Good news/bad news scenario

Commentary by Joe McWilliams

Here we go – almost the end of another year. Time to reminisce, etc. etc. Now what exactly happened in 2008? Oh, we had a federal election, didn’t we? One that set a new record for low voter participation. The winner decided he’d try to crush the opposition by taking away their funding. They rebelled, formed a coalition and announced they’d defeat the government in a vote a mere seven weeks after the election. We’ll find out in a few weeks if we’re going to have to endure another federal election sometime soon. Chances are good any government is going to have to make nice with the opposition to stay in power. So be it. The other big story of the year was the economy. Oil dropped from $150 a barrel to under $50 in a few months. The forest products industry continued to shrink alarmingly, leading one to wonder both how demand for wood products could be so low – and on the other hand, how it could ever have been so high. And leading all that was the crisis in the financial services industry, leading to what they’re calling ‘The Credit Crunch.’ Regular folks are finding that the value of their retirement savings investments has suddenly dropped by 20 per cent or more. This is obviously not good news, but it has produced some decent humour. A retired gent of my acquaintance who has been living off the interest earned by his investments now cracks that the next time I see him he may be wearing a blue vest and saying, “Welcome to Wal-Mart.” “Freedom 75, here I come!” Other than that, it was a pretty good year – depending, of course, on how you look at it. Real estate prices slid – bad for sellers but good for buyers and also good, we hope, for property tax payers. Fewer trees will be cut down in northern Alberta this year. Bad for those whose jobs were affected – good for those who think too many trees are being cut down too fast anyway. Multi-billion dollar oilsands projects are put on hold – bad news for those who stand to make money from construction et al – but good in lots of other ways. Or did we not really mean it when we called for a slowdown in the pace of oilsands exploitation? How about the province’s announcement that five per cent of auto fuel will have to be bio-fuel? Good for farmers, one would think, to have another market. But certainly bad news for those who depend on inexpensive bread. It’s the same grain and food prices will go up. The poor will feel it the most. A multi-billion auto industry bailout – good news or bad news? Good news to those whose jobs will be saved. Bad news if it props up inefficient companies. “Sell ‘em off at 50 cents on the dollar and let somebody else build the cars,” says one coffee shop pundit. “We still need cars.” Fair point. merry Christmas and a happy New Year.