If you are concerned about making the payments on your credit card purchases in January, dear diary, keep in mind these two little facts: The Saskatchewan government is currently spending $1.8 million per day more than what it brings in and the Royal Bank of Canada is making $23 million per day for its top dogs, low dogs and shareholders.
Does that worry you? I know I don't know what to think about those numbers. So many big business types are now talking in terms of billions and trillions while I can't even wrap my head around a million.
And speaking of millions, Potash Corp. of Sask. gave up on 440 jobs, and the provincial government immediately dispatched what they refer to as their Rapid Response Team. What the heck is that? Didn't know they had a typhoon in Lanigan.
By the way, those people in Lanigan who don't have jobs now, remember, they still get two months of pay and by then they should be settled into Estevan where there are lots of jobs. In the meantime, I expect the potash companies will still make a few million in profit and the chief guy, who is apparently the highest paid dude in Saskatchewan, may not take much of a hit in the salary gut. He may lose a few million on the stock options side of things, but we won't have to hold a bake sale to help him out of the pinch. There are still the bonuses, shares and benefits. Plan A for the potash people here was to cling to status quo and see how things worked out over in Russia and Belarus. Well, now they have launched Plan B, which apparently is to move 1,100 employees out of the mine and place them under a bus. Oh well.
Speaking of money, it talks in every profession.
Did you not find it interesting that emergency doctors were suddenly found in Regina, but only after the pay scale was increased 13.7 per cent? We cannot kid ourselves folks, the medical world is very political, too. Pressure is applied on the payee when pressure is seen to be needed.
On to one other thing this week, and then I'll quit.
With the passing of Nelson Mandela, the world lost a champion. He laid out the map and set the route for Africa and peace. Now it's up to the African nations to follow the map. Any bets?
And while we're talking about peace, my vote for a Nobel prize goes to Malala Yousafzai, the young girl who took a bullet to the head because she wanted to go to school. She survived, recovered and is now speaking out, "not for myself, but for those without a voice," she told the United Nations assembly. As it was noted, it just takes one child, one teacher, one book, one pen to win. Quiet confidence and determination is her key.
Of course we have a fine example of that right here in Canada. Look who we have as our winning entry Justin Bieber, confident and determined, maybe not so quiet. Our Justin doesn't have to be quiet. While Malala talks about education, Justy is peeing in floor scrubber's buckets in hotel kitchens, bad mouthing past U.S. presidents and trashing $200,000 vanity vehicles just because he can.
I wonder if Justin knows anything about Malala?
OK, I know, just one more thing.
Our new Canadian polymer bills, you know, the ones you can't fold, crumple or crease? Ya, those bills, the Botox bills, I don't like them.
We used to refer to our credit cards as being the plastic money. Now we have plastic money as the plastic money.
If you would like to follow Park on Twitter we advise you to go out and get a life. You must have better things to do, like taking out the garbage or replacing a light bulb.
