Business Leaders Divided about Whether to Extend Infrastructure Spending Deadline Beyond March 31st; Great Doubt that Any Federal Government Can Do Much for Canada in Light of the Global Economy; Federal Politicians Much More Capable of Harming than Helping our Economy—Ignatieff More Capable of Causing Harm than Harper by 4:1
Gulf Oil Spill - Third in a Series BP and U.S. Government Both to Blame; BP Won’t Gain Much from Replacing CEO
Nobel Prize Economist Paul Krugman on Long Depression Rather than Great Depression—Neither, Says Business Panel; We’re in a Severe Recession
Provincial Deficits and Debt Loads: Cut Spending Across the Board, Privatize Some Healthcare Functions, Say CEOs and Business Leaders
G8 and G20 Hosting Gets Mixed Response Goals of Stronger World Economy, Isolating Iran, Better Bank Regulation, More Government Transparency, and Fighting Protectionism Are All Desirable, Says Business Panel. If Summit Goals Were Actually Achieved, the Price Tag Might Be Justified
Fox News North (Sun News) - It Will Win Large Share of the Panel’s TV Viewing But Is Unlikely to Influence Canadian Society as much as Fox News is Influencing the U.S.
China's Foxconn Scores Poorly with Business Leaders But Apple Won’t Suffer Fallout from Poor Conduct of Its Supplier; Foxconn’s Wage Hike - Forerunner of Wage Inflation
BP Gulf Disaster - BP and Obama Performed Badly; Gulf Fisheries and Tourism, Oil and Gas Developers in Sensitive Areas, BP, and White House Will All Bear the Brunt
G-8 and G-20 Agendas - Business Leaders Priorize Government Spending Prudence, Bank Transparency, and Stopping Iran Getting the Bomb
Oil Exploration Policy after the BP Disaster - Governments Caught between Environmental Pressure for Tougher Regulation and against Development vs. Ever Increasing World Demand and Unreliable Supply
The Economic Crisis in Greece: Part 2 of 2 - European Bailout Right Thing to Do But Greece Will Not Recover, Portugal and Spain Probably Next, and Canada’s Economy Stronger than U.K. or U.S.
The Economic Crisis in Greece: Part 1 of 2 Greece Unlikely to Recover Urban Turmoil and Violence Not the Main Economic Problem
Harper and Flaherty Score with their Opposition to a Special Bank Levy
Goldman Sachs Very Likely Guilty of Fraud, Say CEOs/Business Leaders on COMPAS Business Panel
Business Panel Concurs with Fraser Institute Report Saying Infrastructure Spending Did Little for the Economy; Panelists Reject Heavy Spending as Cure for Economy’s Ills, Attribute Harper Budget to Pressure from Public, G8, and Opposition Parties
Business Panel Agrees with White House Concern about Chinese Currency Manipulation, But This Is Perceived as Lesser among Beijing’s Sins
Housing Prices Expected to Continue Rising Because of Inflation Expectations with Hiccups Because of the HST
Opening Up the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) - Business Panel Backs Competition Commissioner But With Reservations
Harper-Flaherty Budget Earns Strong Scores Very Strong Praise for Canada’s Leadership in Lower Taxes and Abolition on Tariffs for Manufacturing Inputs; Concern about Longterm Debt; Division of Opinion about Whether Harper - Flaherty and Chretien - Martin Budgets Are Significantly Different
NL Premier Danny Williams Gets Business Panel Support; Williams’ Surgery in U.S. Seen as Less Hypocritical than Prime Minister Martin’s Use of Private Medicine in Canada; Support for Private Medicine Now Outpolls Government Healthcare Monopoly More than 3:1
Pre-Budget Advice to Flaherty: Less Worry about Deflation and Less Support for Spending, Top Spending Recommendations - Pensions/RSPs and National Debt Paydown; Top Cut Recommendation—the Environment
Charitable Giving: Divided Opinion about Corporate vs. Shareholder Responsibility and Proper Corporate Practices; Priority Should Go to Audited, Local, Child-oriented Charities
China: Google Controversy a Turning Point Large Majority of Business Panelists Perceive China as Mistreating Tibetan, Uyghur, and Falun Gong Minorities; Large Majority See Western Investments as Vulnerable to Arbitrary Chinese Legal System
Armed Forces: Widespread Support for C.D. Howe Recommendation That Employers Be Compensated for Disruption of Reservist Employees Leaving for Active Duty
Air Travel, Terrorism, and Inconvenience: Inconvenience to Rise, Especially in Cross-Border Flights; More than 80% Support Profiling of Passengers; 79% Support Bonded Travel Certificates; Increased Inconvenience May Be Less of a Threat to Air Travel in 2010 than Desire to Cut Costs
Chinese/Indians to Outperform Global Economy, U.S./Russians/Arabs to Underperform, Japan and W. Europe in Between