As companies fell one by one, they tried all kinds of bonehead tactics, including suing themselves for damages. The once proud Citigroup self-destructed. Ultimately employees bore the brunt of the economic damage. Greed managed to prevail, of course, as Canada’s capital was held ransom by its transit union in the middle of winter, putting even more of the city’s lowest earners out of work.

Even countries failed. However, it appeared no one told Sweden there was an economic crisis (maybe fueled by the success of the Pirate Party?) while Latvia folded. Eventually the DOW recovered a bit – joy!

Technology may be speeding up our sharing of information, but we still like our embattled old newspapers. Not that it matters, since the only news agency worth following is the BBC, anyway.

Remember Illinois Governer Blagojevich? Let’s not even go there. Blackberry got a presidential endorsement worth over $50 million when President-elect Obama refused to part ways with his cherished device – forcing the CIA to build him a specially-secured unit.

Your privacy remains under siege, but no one seems to worry about the implications of airing their private life on the Internet. The prevailing view is that nothing is your fault anyway – in a particularly gross turn of events, an Ohio teen claimed he shot his parents because they took away his video game.

Facebook is constantly in the news. Your friends are worth less than whopper sandwiches – maybe we would value them more if they weren’t all illiterate.

A bunch of unlikely events happened this year. An African-American man became the 44th President of the United States (and he had his job cut out for him right away), and the Arizona Cardinals made it to the superbowl (although Pittsburgh won it, so all is well in the world). Even the Oscars were weak. While we were otherwise occupied, the monkeys tried to take over.

Not news anymore: The world continues to teeter at the edge of an energy abyss and the powers that be continue to squawk about the merits of the data used to arrive at climate change conclusions when we would be all better off if we started to explore green alternatives. We didn’t even trouble ourselves to write an article about Copenhagen – why bother wasting our breath. Even wind turbines are under seige. California is taking the lead in reducing automobile emissions – time will tell whether they are successful in guiding the rest of the world. I help out by cutting my own firewood from trees that are already dead; I’m a light-weight – real environmentalists use only the finest organic wood(!?). In the end it’s not about technology or one-off changes – creating a sustainable world is going to be hard work – we should start sooner rather than later. Look out for the resource land rush.

At least the spirit of discovery was strong. Using the omniscient Google Earth, scientists were not only able to find the garden of Eden, they were able to find the Lost City of Atlantis! (Although, they lost it again with some haste) Never doubt free information, and never question the wisdom of Wikipedia. Not only is Google leading the way in discovery, they’re leading the way in environmental stewardship by switching their lawn care to goats rather than gas-wasting lawnmowers.

The world continues to resist the magnificent western culture; India made waves once again for its anti-kissing stance… why don’t they want to be hyper-sexualized like us? I wonder if their teenagers spend most of their online time lookup up cosmetic surgery. Maybe they just hate long DVD introductions?

The golden age of Hollywood may be over, but Apple’s is just beginning as video gaming’s Renaissance continues. Sony wasn’t doing so well, and found itself trying to explain why we should care about its PlayStation console. The brave new world has us playing against each other online rather than in the same room.

Back to Obama – the man had some great ideas for improving world security and saving lots of money, and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his idealism. We’re hoping 2010 is the year he finally gains traction. How long will Obama cause jubilation everywhere he travels?

With all the coverage in sports, talk of respect and restructuring of the NHL points system (which must have cost Montreal the cup), no one noticed that Cuba’s government shuffled or that the United Kingdom was thinking about letting Catholics reign as monarchs. Wait a minute stop the presses – Michael Jackson died, nothing else matters!

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photo credit: ccwen7

Trying to identify the exact point where you’ve peaked and begun to decline is easy in hindsight but impossible while you’re living it. There is a lot of talk about the end of the recession, but the actual recovery seems to differ from region to region. Kind of like peak oil, it will be many years before we will be totally sure when we really got out.

A fine mess the western world has gotten itself into. With so many nations failing (or on the brink), we are seeing a massive and long overdue shift of wealth and power. The culture of entitlement we have lived for so long may yet come to an end. If that sounds like a “power to the people” type of sentiment, it isn’t. The world as we know it may very well be coming to an end.

The BBC has a fascinating article discussing the End of the Western Economic Era, where it is suggested that the once almighty United States will soon find itself in a position of power-sharing with its Eastern brethren. China is not a sinister force, its rise to power comes from taking on a western role in its approach to finances.

It’s impossible to say for certain right now even though the situation will be clear as day in just a decade from now. American power has either waned in he face of economic crisis or it remains intact. Either we are reverting to a cash society with great emphasis on frugality and saving or we are not. Regardless of what those answers may be, the world of our children will be far different from the world of our parents.

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As we try to bring sustainable resources online, we will increasingly run into resource limits that will prevent us from building infrastructure. For example, solar cells require petroleum-based plastic but we’re running into the limit of our capacity to pump oil; we use natural gas to pump more oil but we are running out of that too (incidentally, many of us need natural gas in order to heat our homes in the winter!); we switch to water to increase the pressure of the oil but now it takes more energy to refine the oil while in the meantime we are running out of freshwater to drink. Resource chains like this will be present in all aspects of the ultimate solution.

Oasys Water has a promising solution for extracting drinkable water from the world’s oceans. The company has raised $10 million in venture capital to develop its desalinization technology that promises to greatly reduce electricity and fuel demands thus making it economical to purify ocean water for regular applications.

Expect to see more forward-thinking like this as the energy crunch worsens. Technology alone won’t help us with our resource problems, but when combined with conservation and awareness there is hope for a better future.

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I was on a bus today with my buddy and after a few minutes we’d both downloaded apps for our iPhones after seeing it demoed by the other guy.  This made me realise how clever the apple system is – digital distribution, not really fully adopted by most companies, is a key part of apple’s entire business model.  Just look at iTunes and the app store.  In only minutes you can spend money, sometimes only a dollar at a time, and be rewarded with a new software.  I myself, being cheap, have only downloaded the free ones, but imagine how quickly bills can get run up for the pay-to-use software. 

The Nintendo Wii is another perfect example of digital distribution.  They have a large catalogue of games from past system available for generally 5-15 USD; I’d imagine these are cheap to port over, and then relatively free to sell on their existing virtual console network.  That’s practically pure profit.  Naturally I thought, what if Apple did gaming?  How would they approach it?

The Apple iPhone is such an amazing piece of tech – for me it completely reinvented how you use a phone.  Since I purchased it, I’ve used it on a daily basis for e-mail, texting, internet surfing, gathering news, and even gaming.  I hardly ever even use it for the phone.  But think about the market the iPhone has; it already has a gaming base developping in its platform.

If it transferred this to a dedicated console, what would it be like?  Apple has already proven how they can rethink existing markets.  Touchscreens?  Tilting controllers?  Motion sensors?  These are in the iPhone already.  Imagine a console that integrates Apple’s computing systems and software, with the genius of iPhone’s technologies, and combine it with more iTunes distribution.  You could have a real machine on your hands.  Not to mention the ‘niche cool’ factor that Apple has going for them. 

So come on apple, make the iGame.

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There is a somewhat interesting debate over the practically of ‘greener’ cars.  Seems it would safe to expect an addition $1000-5000 price tag on new vehicles, which would seriously hurt struggling manufacturers in the United States (who could then be undercut by European companies).   Beyond that, scientists aren’t even sure if the technology can be applied in practical manners.

Have a look.

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Your credit worthiness lives and breaths by your FICO score (named for Fair Isaac and Company, which was the first credit scoring company). FICO is a rating between 0 and 1000 that represents a risk calculation of how likely you are to repay debt. Your history is your destiny – apparently users with a lower score are much more likely to default on loans whereas people with higher scores have proven themselves as more reliable.

It is important to know what a credit score is, and what it isn’t. The methods used to calculate FICO scores are constantly being refined, and are intended only as a guideline to give lenders an indication of your success dealing with credit in the past. That said, these factors contribute to your credit score:

Length of History
The age of your credit accounts reflects on your score. If the majority of your accounts are fairly recent (less than seven years old), your score will be lower because you have less usage history for the credit bureaus to consider. This metric is generally out of your control – as time goes this will gradually be less of a drag on your score.

Payment History
This is critical – every account tracks how many payments were late by 30, 60 and 90 days. This is the biggest way to affect your credit score – a single missed payment can increase your perceived risk to lenders. There is talk about ignoring a single late payment which may act as a bit of a safety net for otherwise reliable spenders who are having trouble in today’s difficult economic climate.

Attempts to Get Credit
Every time someone makes an inquiry into your credit score, your score is lowered by several points. Applying for many credit products in a short amount of time will cause your score to fall through the floor and may disqualify you from getting more credit. This is because multiple inquiries are seen as a sign of desperation, which is unattractive to lenders.

Balance Ratio
The amount owing on your various accounts is reported monthly and affects your credit score. If your balance is close to the edge of your limit, your score will be negatively impacted. If paying off your credit accounts is not an option, aim to keep your balance down to 30% of the limit.

The Way Forward
The way in which you manage your finances has a tangible effect on your credit worthiness not just in the short term, but for years to come. If you haven’t already done so, learn how to manage your finances in such a way that your bills are always paid on time. Saving an emergency fund equal to 3 months’ living expenses may be difficult, but is a perfect way to rid yourself of dependence on credit products and the credit score game.

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I don’t mean to sensationalize this -http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/18/business/views19.1-409081.php. If I may attempt to make the distinction, the company is not breaking apart – it is shedding its more debt-ridden and unprofitable assets.

The good news: the panic seems to have subsided. Banks are starting to back away from their foolhardy debt holdings and taking responsibility for their spending fallacies. This gives me hope that we will start to see a cleanup of this financial mess.

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It’s a tough market and the consumer and electronic goods they sell have thin profit margins. Next time you go to Best Buy and get offered $70 insurance for your $50 iPod Nano, don’t be insulted: be glad you’ve been given a chance to help a struggling organization survive.

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So maybe someone can explain to me why seniority plays such a large role in advancement among workplaces that are unionized? It strikes me as natural that someone who has been working at their job longer than another person would possess more wisdom and a higher technical ability and thus earn their promotion, all things being equal. It blows my mind that someone could feel they are entitled to greater job security or a higher position on account that they have been keeping the chair warm longer. Work harder, contribute more, reap the rewards.

Right now I am looking at the Ottawa transit strike (now in its 36th day) with a great deal of disgust. The exact details of the strike have been so spun by the PR machines by this point that many of Canada’s Capital City’s citizens don’t care anymore. Apparently it isn’t about money, it’s about some vague notion that bus operators should be able to choose their working hours based upon their seniority in the company.

Unions have grown too powerful when they are able to hold an entire city at ransom because of disagreements in technicalities in their bargaining agreements. In their early history unions were not the big business they are today, they were groups of workers who self-organized to fight for their rights and dignity – safer working conditions so they could go home to their families at the end of the day, and enough money to put food on the table when they got there. Union organizers were frequent targets of physical assault and violence; they did not enjoy the legal protection and business status their contemporaries do today.

Before we start clamoring for unions to be dismantled and denied the legal protection they have gained, consider the economic times in which we live. As more businesses strive to save money they will make demands for more concessions upon the non-unionized workforce that they couldn’t get away with if their workers were organized.

Maybe unions are dragging down our nation’s employers and making the environment worse. Maybe the opposite is true – maybe unions protect the earnings of all workers by making managers more considerate of their staff. Whatever the case, we are ill-suited to move forward with a strong bias either way: workers and employers don’t live in separate spheres. The interests of those who provide work is equally as important as the interest of those who perform the labour needed to oil the economic machine.

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