Jack Layton

I remember watching the winding down of the last election and seeing the camera on CBC of the inside of Jack Layton's Hotel room headquarters where he was watching the numbers roll in. Some time after it had become clear that he would gain a respectable second place the phone rang and he answered it with something to the effect of, Her Majesties Loyal Opposition. It was a candid and funny moment that characterized how many Canadians felt about Jack. They felt he was the kind of person they could sit down with, have a joke or chat with and he would listen and do something for their concerns. Jack Layton was a man who stood for his principles and stood for what he believed in, a quality often lost on politicians. It is a true shame that he never really got his chance to steer the course of the country, to lead us to a fairer and better Canada. He will be missed.

HP Touchpad Dead

Well one thing is certain no amount of advertising can replace the fact that your product isn't an i-pad. You can work as hard as you like and it still won't matter because all people are talking about is what color the new i-pad will be and what features the currently unannounced product will have. It's just hard to compete when your competitor's product has taken on a life of its own.  Of course HP and others got caught flat footed and still were only trying to catch up when the axe fell.  So long Touchpad, you made a valiant attempt to slay the dragon and failed. Will anyone else take up the challenge?  Can anyone sell a tablet that can beat the i-pad on price and features? Or will the also ran parade continue?

A Wakeup Call for the US? or Just another chance to press the snooze button?

It seems like the US is trying to blame everyone else for it's problem.  If American politicians could solve their debt problem with the same passion and vigor that they attacked the downgrade of American debt, there wouldn't be a debt problem. The basic answer is that American politicians are attacking the S&P because it's put the spotlight on them.  S&P has said it's not about the short term ability for the US to pay it's debts,  it's about the US ability to, in the long term, solve it's dependence on borrowing money.



One thing that has come out of all this is that S&P has been criticized for getting it wrong on subprime mortgages before when they rated them as AAA right up to the very end.  I guess I would say that maybe they're just being more realistic now and rating things as they see them rather than getting caught up in the hysteria or excitement of the moment as they did in the past.

Of course it's not as if the S&P is the only one calling the US government on the carpet for it's dependence on debt.  China, the US's largest creditor, has also criticized the US dependence on debt.  While the S&P downgrade is a problem, one would wonder what would happen if China suddenly pulled the plug and showed up to collect?