Well dear readers, it has been a very relaxing summer, so far. The Thinking About Thinking project has hit a very rich vein. The Oracle of Ottawa has been pursuing it with all his vigor. But computer administration calls for a round of slight attention. It was in the deepest dog days of summer that it was announced by Bell Media that the "pay wall" to the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper was going up! It appears that they no longer like being the most visited news site in Canada!
Another brand pissed away by Bell...
Now, anyone that knows about such things, can readily tell you that the Globe and Mail is still 85% owned by the Thompson family and 15% owned by Bell. Why these people are so rich that they could bar all advertising on the web site and the hard copy newspaper and give it away as a free daily and still make a ton of money from it! Influence is all rather priceless isn't it? Yes indeed.
Enough is enough. The Oracle of Ottawa is damned if he is going to pay to read the news on the internet! A substitute for the daily spot that the Globe and Mail held in my daily rotation was very easy to fill.Yes, dear reader, the Oracle of Ottawa has substituted in the main news page of Canada's "state broadcaster" the good old CBC! There will never be a pay wall at the good old "state broadcaster" and I must say, they have certainly been trying harder with the use of my tax dollars and their site is a whole lot better in every respect than the tired Globe and Mail. And, of course, the pleasure of fucking Bell one more time is rather, well, priceless! And the Thompson family should remember the good advice of old Roy or Lord Thompson of Fleet; you must be really really careful who you hang out with....
It is the Oracle of Ottawa's fondest wish and hope that all my fellow Canadians do the same! And while we are at it, let us help the good old CBC make up the recent 'Harper Government' budget cuts by making sure that upon each and every free visit to the CBC news site that you click on all the ads! At least once! And unlike the ads at the Globe and Mail they will not load malware and spybots into your computer,(it was all so bad, that adblock plus had be permanently deployed...) and your browser will not crash! Happy surfing!
But a waterfall cannot be created by capital out of itself. Karl Marx, Das Kapital , Buch III, Chapter XXXVIII, Differential Rent: General Remarks, p. 646
As do many Canadians, I always look forward to the last Friday of the month, for the Report on Business magazine that is inserted in the Globe & Mail newspaper. As the economy is coming back like a bandit, the good ole mag has begun to return to its former girth and pith. There is usually one great story that is read from front to back and read again later and enjoyed even more. This month was no exception, Quiet Revolution was a fascinating read. The design of the opening, with the picture of Monique Leroux, in her best Sunday muffin suit, posed as a worrying Joan of Arc, give me a warm fuzzy feeling all over... just like wetting my pants. The Fart Catcher communications type must have billed a fortune for this exemplary bit of propaganda!
Of course there was the sad part, the well written "box" on Alphonse Desjardins brought forth a tear, in that I have realized again how another great institution has failed me. And it will never return. There was much about the present managements awesomeness in its new acquisition of Western Financial out West. And its heroic rise from a near demise with the brush of Asset Backed Commercial Paper. It is all so amazing, that this story was in the Globe & Mail Magazine, just now? Then I realized that the story was "planted" to help along a hostile takeover...engineered by a the best top flight Fart Catching firm money could buy.. And another tear as I realized that yet another institution, two in one day, has let me down.
I roll in my grave, tabernack!!
I had dealt with Desjardins for decades. Back in the old days, it was great! It was the place to go. It was tradition, it was justice, and above all it was value! The manager back then was a hell of a guy, tabber-wet! He knew his business, mode-zey! We talked stocks alot. He put together a small fortune, as have I, by making our own decisions. Great days. But he retired, as he well deserved to. Then the marketing guys stepped in and dropped all the old Catholic names from the branch's. I felt at the time that this was a red flag, I was early and in the end, right again! My branch was the Ste-Genevieve, and I remember the first night in my own home that I got down on my knees to thank her for being able to own my own home, finally. The Caisse Populaire is not another bank...
Then the long slow downhill slide. At this time the quality of the management began to head south. The institution cut it ties with the past. The Death Wish marketing set in. I knew then that it was all down hill from here. The final straw came at the time of my last mortgage renewal. I had a very reasonably priced mortgage insurance on the mortgage. I asked that that it remain on the remaining balance. At this time I was very near the end of the mortgage. But as I was paying the mortgage, I began to notice that the balance was not going down as fast as I expected... That was because the Haitian SLUT! princess slipped in a full life insurance policy and a disability policy! I was paying near $200.00 a month for insurance on a risk that I didn't have any more! How perfidious is that? How scummy, how slimey, how low is that? It will never be forgiven!!
Caisse-Populiare in Toronto, Ontario
At this time I began to notice certain ethnic types (Jamicans, Haitians) not resident of my "Hood" in the branch with freaking fist fulls of large denomination, but dirty cash, I am talking well in excess of, or very nearly, in the
ball park of ten grand...This raised not a flutter from the Haitian princess....The same loud skanky bitch's with amounts of money in hand that made no sense at all. And the guy from the armoured courier, walking in with that puzzled look, as he drops off another Bank of Canada wrapped (new bills) brick of 50's! ($250,000) Yes someone should know about this... CSIS was informed from a public payphone....(Yes, justice is very cheap.. you just gotta know how...)
Well it was at this time that I decided for my own personal safety, reputation and good name to terminate my relationship with this once fine institution by paying off the mortgage, never to return. To all you poor suckers that are being finely and properly served by Western Financial I wish you all the best. You are, if this hostile takeover goes through, in for an awakening most rude... But, as in most tragedies, this one too has a silver lining, You see the Caisse offered $4.40 a share for Western Financial, I bought a shit load of the stock years ago at a $1.00! And the branch has a new manager! I got a nice letter from him recently, hoping that we could "talk" sometime, signed; Ramjam Mohammed bin Shazaar... Selah....
