Chapter 7-Media Article

Canada Fraud Scheme Linked to Terrorist Activities
CanWest News Service-Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Recently, it has been discovered that a criminial cell has been operating across Canada is funnelling millions of dollars to Dubai in order to fund terrorist activities through a sophisticated credit/debit card frad scheme. This crime group makes an extremely huge profit by doing so. Within one a weekend in Calgary, a million dollars will be madde. Also, the group travels in a "circuit" from Vancouver to Calgary to Toronto to Montreal. The members of the grops live on nothing because they send all their money to fund terrorist activities in Dubai and other countries. Such crime is done with the help of improved technology which involves the insertion of a memory chip to record data into keypad terminals that customers use at retail counters, restaurants, etc. Then the criminials target the little black terminals handed to a customer to punch in numbers by simply unplugging them and carrying them off (as they are left on the counter by numerous merchants). Next, the criminals will modify it to add a memory chip to the terminal. Since the terminals are generic, and many retail outlets use the same kind, they become fairly easily transferable. As a card is swiped, the data goes to the credit card company. Also, the criminials use the memory card that's placed inside which records magnetic data for them. After a couple weeks of leaving the memory card in there, the criminals go back and steals it. Thus people's protection for credit cards is lost there.
As for debit cards, a camera is hidden in the ceiling to record the PIN numbers. The camera will be hooked up to a digital recording device with a hard drive that can sometimes run for 30 days.
Experts suggest it is expected for us to see more and more of this international criminal activity as setting up these operations is fairly easy. Proceeds from credit card fraud is usually converted to cash. As well, organized criminal groups will send in "teams of people" from other areas of the country to attack ATM accounts. And this type of crime is embracing technology and maximizing it.

Relationship to Ch.7-Money, Debit/Credit Cards, and Bank Security
In my opinion, I think this kind of crime, debit card fraud, occurs almost everywhere. However, because this specific crime is probably more seroius and needs more attention paid on because is involves a bigger group of criminials, especially terrorists, and a much larger sum of money involved.
Currently, within Canada's money system, credit cards are not considered as money. Instead, they are considered as an instant loan, or in other words, an instant access to money. As for credit cards, they are simply a way to purchase so that money is taken immediately out of one's bank account. Thus if there is not a sufficient amount of money in one's bank account, the purchase will not be processed. However, they are still not considered to be money but an instant access to your money.
Because of the advance in technology that we have in our modern day, I think there really is no way that the bank can fully guarantee for the safety of any counterfit and fraud debit/credit cards, money, and etc. No matter what, I think people, especially criminals like these, will find new ways to make money illegally. Personally, I think the current security features that we have with debit/credit cards is not enough because it is simply just a signature and a password. Nevertheless, there is really no other way to actually improve the security features that we have on our current debit/credit cards. The only security feature that may be added onto the cards would be fingerprints. Perhaps, in order to process a transaction through a debit/credit card, there must be a valid signature and scan of one's fingerprint. Other than that security feature, I think the only way for people to prevent fraud credit/debit cards is by not putting as much money in one account altogether. That way if one's account information was to ever get in the hand of a criminal, then their loss will decrease as there are also money placed in other accounts. All in all, I think it is up to the consumer to keep an eye out for fraud credit/debit cards and report invalid transactions of money right away.

Chapter 6-Media Article

"Are You Going To Outlive Your RRSP?"
The Canadian Press TORONTO-Monday, March 6, 2006

Many Canadians are now satisfied because they have registered themselves, before the deadline of March 1, for the registered retirement savings plans, otherwise known as RRSP. However, there are also a number of Canadians whom are still questionable about just how much money is enough to get through retirement?
Recent data shows that in the total population, a lot of us are living a lot longer now. For example, the life expectancy at birth for women rose 0.3 years from the previous year, and to a high record of 82.4 years old in 2003. As for men, the life expectancy at birth rose to 77.4 years old, and up 0.2 years. Despite the data, there are experts that say this information collides with indications that boomers, turning 60, wants out earlier. Also, approximately 56% of the boomers say they want to retire early, before the age of 65.
The boomers are very unaware of how much longer they may live up to if they retire at the age of 60 or so. Although nobdy can tell you how much money will be enough for retirement, there are many things that one can do to stretch their money as far as possible. Drawing a realistic spending plan for retirement would be one.
If your rate of spending the assets you have saved is higher than 4%, your portfolio will not stand the rate of withdrawl of the 30 years plus time horizon. In addition, you would have to consider how much capital you can draw from your RRSP in the years before you turn 69 and put it into a retirement income fund, in which there is a minimum amount of capital that you must withdraw annually.
A recent report from TD Economics on long-term rates of return predicted the following:
- A return on cash of 4.4 per cent
- Bond returns of 5.6 per cent
- Canadian equity gains of 7.3 per cent
- U.S. equity gains of 7.8 per cent
Furthermore, inflation is needed to be taken into consideration beacuse low inflation means interest rates stay low. Thus it tends to minimize fixed-income gains. Most importantly, it is not to be forgotten that there is a chance that you will end up in a retirement home with a medical facility. In order to pay for those high monthly fees, it may be better to leave the equity in your home untouched in order.

Relationship to Ch.6-Investment, RRSP and Inflation
Registered retirement Savings Plans, RRSP, is considered to be a type of investment. In this article, it has been stated that many baby boomers are retiring earlier (than they should). Personally, I don't think these group of the population should retire at an earlier age, considering that the life expectancy of the population is gradually going up. Therefore, if an average person retires during their 60's, and if they live up to the average life expectancy age, which is around the 80s, they may not have enough money for retirement. Furthermore, like the article stated, how much does one REALLY need for retirement? In my opinion, I agree with the article. There is no definite amount of how much one really needs for retirement. I think this depends on whether one would like to live a more luxurious retirement or whatsoever. In order to save up more for retirement, an option would be RRSP. Having to start RRSP at an earlier age will benefit grately when one retires. As a result, it is probably recommended that RRSP plans would benefit the most to the young employed workers. This is because RRSP plans are only for people who have a job.
On the other hand, RRSP plans may not be so beneficial when it comes to inflation. This is because when there is an inflation, the value of dollar would decrease, consequently, your RRSP plan would not be worth as much.
Another option that one may consider for retirement savings may be to invest. Investment is a great way to save up money for numerous reasons. For example, if one invests their money in the bank, there would be an interest rate. The higher the interest rate, the better because that means one will benefit more and gain more money during the period that they invest their money.
These are just some ways that one may save up for retirement. What do you think is a reasonable age for the population to retire? Also, do you think everyone will benefit greatly from RRSP and if so, why doesn't everyone have a RRSP plan?

Chapter 5-Media Article

"Vancouver Facing Construction Crisis"
Canadian Press-Sunday, January 29, 2006

Employers in Western Canada are strapped for workers and looking across Canada to fill vacancies.
An already booming construction industry in Vancouver has created an already booming construction industry that had been made hotter by the demands of the start of the Olympic venues for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Just in the past year, the number of people employed by the industry in the Vancouver area has dramatically grown from around 60, 000 to more than 83, 000 now. Despite this huge increase in the number of people working in construction, there is still need for more workers in this field of work.

In B.C. the numbers of jobless people were 47, 020 in November, decreased by 16% from the previous year, and the average weekly earnings grew 4~9% over the year. According to Leanne McArthur, operations manager for Macenna staffing in Fort St.John, B.C., numerous companies in Fort St. John are currently looking for skilled workers in all fields from warehosue workers to oilfield operators.
However, the one big challenge that a lot of the job seekers face is that they may have qualifications to do a certain job but they may not be ready to work in the actual workfield. This is mainly because the actual job is very different and not what many job seekers would perdict their job to be like.

Relationship to Ch.5-Unemployment and Employment

In the article above, it has been stated that more and more employers in Canada, especially Western Canada, are looking and in need of workers across Canada to fill vancanies on different kinds of jobs (mainly construction). Also, the unemployment rate have decreased by 16% in this past year. Consequently, the employment rate/number has naturally gone up as well. Overall, this article seems to have included a bit of the demand-deficient unemployment, and structural unemployment. Demand-deficient unemployment is somewhat included in this article because if consumers are demanding more and more apartments, houses, and other construction works (in this case, it would be any constructions for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver), then the demand-deficient unemployment will decrease as more people may be employed due to the increase in consumers demand, which will result in an increase of sales for businesses. Similiarly, structural unemployment works the same way because if there's an increase in demand for a certain good/service, then the employer is more likely to employ more wokers.
Think again, perhaps the 2010 Winter Olympics may just benefit Vancouver as more constructions works are to be done in such a short period of time. As a result, employers are probably going to hire more workers at a time in order to finish a construction work using the least amount of time, but of course, more workers will be needed in order for this to be accomplished. The overall result of this would be a decrease in the unemployment rate. On the other hand, once the construction works for the preparation of the 2010 Winter Olympics have been completed, what will happen to all the workers that were hired for the construction works? Will they be able to stay in the construction field and find another job? Perhaps the unemployment rate will increase again because those group of people are unable to find a job or they don't have the necessary skills to work in another field... What do YOU think?

Chapter 4-Media Article

Chapter 4-Media Article
"Venue costs of 2010 Olympic Games jumps by 23 per cent to $580 million"
Yahoo News Canada- Friday, February 3, 2006

On Friday, the committee responsible for organizing the Vancouver Olympics announced that its venue constuction costs have risen by 23% to an estimated $580 from $470 million. In order to cover the $110 million cost jump, the Vancouver Olympic Committee(VANOC) asked the provincial and federal governments for an extra $55 million each.
It has been estimated by the Olympic organizing committee that the cost of building venues for the Games at $470 million in bid documents submitted to the International Olympic Committee Venues have been affected by higher construction costs ranging from sports facilities like a new speed skating oval, Olympic ahtletes village, and etc.
The Vancouver Games are not the first to cope with higher costs. Because of their relative sizes, summer Olympics tend to experience larger cost over-runs than Winter Games. As with previous Olympic games, the 2004 Summer Olympics' in Athens costs $19.5 billion, 18% more than projected. In addition, the final $4.21 billion budget for the Winter Olympics' in Turin, Italy, was recently approved after $112.3 million was needed to cover a shortfall. The 1976 Summer Games in Montreal left taxpayers with a $2 billion debt that will be paid off this year, while the $1 billion final cost of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics was more than double the initial budget. The total budget for the Vancouver Olympics, including operating costs, was $2 billion before Friday's announcement. It has been expected that the Olympics 2010 to have rising costs. Furthermore, it has been said that this is no longer a sporting event...it is a game of big dollars for big business. So far, the provincial and federal governments have pledged $310 million each towards the Olympics in Vancouver. From the total capital budget of $620 million, the Olympic organizing committee had earmarked $470 million for venue construction. If there are any debt from the Games, it is supposingly paid by the provincial government.
The province has pledged a total of $600 million to the Olympics, which includes the venue construction money, the contingency fund, $87.5 million for security, $55 million for post-Games legacies, and some money for community programs and First Nations.
Lastly, it is said that the extra cost of building Olympic venues is less than the 40 to 50 per cent increases that have hit other major projects in the province.

Relationship To Ch.4-Taxation, and Benefits Received Approach
In the article above, it was stated that the venue cost for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics have incrased by 23%. Even though the provincial and federal have both offered $310 million dollar each, there is still a slight possibility that it may not be enough to cover the total capital budget completely. Personally, I think I am in favour of Vancouver holding the 2010 Olympics in the city simply because even though the budget for it is far too much, there are many benefits in the long run. For example, Vancouver will definitely attract more tourist to the city by holding the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Furthermore, it will cost money for athletes to take part in the Olympics, therefore there may be a company sponsoring the athelete. As a result, it may lead to more business opporunities in Vancouver due to the large number of company advertisements during and before the Olympics Games. In addition, there will most likely be more job opportunities avaliable if an Olympics was to take place in Vancouver. This is because more buildings, transportations, etc. are required to be built and thus more people needed in the construction field. On the other hand, I am a bit against the Vancouver 2010 Olympics because it is cause the overall economic status of the city to go down since it is using more and more of the city's money. Eventually, leaving the city to be in debt or broke. In addition, the level of taxation may incrase due to the vast amount of money needed to support the construction of new buildings in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. As well, will the 2010 Olympics really benefit everyone in the city? Or is it just benefiting those that own a store because more tourists will be in the city during that time? Technically, those individuals that do not benefit from the Olympics may not be too pleased with the increased level of taxation (if there is ever to be one....) thus the are less likely to be in favour of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Nevertheless, there are both good and bad affects of having the 2010 Olympics to be in Vancouver. Therefore, I think the final decision of supporting or not of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is fully depended on each and every indivuidual.

Chapter 3-Media Article

Chapter 3-Media Article

"City, TransLink, UBC Working On 2010 Expansion Plans,"
The Vancouver Sun-Tuesday, June 5, 2005

Because Downtown Vancouver and UBC are the most populated transit destinations in all of Greater Vancouver, the TransLink and public advisory committee are deciding on a plan to have a major improvement in the transit service around Vancouver and the University of British Columbia in the next five years. According to the plan, by 2010, there will be bus service avaliable every 10 minutes for 99 percent of Vancouver and UBC residents during the day time. Or better, within walking distance, up from 88 percent. The draft proposal of the plan includes:
-Starting this year, new bus route with limited stops between the new Vancouver Community College SkyTrain station and UBC will be added.
-The No.135 route on Hastings to a new B-Line bus service between Waterfront Station in Vancouver and Simon Fraser University in Burnaby will be upgraded in 2007.
-A new bus route from the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station to UBC along 33rd Avenue, Cambie Street and 17th Avenue, will be added as well in 2008.
-An upgrade on the No.43 route to a new B-Line service from the Joyce-Collingwood SkyTrain station to UBC in 2009.
In addition to the above upgrades and added routes, the proposal plan also includes using mid-sized, low-floored, low-nosie, and low-emission city shuttle buses on less busy routes.
This proposal plan will be presented to the regional transportation authority for a final approval.

Relationship to Ch.3-Third Party Effects and Natural Monopoly
Personally, I think the proposal plan on improvements towards the TransLink system in the next five years will most likely be benefiting the economy of Vancouver for numerous reasons. First of all, I think by improving the TransLink service (such as adding more bus lines) will probably result in more people to take the public transit as it is more convenient. Especially, in Downtown Vancouver and UBC as they are the most populated transit destinations in all of Greater Vancouver. If more people take the public transit, instead of driving their own vehicles to destinations etc, that will result in less pollution. Futhermore, the government of Vancouver will be able to earn more income through transit fares if more people take the public transits. As well, if taking the public transit is a lot more convenient, such as less time consuming, then it may encourage more people to attend post secondary institutions. For example, some people may not decide to attend post secondary institutions because the institution that they are willing to attend is too far from home, or it is too time consuming to take the public transit from home to their institution, or for many other reasons, it is just simply too inconvenient. And if more people have a post secondary education, the well-being of the society may just be better and eventually, the economy of Vancouver will be better as well. Likewise, if more public transits are avaliable in Vancouver, especially Downtown Vancouver, it may attract more tourists to the city because it is very convenient for them to get from one place to another. Again, this will eventually benefit the economy of Vancouver. On the other hand, some residents of Vancouver, may not be very pleased with this proposal because it may have a negative impact on their neighbourhood. For example, if more bus routes or skytrains are built around one's neighbourhood, one's neighbourhood would not be as peaceful (ie. noise from public transits and passengers) and clean (ie. litter from passengers). Although there are positive and negative impacts that this proposal plan may bring to the city in the next five years, I am quite convinced that the positive impacts outweighs the negative. However, there are still several questions that I think we should all think about. Where will the government find enough money to support this project? If it's from our taxes, are we willing to pay our taxes for this project? Is it REALLY worth it?

Chapter 2-Media Article

"Auto Sales Slowing But Vehicle Production Has Momentum,"
MoneySense News-Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Due to the high fuel costs and sagging consumer confidence, vehicle sales have probably past their peak for the current business cycle. However, the momentum of car production will still be maintained for at least a few months because of low inventories and the start of the new model year. Also, North American vehicle sales in July were the second highest on record during the months after the terrorist attacks of September 2001. But sales started to decrease in August then sales in September dramatically fell as employee discounts for all promotions expired and fuel prices spiked. Most importantly, the major factor affecting auto sales to decline is the high costs for gasoline, natural gas, home heating oil, and electricity. This has the biggest impact on fuel-thirsty sport utility vehicles. Thus September had a really weak sale, with a 2.4% decline from the previous year. However, Carlos Gomes, Scotiabank's auto industry specialist predicts that despite the decrease in sales, auto factories will still remain busy in the near future because automakers are boosting production of their new models for the 2006 model year. This will most likely last until the spring of 2006 and after the first quarter of the year, the production will probably start to decline again.

Relationship to Ch.2-Supply vs Demand and Elasticity Goods
Vehicle sales have been declining in the recent years. The main cause behind the decline of vehicle sales is most likely to be the dramatic increase of gas prices. Higher fuel prices would probably cause an increase in the price of vehicle productions. For example, if fuel prices were higher, the cost of transporting vehicle components from one place to another would naturally be higher. As a result, the increase in production cost will cause the supply curve to shift. This means the supply would increase because the supplier are willing to supply more to the markets because the same number of vehicles will be sold to the market at a higher price. Consequently, the demand curve for vehicles will shift because the gas prices caused the price of vehicles to increase, thus the demand will decrease if supply increases. This means that at a lower price, more people will purchase vehicles but the supply of vehicles will be less and vice versa. Furthermore, because there are alternatives and substitues for vehicles, such as taking the bus, the purchase of vehicles is not necessarily as it is an elastic good. In conclusion, if the price of vehicles are lower, there will be more demand and thus more income. However, even though the supply of vehicles will increase if prices increase, the demand will decrease, therefore there will be less income. In additon, vehicle sale companies would lose more money if they take a longer period of time to sell a model of vehicle, as their value decreases when a new model comes out. As a result, I think even though vehicles sales are generally declining, there is still a momentum in vehicle production because they want to prevent themselves from losing more money by selling newer and better models of vehicles. Will gas prices continue to increase? And if so, what other impacts will it have on the demand and supply of goods such as vehicles? Would this increase be of a benefit for certain groups of people in the society? Also, are hybrid cars the solution to the increase of fuel prices? I think those are some questions that we should really think about regarding the impact that the increase of gasoline/fuel prices has on our society.

Chapter 1-Media Article

"Ontario Approves 5% of Gasoline to Contain Ethanol"
MoneySense-Thursday, October 6, 2005

On Thursday, October 5, 2005 it was approved by the Ontario government that by 2007, 5% of all the gasoline sold in the province is to contain ethanol. Ethanol is often made from corn. Because of this factor, ethanol is a cleaner and cheaper fuel than gasoline. Furthermore, proponents predict that by having 5% of all the gasoline sold in the province to contain ethanol, it is possible that this may eventually lead to a cheaper gas price since more of the fuels from pumps are made up of the less expensive fuel. In this case, it is ethanol. In addition to cheaper gas prices, it is also believed that the expanded use of ethanol in the province will lead to the establishment of new ethanol plants. Therefore, hundreds of new job opportunities will be available.

Relationship to Ch.1-Resource(land), and Scarcity
I think oil prices have dramatically increased in the past several years because of the Iraq war, and other natural disasters. For example, the recent Katrina and Rita Hurrianes definitely adds on as another factor for oil prices to continue to increase. As a result of the dramatic increase in oil prices, the cost of goods and services have been affected and soared to higher prices. Due to the huge increase in oil prices, I think it's a great idea for 5% of all gasoline sold in Ontario to contain ethanol because it is predicted to bring the cost of gasoline prices down. Having the prices of gasoline to be brought down will decrease the price for other products/services because gas/oil is usually required in the production of a service/product (for example, the transport of a product from the factory to a market will require fuel). Furthermore, more job opportunities will be created because of the use of ethanol. Thus I think this approval will be a benefit to many. However, even though the use of ethanol is introduced, there are still many problems unsolved and questions to be asked. Will ethanol really solve the problem to the increase of oil prices? Is oil becoming a scarce resource? And is our everday economics controlled by the price of oil?