In Canada they have a nice tradition they call Boxing Day. It is the day after Christmas and it is considered a national holiday. It allows families one more day to sit back and enjoy time with their families. It is also the kick off to the "Boxing Day" sales that usually last a week. No one can return or exchange gifts on that day as there are too many people taking advantage of the sales offered by the stores. Boxing Day is generally the best day for store sales in the entire year.

Boxing Day is just another sample of how Canada has approached problems in a slightly different way with greater success than the US. At least economically and socially.

The Canadians resolved their health care forty years ago. Today individual Canadians do not have to worry about the economic hardships a medical emergency can bring. They do not have to worry about losing their coverage if they move or change jobs. Companies do not have to worry about out of control costs to provide heath care insurance.

Long ago Canada looked at what happens to people when they retire and established TWO system to assist the retired. The first is the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) which works similar to Social Security and the second is called Old Age Security (OAS). Canadian pay into these plans and their companies match their payments. The CPP pays according to the amount you make during your work years the more you make the more your pension is. The OAS pays a set amount at age 65 regardless of your income over the years. Canadian governments foresaw the need to raise the rates years ago before the baby boomers began to retire and as a result both programs are fully funded until the middle of the century if not beyond.

The US could learn a lot from Canada. For its population Canada has made some major contributions to the world. In the arts we have provided some of the best actors, singers, and writers. To sports Canadians invented basketball and volleyball, made curling an international sport and of course are able to beat the Russian on a regular bases in hockey! The Canadian banking system is the strongest in the world. In industry Bell and RIM have lead the world in communications.

Yep the US could learn a lot from Canada, but most Americans couldn't even find the Canadian capital on a map. For that matter most wouldn't even know what is the capital's name! While you are figuring that out I will be enjoying Boxing Day!
 

I am sorry but Happy Holidays just does not cut it!

December the 25th is to celebrate the birth of one of the world's greatest prophets. You don't have to believe in him to celebrate his birth and to recognize his contribution to mankind. I don't knock other religions who celebrate the special people that contributed to their religion, so why should Christian have to change the way they celebrate their special day?

You don't have to be a Christian to wish someone a Merry Christmas and for those who want to forget that it Is Christmas that's your problem not mine, so to everyone out there MERRYCHRISTMAS!
 

It is this time of year where just about everyone is doing a review of the events of the past twelve months. I usually find this to be an interesting, but pointless review. There is not much we can do about the past, after all it is past. If we can learn something about the mistakes we have made then maybe there is a benefit, However, how many time do we hear the comment concerning making the same errors as we made in the past? What is that example about repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Do the House Republicans expect their popularity will improve if they keep stonewalling and fail to compromise? Does the government really think it can avoid inflation by continuing to print money to throw at the economic problems we are facing?

Looking forward it is not a very pretty future for the next few years. Currently one in four homes are underwater where people owe more than what their homes are worth. The housing decline has NOT bottomed out and it will be a generation before it climbs out of the problems it is facing. Europe is far from solving their problems. 2012 is an election year which means government is not going to really do anything as neither side wants to see the other side make inroads to popularity.

The only question for the near future is how far out the Republicans will be in picking their nominee for President. My bet is that they will go with Romney and he may win out, but Huntsman would win in a heart beat. At any rate the Republicans maybe the party that snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory with their choice.

It seems the only sure thing for 2012 is that gold and silver will be more valuable in Dec of 2012 than it is now.
 

I see that Paul is now the flavor of the week for Iowans. Personally I like Paul and some of the things he says make sense. However, when you listen to the whole package you end up saying "you got to be kidding"!

I keep wondering when Huntsman will have his turn at the top? If he ever does make it I doubt he will slip back like all the others.

I love the Republicans and how they twist the truth.

It took Bush EIGHT years to screw up the economy. He put us in a mess in Iraq for nearly seven years and now everything is Obama's fault????

They claim he has done nothing in the past three years! Pardon ME!

Lets take a look at the past three years. First the country has a much improved health care system covering far more citizens than before and improving every day. Then under Obama big business has seen nothing but profits for the past three years. Both GM and Chrysler are still with us and Ford has taken off since 2009. In the meantime he has followed through with withdrawing from Iraq and 18 of the top 20 terrorists that were walking around in 2009 are no longer with us. He was able to support the rebellion in Libya without the loss of a single American life!

In the meantime what have the Republicans done? Lets see they stone walled the passing of the health bill and now want to dismantle it. They messed around with the passing of funding our debt so long that we ended up with our credit being down graded. Now they want to tie all kinds of things to needed legislation to make the passing of said legislation almost impossible. What should take days takes weeks and what should be done in weeks takes months if at all to be passed in Congress.

The idea of compromise has been declared null and void.

So a guy who has simple answers to complex questions now takes the lead in Iowa. Problem is that the answers don't address the questions!
 

How daffy are the Republicans? Here they have the best opportunity to make a Democratic president of being a one term president since Carter and all they do is give the public more and more reasons to vote AGAINST them!

If things continue as they are we could not only see them not winning the Presidency but also get wipe out in Congress as well.

If voters take good look at Congress they will realize that it has been the House that has gummed up the works and who controls the house?
 

Well the world has lost a major clown, but the fear is that a clown could be better than no clown. I am of course referring to the death of North Korea's Kim Jong II. If his son replaces him then we are looking at a new "dynasty". We don't know much about the son but we do know the father was a worse leader than the grandfather and the grandfather gave use the Korean conflict.

Time will tell but if I was living in South Korea I would be worried....

I see that Newt is returning to the rest of the pack as the Republican faithful realize that he is no better than the other choices they have favored.

Romney continues to remain at the 25% level, which means 3 out of every 4 Republicans don't like him for whatever reason. Sooner or later they will eventually realize that Huntsman is their best choice if they want to defeat Obama. Only trouble is they may realize it after its too late to do anything about it. Huntsman has to do no worse than 3rd in New Hampshire to get any traction or hope to take the nomination. Don't count on it!

Why is it that the Republicans have to tie other things to doing what needs to be done? How is the Keystone approval going to make the need for an extension of the unemployment tax cut any better? By tying it to this bill the Republicans take the very big chance of killing the pipeline all together!

Meanwhile the Canadians are proceeding with a pipeline to the West Coast of Canada in order to fill orders from China. The only thing that killing the Keystone Pipeline will do will be to INCREASE the Canadian sales to CHINA!!

Yes the OIL sands do require more care in making the oil "clean". The source is not like the middle east oil, but Canada has spent more money and research into developing the source than all the other countries in the world. Here is a source located just north of the US equal to the total amount of middle east oil, in a country with similar values and traditions of the US and an long time ally of the US.

Having a major banana company ban the use of oil sands fuel sources is like having a pedophile speaking against a porno site. I for one will be getting my bananas from Dole for the foreseeable future!
 

Been thinking about all the things that point to 2012 as being a year for disasters. First the Mayan calendar runs out and people figure the Mayans thought that meant the end of the world, then sometime during 2012 the current bear market is going to collapse, and finally there is the 2012 election cycle.

Basically the Mayan calendar does on Dec. 21, 2012 is that it comes to an end. Just like every year Dec 31st marks the end of one cycle and Jan 1st is the beginning of another cycle. The Mayan cycle happens to be 5126 years long...

So the chances of earth running into a world disaster is pretty remote for 2012. However, we could be looking at an economic disaster in 2012 and we could top the year off by electing an individual that is a radical supported by the most extreme elements of American society.

Now that would be a disaster!
 

I see that Huntsman has moved up to third place in N H. Just maybe the Republicans are seeing the light and maybe the moderates do have a set and are finally willing to take on the extreme members of the party.

But, the real question remains to see if they can wrestle back control of their party.... Is it too late?

If the economy's for coming collapse manages to hold off untill after November even Huntsman will ave trouble defeating Obama, the sad part is even if the economy does collapse before the election only Huntsman will have a chance in winning.

The Republicans have set themselves up to be the fall guy, by their refusal to compromise.
 

I see that Huntsman has moved up to third place in N H. Just maybe the Republicans are seeing the light and maybe the moderates do have a set and are finally willing to take on the extreme members of the party.

But, the real question remains to see if they can wrestle back control of their party.... Is it too late?

If the economy's for coming collapse manages to hold off untill after November even Huntsman will ave trouble defeating Obama, the sad part is even if the economy does collapse before the election only Huntsman will have a chance in winning.

The Republicans have set themselves up to be the fall guy, by their refusal to compromise.
 

Noticed today an article written by a CNN writer that maybe Huntsman desires a second look. For the first time a major media outlet has taken a look at Huntsman and seen the positives in his candidacy.

Huntsman is Obama's biggest fear and the one individual most likely to defeat him. With Huntsman there is no downside, unlike ALL the other Republican hopefuls.

Its about time the media has caught up with the majority of voters who want a candidate that is not on the extreme end of the political spectrum!