The Citizen, 2010-02-18, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010. PAGE 5.
Bonnie
Gropp
TThhee sshhoorrtt ooff iitt
There is a way to make a lot
of money in the market;
Unfortunately it is the same way
to lose a lot of money in the market.
– Peter Passell and Leonard Rose
When it comes to risking money I am
a cautious man. I don’t bet on the
ponies and I don’t play poker.
Crap games? Not likely.
Lottery tickets? Do I look like that big a
fool?
And I certainly don’t dabble in the market.
Nope, I play my financial cards close to my
vest and I pinch my nickels until the beavers
squeal.
Mind you there was a time when I was
tempted to take a flyer. The lure was dat ole
debbil temptress, gold.
I was young, employed and had some
shekels to spare and decided it might not be a
bad time to buy a few ounces.
But then good sense prevailed. Surely it
would be better to wait a few weeks until the
price of the commodity came down. After all,
$35 was an outrageous price to pay for an
ounce of gold.
That was then – 1965 or thereabouts. As I
type, the price of gold is cresting well above
$1,000 an ounce.
If I’d had the foresight to borrow, say 10
grand back in the 60s and sink it into gold
stocks…well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be
typing these words, I’d have hired someone to
do it for me.
Someone like, oh, say, my financial advisor.
Yeah, and if wishes were horses I’d be riding
in Cinderella’s coach behind 12 matched
Lipizzaner stallions.
I could (if I had the wherewithal) always
climb aboard the bullion buggy this afternoon
but I don’t have the nerve. Gold may be a
heavy metal but it’s still too flighty for me.
So what else – energy stocks? Crude oil,
perhaps?
Yeah, right. In the past 10 years oil’s gone
from under $20 a barrel to over a hundred.
What is it this morning – sixty? Eighty? Forty?
I’ll pass on the petroleum roller coaster,
thanks.
Same thing with soybean and pork belly
futures – way too risky.
Nope, if I was a gambling man I’d shun the
soft yellow lure of gold for something darker
and softer. Like chocolate.
Seriously. Gold had a good decade
but chocolate had a better one, posting a
288 per cent profit between 2000 and
2010.
But guess what commodity did the best of
all – better than gold, silver, platinum – or
chocolate – over the past 10 years.
The cigarette. Yep, the most profitable stock
market investment turns out to be the lowly
gasper. Which is ironic, considering that over
the last 10 years, most western countries have
banned smoking in bars, restaurants and public
spaces.
Truth is, tobacco floggers couldn’t care less,
because they’ve found some new suckers for
the drug they peddle. According to Patrick
Collinson, investment columnist for The
Guardian newspaper, cigarette manufacturers
more than made up for lost markets in the west
with fast-growing sales in countries like
Nigeria and Pakistan.
Nice, huh? Of the two most popular
commodities we produce, one rots your teeth
and the other rots your lungs.
But you don’t have to compromise your
morals by investing in anything as foul as
tobacco. I’ve got another hot tip for you: beer.
Sure. Suppose you had $1,000 and invested
it one year ago in Delta Air Lines stock. You
would have about $50 today.
If you’d invested your grand in American
International Group Inc. (AIG) a year ago,
you’d have $33 today.
Could be worse. A thousand-dollar
investment in Lehman Brothers or Enron
would leave you with exactly zero in your
current bank account.
On the other hand if you’d bought a
thousand bucks worth of beer this time last
year, drank all the beer and turned the cans in
for the recycling refund you’d have $214, give
or take a buck.
That’s more than enough to purchase a nice
wheelbarrow to chauffeur your liver
around.
All kidding aside, you don’t want to take any
investment advice from me. Not only am I a
chickenbleep when it comes to gambling, I’m
not terribly lucky either.
Although there was that one lucky streak I
had in Vegas a few years back.
Oh yeah, I remember it well. Drove into the
parking lot of the Sands Hotel behind the
wheel of my crummy five-year old Chevy
Malibu. After 24 hours at the tables I rode
home in style – tinted windows, designated
driver, the works.
In a brand new $150,000 Greyhound bus.
Arthur
Black
Other Views Er … what’s up, stock?
Isuppose it began on New Year's Eve, a night
so steeped in sameness that it had for me
become a little tired.
A group of friends gathered and predictably
as it had been for decades there was to be
dining out, followed by cards, noisemakers,
Auld Lang Syne then more cards.
But things change, even the most predictable,
and through a series of unique events there was
very little about this night’s party similar to any
of the past. So bizarre was it that the old year
faded into history without countdown or
sentiment. Stranger still the twists away from
normal continued the next day.
As a person who seeks significance even
where none might be I found myself in head-
shaking speculation over what was going on.
Was this a sign of some kind, was all this
change a reflection of what was in store for
2010?
And in the weeks that followed I did indeed
see some fairly notable changes, not the least of
which being my decision to say goodbye after
21 years at The Citizen.
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love
writing, but knowing that the likelihood I could
make a living penning fiction was wishful
thinking, I decided early on to try journalism. I
dreamed of travelling the globe on assignments,
rather an odd notion for a girl who got woefully
homesick at church camp.
So with that in mind, it’s not surprising that I
eventually opted instead for my children, my
home and work that would keep me close. But I
never lost the love I had for putting words
together to create a story or an image.
I was fortunate in 1989 that Keith Roulston
took a chance on me and hired me as a reporter.
I was equally fortunate that he had the patience
to teach me what I needed to know and then had
enough faith in me to name me editor a couple
of years later.
It’s been a job which for the most part I’ve
loved, with some lows, but generally highs,
including awards for my work. It’s introduced
me, not just to fascinating people who live in
this county, but to the county itself. Prior to
coming to The Citizen my version of west
stopped at Brussels. After, however, I was soon
familiar with exotic locales like St. Helens, St.
Augustine and Westfield.
Covering the news in our communities has
allowed me to meet a variety of people I never
would have otherwise. I have watched a vet
perform surgery, mingled with CAOs and
politicians, chatted with musicians and actors. I
have attended galas, been treated to delicious
meals and enjoyed the best seats in the house.
It was an honour to have been invited into
peoples’ homes and listen to their stories. The
many folks I met exemplify the talent, spirit and
intelligence that exists here.
It has been my pleasure to bring the news to
our readers, and I am grateful to the people who
helped me do that. From the former councils
and administrations of Brussels and Blyth to
North Huron and county council today I extend
my appreciation for the work you do and the
manner in which you do it. Anyone who took
the time to attend a meeting would see that you
do not make decisions lightly.
My decision to leave also was not made
lightly. But change is inevitable and often for
the good. In life we keep moving.
I extend my best and my thanks to the folks
who work so hard to bring you The Citizen. I
have been blessed to work with people who
have become my friends, or in Tiny and Joan’s
case, my angels, and I hope that we can
continue that friendship as I move on to my new
challenge.
Cabinet shuffling hurting Liberals
On the move
P remier Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet
shuffle last month was nowhere near
the biggest ever, but ripples from it
continue and harm his chances of re-election.
The Liberal premier in what many saw as
assembling his team for the 2011 vote,
dropped three ministers, brought in four new
ones and switched seven to different
posts, a sizeable shuffle, although far from a
record.
The main concerns initially were that he
downgraded aboriginal affairs by placing them
under an already stretched attorney general,
and education, by moving a reform-minded
minister to transportation. But others have
developed quickly.
An unusual number of backbenchers
McGuinty passed over have shown resentment
publicly. Anytime a premier changes cabinet,
some left out feel disappointed, but usually
suppress their feelings. They accept a premier
has only a limited number of posts to fill, or
that others have stronger claims or represent
bigger population areas that must be
represented in cabinet.
But mostly they fear protesting publicly
would ruin their chances in future
shuffles.
A few have complained openly over the
years, including a Progressive Conservative,
John Smith, who in the 1970s urged his
Hamilton constituents to write to premier
William Davis saying he should be in cabinet,
and soon was, although it never was proven
the letters motivated the premier.
Backbenchers under McGuinty generally
have been fairly docile and suppressed
personal disagreements to save their
government from appearing disunited and
their own seats.
But there have been notable exceptions since
the shuffle. Dave Levac, who has shown much
above average abilities representing Brantford
in the legislature for a decade and could easily
be in the cabinet on merit, said openly he was
disappointed at being passed over again.
Levac has a place in history for, as an
opposition MPP, sneaking into Toronto’s Don
Jail, which most people are happy to stay out
of, and publicizing its appallingly
overcrowded conditions for prisoners, which
helped his party, although it still has not
fulfilled its promises to improve them.
Levac said he would have been glad to be
offered any ministry. But his riding is close to
Hamilton, Kitchener and London, all of
which have many more voters and
therefore ministers. He added he recognized
McGuinty had difficulties choosing and will
soldier on.
Kevin Daniel Flynn, who has effectively
chaired an MPPs’ committee that collected
explosive information on mental health, was
said by a colleague to be extremely
disappointed at being passed over and among
several Liberal MPPs to be considering
running municipally.
Mario Sergio, an MPP for 15 years, who
speaks rarely, but is respected when he does,
expressed a different concern, never raised
publicly before, that often is inherent in
cabinet changes.
Sergio had been parliamentary assistant to
municipal affairs and housing minister Jim
Watson, who left cabinet in the shuffle, and
pointed out he gained useful insights into that
area that were wasted when McGuinty
suddenly switched him to assistant in
community safety.
Sergio said he was ticked off and wrote to
McGuinty. He received a letter from an aide to
the premier rebuking him for putting his
disagreement on paper.
Sergio, who previously had never been
known to utter oaths stronger than “Goodness
gracious,” asked “Why the hell would they do
this?”
He also said unelected advisers have
virtually cut off communication between
McGuinty and his MPPs and left him isolated.
And other backbench Liberals know this, but
will not speak up, because they still hope to be
named to cabinet.
Some Liberal backbenchers have been
encouraged to complain anonymously that
McGuinty did not ask them before taking
momentous decisions to harmonize the
province’s sales tax with federal taxes and
subsidize a foreign consortium to build
billions of dollars worth of green energy
infrastructure here, which opposition parties
and many in the public are criticizing.
The shuffle has exposed large-scale
disagreement and discontent in the Liberal
government. If it was a family it would be
seeking marriage counselling, which is not an
image it wants leading up to an election.
Eric
Dowd
FFrroomm
QQuueeeenn’’ss PPaarrkk
The man who complains about the way the
ball bounces is likely the one who dropped
it.
– Lou Holtz
Final Thought