Life Stories

We all want our story to be told and we all want to be remembered. As part of the 50th high school reunion, we were asked to tell our stories and about 75 people did so. I found this interesting because in our 1965 yearbook we asked people to put in a baby picture and about 50 people did. 

I submitted my biography to the 50th reunion committee, not because I wanted to write my own biography, but because I was curious to see what others had made of their lives and how they told their stories. The published stories came in last week and I am still working through them. They are all interesting and say a great deal about the people who wrote them. 

The story of our life, or our life story, is the narrative you tell in response to requests such as "tell us what you have done since high school", or "what you want to be written in you obituary".  If you think about your story as a narrative you would focus on three things. 

The first depends on what you want the people you know to take from your story You will most probably not say the same things your family or friends as you might to colleagues.

The second is the amount of space you have, in most cases we are limited by space. There is always much more to tell to any one person or group than time and space permits; you say what you think others are willing to listen to about you. In the end, most of us never really tell our whole story - not even to ourselves. 

The third is/should be the do we look at the whole picture. Most of us never really look at our whole live story from beginning to end and all the pieces in the middle in any one sitting. 

So we really never pay attention to what we say about ourselves. We never pay attention to how and why we have woven our story together the way we do. So we miss out on the chance to tie the narrative of our lives together into a cohesive whole.  Sometimes we don’t even pay attention to what we say to see if it is really true. 

I found the process of writing a short biography challenging and interesting. We all have a story to tell; take some time and start writing your story down. Your family and friends will thank you for this special gift you give them.

Mandatory savings are best for pension savings

A new Fraser Institute report raises serious questions about the accuracy of the Ontario government’s claim that a new provincial pension plan, intended as a supplement or alternative to restructuring and expanding the Canada Pension Plan, is needed because of a savings shortfall among retiring Ontarians.

Increasing government-run mandatory retirement savings programs could lead to less voluntary saving, with no overall impact on how much Canadians have to fund their elder years, according to a new study from the Fraser Institute.

The study looked at savings rates in the late 1990s as mandatory contributions to the Canada Pension Plan began to rise, and into the first four years of the following decade.

The study found that with each percentage point increase in the total CPP contribution rate, the private savings of the average Canadian household dropped by 0.895 percentage points.

With each new percentage point of earnings mandated for contribution, the report finds, there was a “substitution effect,” namely a 0.895 per cent drop in voluntary savings. In other words, an additional dollar contributed to the CPP led to a decrease of 89 cents in the average household’s private savings. Therefore, the argument is that we should not increase contributions to the CPP or have any new government run Pension Plans.

However, the employer would match an increase in CPP and the new Ontario plan would have the employer match the employees’ contribution. Therefore, in the end, the worker has more money for savings. The other argument against the increase of CPP and the Ontario Pension plan appears to be that the drop in savings by the consumer is coming at the expense of private pension plans, although no evidence is presented to support that view.

The income effect has also not been taken into account in the calculations done in the study. The income effect is the idea that as income for an individual rises they will spend and save more than they did when they had a lower income. Therefore, if income increases over time, the amount of money saved will increase over time.

I do not think it is correct to say that the amount of money saved by the individuals went down. The authors of the study appear to assume that money put into the Canada Pension plan is not savings. If we consider the money put into the Canada Pension as savings then the amount saved by the average worker went up .11% not down.

Behavioural Economics shows that voluntary savings programs do not work as effectively as mandatory savings programs. Studies show that when a voluntary program is put in place for retirement savings, most people do not sign up. In one study, enrolment of new employees reached 90 percent immediately when the program was mandated, whereas under the old opt-in approach it was only 20 percent after three months and only 65 percent after three years enrolled.

The Canada Pension Plan should be increased, as it is a mandated program, well run and well-funded.

As well, people should be educated on the fact that this program is a very important saving plan for them. Canadians are better prepared for retirement than we were in the past because of our existing programs of Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, the Guaranteed Income Supplement  as well as the Tax Free Savings Account program and the Registered Retirement Saving Program.

The study that shows that there was a decrease in overall savings because of increases in the Canada Pension Plan assumes that the money put into the Canada Pension Plan is not savings and that is not a realistic assumption.

More Poetry on Ageing

Feeling a bit whimsical today so here are a couple of more poems on ageing. Author still unknown 

Prayer for Senility:
God grant me the senility
to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference.

Don't Worry
At age 20 we worry about what others think of us;
At age 40 we don't care what they think of us;
At age 60 we realize that they haven't been thinking of us at all.

ABC's of Aging

A is for arthritis,
B is for bad back,
C is for the chest pains. Corned Beef? Cardiac?
D is for dental decay and decline,
E is for eyesight--can't read that top line.
F is for fissures and fluid retention
G is for gas (and not to forget other gastrointestinal glitches)
H is high blood pressure
I is for itches, and lots of incisions
J is for joints, that now fail to flex
L is for libido--what happened to sex?
Wait! I forgot about K!
K is for my knees that crack all the time 
M (But forgive me, I get a few lapses with my Memory from time to time)
N is for nerve (pinched) and neck (stiff) and neurosis
O is for osteo-for all the bones that crack
P is for prescriptions, that cost a small fortune
Q is for queasiness. Fatal or just the flu? Give me a pill I'll be good as new!
R is for reflux--one meal turns into two
S is for sleepless nights,counting fears on how to pay my medical bills!
T is for tinnitus--I hear bells in my ears and the word 'terminal' rings too near
U is for urinary and the difficulties that flow (or not)
V is for vertigo, as life spins by
W is worry, for pains yet unfound
X is for X ray--and what one might find
Y is for year (another one, I'm still alive).
Z is for zest For surviving the symptoms my body's deployed, And keeping twenty-six doctors gainfully employed.

Thanks to  Denny Davis for this author unknown poem 

Top Scandals of Christy Clark & the BC Liberal Party

Taken from Article in Huffington Post by Sarah Miller & Edited by Ken Kuhn http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/7658002

Health care firings (click on link for more detail)  Definitely one of the biggest scandals Clark and the Liberals have faced is the sudden and unjust firing of eight health ministry researchers with allegations of breach of privacy.  We were told for years that there was an investigation by the RCMP, which we all know now was a lie. The RCMP have never been provided the documents and paperwork to even start a probe. Everyone including the government's own top officials have been calling for a public inquiry, which Clark has refused so far.  If those nine weren't enough, here is a list of programs that have received cuts under the Liberal government: public education, health care, surgeries, domestic violence and outreach programs, income assistance programs, special needs assessments, family law services, legal aid, community outreach programs, diagnostic and rehabilitation services, parks budgets, environmental ministry, senior care and services, senior beds, mental health, addiction programs and services, student aid, PAC funding, annual facility grants to schools and programs for special need

YogaGate  (click on link for more detail)  Christy Clark decided to hold a yoga event on Burrard Street Bridge and shut down the bridge, at a cost of $150,000 to taxpayers, on a Sunday and also on National Aboriginal Day. There is an endless supply of beautiful parks, beaches and other areas that would have been a thousand times better. Corporate sponsors dropped out and then the whole thing was finally cancelled.

B.C. taxpayers lose $43 million in land deal (click on link)  Clark's government sold off 150 hectares of land in Port Coquitlam for $43 million BELOW the appraised value, all in the effort to make a quick buck to produce her "balanced budget" for the 2013/2014 fiscal year.

Child labour laws (click on link for more detail)  In 2003, the Liberals lowered the legal working age to 12 years old. On May 9, 2013, First Call released an eye-opening report on B.C.'s child labour laws showing staggering statistics. Click on the link to read the horrible injuries and disability claims to the BC working youth.

Christy's LNG fiasco (click on link for more detail)  For as long as Christy has been premier, we have been exposed to a never ending stream of LNG ads, commercials and promises. She touts LNG as the end-all solution for our province wiping out debt, generating income and creating thousands of jobs.  Christy recalled the B.C. Legislature this week to debate an unprecedented 25-year LNG agreement and pass legislation enabling the $36-billion deal with Pacific NorthWest LNG, a consortium led by Malaysian energy giant Petronas. The agreement would protect the business from tax increases made specifically to target the LNG industry.

Christy's ethnic vote plan (click on link for more detail)  In 2013, government documents were leaked regarding a plan to woo ethnic voters. Some of the strategies included apologizing to different ethnic groups for past wrongdoing, contributing more to ethnic news channels, and one direct quote stated "building political capital in ethnic communities by taking what will be perceived as thoughtful and caring actions."

Education crisis (click on link for more detail)  Clark's war on public education started when she stripped parts of teachers' contracts back when she was educational minister. Despite two courts finding those actions illegal, she continues to appeal, burning away taxpayer money to fund the whole fiasco, all because she feels teachers shouldn't have the right to bargain class size and composition in their contracts.  Clark also continues in Liberal footsteps by continuing to cut funding to public education while raising funding to private education. Across the province, boards are scrambling to balance their budgets cutting everything from teaching, library, vice principal and support positions to bus services, or what Mrs. Clark calls "low-hanging fruit."

Religious connections (click on link for more detail)  "Separation of church and state" is a value long in place to keep our government and religion apart for good reason. Clark however doesn't seem to agree with this concept given her most recent spending spree of $1 million public tax dollars to her church. Seems like an odd choice, especially so soon after announcing cuts to education and other public services that would stand to benefit the majority of citizens in this province.