from yesterday). The U.S. President is introducing a bill to help with jobs, here in Canada, we have the Ontario Prime Minister claiming he has created the most jobs in the past 4 years (but then again, he also lost the most, so I am not sure you get to boast about this, but in election rhetoric, who can tell), but the talk is no longer about deficits, and such, it’s about jobs stupid! I gotta love that statement, I wish more folks would use that on the election trail.

With the temperatures starting to drop, maybe it’s time to think about looking at your furnace? Just an idea, because we are going to get frost here in Ottawa. Seems like only last week  I turned off the air conditioning, no wait, it was only last week, wow. It will be interesting to see with the alleged smart meters, whether my Hydro bill is going to go down or up.

This was an odd week for posts, I was kind of all over the place, but that is literally how my mind works:

• Since 9/11 was the only topic of conversation last week I added in my point of view with Ten Years Later and Sunday’s Best.
• Stats Canada pointed out the Canadian economy is not as rock solid as some think with Employment Stalling in Canada
• For some reason I felt like confessing my own shortcomings again (today’s sin: procrastination) with Always put off today which points out that procrastination isn’t as good as you’d hope
• I went back to Stats Canada with some data about Canadian home debt grows some more (Q2 2011) which is not a good thing, even if interest rates are low.
• I literally have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote I literally hate this and I literally wonder where my head is sometimes

Other financial folk are looking at the mess the global economy seems to be in, and have some more commentary on this mess:

• Frugal Trader at Million Dollar Journey suggests you give yourself a financial checkup which is a good idea to do more than once every 10 years.
• Canadian Couch Potato whom we met last week at our regular Financial Bloggers Hang Out tells us that Commission-Free ETFs Arrive in Canada but remember you are still paying trading fees on those.
• Mike at Money.Smarts gives us a practical way to estimate and budget for home maintenance costs which is important for the winter (what happens if your furnace packs it in, in January?).
• Michael James laments the change in priorities and how the Motley Fool Comes Full Circle, and are now almost a parody of their former selves.
• Jon Chevreau also mentions Claymore & iTrade providing “commission-free” ETF trades, hmm… what does that really mean?
• Canadian Capitalist reviews Vanguard’s best practices for Portfolio Rebalancing paper that was published a while ago, an interesting analysis.
• Larry MacDonald goes back to revisit a topic he wrote a book about a while ago with riding the Bombardier Roller Coaster (no they are not making roller coasters now).
• Preet explains that Micro-economists are wrong about specific things, Macro-economists are wrong about things in general I think he has having a little fun with economists in general.
• Echo of Boomer and Echopoints out the importance of understanding your new home warranty and what is and more importantly what is not covered.
• Our amigo My Own Advisor gives us his favourite international equity ETFs but again remember how much it costs to trade these critters too.

Other Bookkeeping

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Remember

“As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it. ”

Author: Albert Einstein