A Toronto tid bit

It seems that just about everything done in Toronto is special. That's easy to say given that I've spent virtually my whole life here, but the city just keeps proving itself over and over again. Few projects are poorly executed. Everyone involved in a major way in this city from the mayor to city planners to large businesses seem dedicated to not being satisfied with the mediocre.

I'm a little late in writing about this, but truth be told, I hadn't really seen the subject of this posting in the three years or so it's been in existence. I'm talking about BMO field--the home of the Toronto FC Major League soccer team.

Here are a few photos that I found impressive:

On one side of the stadium, the seats are colour-coordinated to display the symbol and flag of Canada, the maple leaf. The MLS soccer franchise also happens to be owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL team. Downtown Toronto is in the background, dominated by the CN Tower, which for some 40 years until recently was the tallest building in the world.



On the opposite side of the stadium, the seats spell out "TORONTO".


Background is Lake Ontario and Toronto island.





Click here to go to most recent posts.

Money as Debt

These videos will explain in an easy-to-understand way, how the current financial crisis came about, why it is unsustainable, and offers possibilities for the future. The average person has no idea how ridiculous the banking system really is. This is must viewing for anyone at all interested in their financial future.

Usury by any other name...

The Muslims are laughing at us. Not all Muslims--I'm sure some are just feeling vindicated. What amuses them so? The fact that we've gotten ourselves into this tremendous economic problem. Of course, it all stems from the credit markets. And I don't need to explain to you how large corporations have fallen while others are teetering and already millions of people have lost either or both their house and their job.

What has this to do with Muslims? In Islam, it is a sin to charge interest or pay interest. If you've ever wondered why so many Muslims live two or three families in a house, now you know. Unlike the rest of the world, they can't borrow the money they need to purchase a home. They have, however, come up with various ways to get themselves into expensive propositions like home ownership without using credit.

I'm writing about this because I just heard that some lending institutions are using predatory interest rates as a way of boosting their bottom line. What do I mean when I say "predatory"? Would you believe 30% per annum!?

Do I have any grasp at all on how big finance works? First, they gave money to people who didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of repaying them. Smart move. Then, when those people actually defaulted on their loans and mortgages, the banks almost stopped lending altogether. How did they expect to make money without lending? Now, we hear about exorbitant rates being charged. I'd like to know how many people who can actually afford to pay such high rates are willing to take on more debt considering their job is subject to being lost at any time?

I don't know why, but I keep getting surprised by the moves that the supposedly brightest minds, individually and as a group, keep screwing up the world royally. I should be used to it by now. From CEO's of auto companies to the titans of the financial sector, to presidents of powerful countries, we see ineptitude that dwarfs anything even that of an average person. But I digress...

Before "retiring", I had many friends and colleagues who were Muslim, and one in particular was a very good friend and was also one of the less "westernized" among them. On many aspects of Islam which we discussed at great lengths, I somewhat agreed, if not whole-heartedly, were good practises. The taking and paying of interest I hadn't been sure of, but given the mess that all the brainiacs in the credit markets have put the whole world in, there's now no doubt in my mind that it is a decidedly bad thing. The frenzy of unabated consumption driven by virtually unlimited credit has caused many ills to individuals, society and the environment long before the credit crunch occurred. The true brilliant minds have been warning about it's unsustainability for some time...and as usual, few were listening.

How I feel about bankers.

Ripped from the headlines

I saw a headline for this story on the TV listings channel and then hopped over to my PC to find the full story.

A homeless man who couldn't find a warm place to spend the night was rudely awakened by police in the bank lobby he was was catching Z's in. As punishment for his crime, he was sentenced to 30 days in a larger, warmer room, this one with free meal service. I'll bet he won't want to go through that ordeal again.

The Story.

Public Service Announcement

If you discover that your bank has erroneously credited your account with a large sum of money, don't spend it. In fact, report it immediately before you get some cockamamie idea in your head.

Case in point: A Pennsylvania couple is behind bars after police say they failed to call the bank when a glitch put an extra $175,000 in their account. What did these normal, hard-working people decide to do instead of reporting the error? Why, they both quit their jobs, moved to Florida and were in the process of buying a new home when the law caught up with them. Now, they each have a new home. With a courtyard. I mean an exercise yard. I think it's best that they're segregated from the general gene pool, anyway.

What's even more remarkable (there's always something more remarkable in cases like this) is the woman's defence. She said her husband, who is a roofer, often gets big pay cheques and she was unaware of any error. I guess quitting their jobs and buying a new home is pretty routine for them.

The Story.

Need another reason to hate banks?

On Wednesday, I sat down to do some important online banking. As I tried to get to my bank's website, I got a browser message saying it was unreachable. After a couple more attempts, The familiar green home page appeared. I typed in my password and after an unusually long delay, I got a message indicating some problem and to try again and if it persists, to call the help desk.

After a few more unsuccessful attempts, I called the number listed. I got a busy signal. I figured I wasn't the only one experiencing the problem. Several more calls (and log-in tries) over the next twenty minutes proved unfruitful. I let it go.

About an hour later, there was no indication the problem had occurred. Now, I'm no genius--ok, I am, but it doesn't take a genius to see something wrong with this picture. Rather than advise possibly thousands of clients to try again or phone a line that will either be busy or else unanswerable due to volume and frustrate them further, why not update the log-in error message as soon as they realize there is a widespread problem and indicate NOT to try again and NOT to call the help desk as they are aware of the situation, and possibly give an estimated time to resolution? I'm just sayin'.

I thought he was kidding

Someone posted about tent cities in the United States. I have not seen anything in the news about it, so I thought the guy was joking. Just to be sure, I did a search and found this:






The chickens have come home to roost.