14 Things Successful People Do On Weekends

Forbes.com:

Spencer Rascoff is only 37. Yet the Harvard grad and father of three has already accomplished so much.

“My weekends are an important time to unplug from the day-to-day and get a chance to think more deeply about my company and my industry,” Rascoff says. “Even when I’m technically not working, I’m always processing in the background and thinking about the company. Weekends are a great chance to reflect and be more introspective about bigger issues.”

He says he always spends weekends with his family. “Even if I’m on the road on a Friday and have to be back in that same city the following week, I always come home no matter what.”

14 Things Successful People Do On Weekends.

Canadians spending more on taxes than basic needs, says report

| Globalnews.ca

According to a new study from the Fraser Institute, Canadians are paying more to the tax man than they are on basic necessities. The Fraser Institute study says that in 2013, the average Canadian family earned $77,381 and paid $32,369 in total taxes – or 41.8 per cent of income – compared with 36.1 per cent for food, shelter and clothing combined.Canadians spending more on taxes than basic needs, says report | Globalnews.ca.

Current inflation is killing off the Canadian middle class

An Analysis by Don Pittis – Business – CBC News

This week, new figures from Statistics Canada show annual inflation hit 2.4 per cent. That’s up from 2.3 per cent last month, the ninth month in a row of a rising inflation rate. And while the things you buy are more than two per cent dearer (three per cent if you live in Ontario) than they were a year ago, wages have not been keeping pace.

• ​Over the same period, StatsCan data shows that Canadian wages rose only 1.9 per cent. In Ontario, where prices were up three per cent, wages rose a mere 0.7 per cent. That means if you live in Ontario and spend what you earn, you are effectively 2.3 per cent poorer than you were only one year ago.
• Current inflation is killing off the Canadian middle class: Don Pittis – Business – CBC News.

Related:

• Inflation in Canada rises to 2.4% in June
• Middle-class Canadians: Just how stretched are you?

Never mind Ontario’s debt: Have you looked at your own?

– The Globe and Mail

Moody’s Investors Service changed its outlook to negative last week on Ontario’s credit rating. The rationale: Higher-than-expected deficits are projected for the next two years, along with weak growth. The same could be said of finances in a lot of households across the country.

Never mind Ontario’s debt: Have you looked at your own? – The Globe and Mail.

Washington, D.C., Finally Bans Plastic Take-Out Containers

Bye-Bye, Styrofoam | TakePart

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council voted to ban the use of single-use disposable containers made from the material in restaurants and cafés. Styrofoam is the brand name of polystyrene foam, a plastic material that’s not biodegradable. Unless it’s completely clean—no food or drink residue at all—recyclers won’t accept it.

Thanks to pressure from environmental activists, dozens of municipalities across the country have banned Styrofoam over the past few years. San Francisco outlawed it in 2006, and last year Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed to make New York City free of it too.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States generated 32 million tons of plastic waste in 2012. Almost 14 million tons came from plastic containers and packaging, and nearly 7 million were nondurable goods like plates and cups. How much of that is Styrofoam? Well, the news is pretty dismal.

Bye-Bye, Styrofoam: Washington, D.C., Finally Bans Plastic Take-Out Containers | TakePart.

How Denmark’s welfare program has narrowed its wealth gap to one of the smallest in the world ….

The National Post | Financial Post

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — This is what it’s like to live in Denmark, a nation with a narrower wealth gap than almost anywhere else: You’ve been jobless for more than a year. You have no university degree, no advanced skills. You have to pay a mortgage. And your husband is nearing retirement.

Rich on a roll: Canada’s 1% are getting richer, but they’re earning it, OECD study shows

If you’re rich but would like to be richer then come to Canada.

That, in a nutshell, is one of the key findings of an OECD study that looks at the the richest 1% across the developed world and how they got their money.

You aren’t worried.

If you’re 51-year-old Lotte Geleff, who lost her job as an office clerk in January 2013, you know you’ll receive an unemployment benefit of 10,500 kroner (US$1,902) a month after taxes for up to two years. You’re part of a national system of free health care and education for everyone, job training, subsidized child care, a generous pension system and fuel subsidies and rent allowances for the elderly.

And high taxes.

Denmark’s sturdy social safety net helps explain why its wealth gap — the disparity between the richest citizens and everyone else — is second-smallest among the world’s 34 most developed economies, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, surpassed only by the much smaller economy of Slovenia.

Behind its slender wealth gap are factors ranging from the highest tax burden in the European Union to a system that helps laid-off workers find new jobs and re-training.

How Denmark’s welfare program has narrowed its wealth gap to one of the smallest in the world | Financial Post.

How rising housing prices are breeding a new form of inequality

The Globe and Mail

Treating the $990,000 asking price as a mere suggestion, the buyers would eventually pay $1.3-million for the house – a 53-per-cent premium over what it sold for just three years ago.

This is part of the new reality in frothy markets, such as Toronto and Vancouver, where an average home will set you back more than $1-million.

The Bank of Canada fretted last week, in its semi-annual review of the health of the financial system, about all the various risks that could cause the country’s housing market to unravel. Among them: rising long-term interest rates, a sharp rise in unemployment, a condo price crash in Toronto, and a Chinesebanking crisis.

How rising housing prices are breeding a new form of inequality – The Globe and Mail.

Private corporations helping widen inequality gulf: study

The Globe and Mail

Income inequality in Canada is more pronounced than previously believed, a new report reveals, because many of the country’s wealthiest people are funnelling their income through private companies that are not included in standard measures of individual earnings.

A study by three leading academics says Canada’s top 1 per cent ofincome earners took home an average of $500,200 in 2011 – including income from private corporations they control directly or indirectly through holding companies. That is 39 per cent more than the $359,000 figure calculated when traditional individual income tax data are used.

Private corporations helping widen inequality gulf: study – The Globe and Mail.

Ontario’s election ads: Profiling the leaders’ messages – Ontario Votes 2014

 Nil Köksal
 CBC News Toronto

Three leaders. Each a hard sell in his or her own way, each with a laundry list of unflattering customer reviews.

For voters, even if you’re not sold on what’s on offer, how the product is pitched can make a big impact on whether you’ll buy what they’re selling.

For politicians, ads are another level of reach. Beyond knocking on doors, staged town halls and photo-ops, advertising is the closest the party leaders will get to many voters. Ads can be crucial to success, and they can be campaign killers. Sometimes they fail (remember former Progressive Conservative prime minister Kim Campbell’s backfiring Chrétien ads?) sometimes they stick (recall the federal Conservatives’ “not a leader” Stéphane Dion spots?).

The goal is for the message to be crisp and memorable.

In this Ontario campaign leading up to the June 12 vote, we’re seeing tactics as varied as the leaders’ platforms, with three profiles emerging

Ontario’s election ads: Profiling the leaders’ messages – Ontario Votes 2014 – CBC.

Marissa’s moment of truth

 

Marissa’s moment of truth – May. 1, 2014.