oh canada

[DrBarani]

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I don't know what people want to show by picking on the US here (on a thread about Canada). What should not be lost is the natural and deep friendship between the two countries.

Much better than India and any of its neighbours I would say.

Deep Friendship between USA and its neighbours? Lets look at how much the Americans hate the Mexicans (hispanics)... it is far worse than Indians hating Pakistanis.

The only reasons US and Canada got along well are (a) Canada minds its own business (b) Canada is too cold for Americans to invade and mess around with.

I have personally lived in US for nearly two decades and I can vouch that American mindset is vastly different from any other on the planet. They believe in a "God given right" to wage wars and murder millions of people in other countries to "liberate them". They are certifiably insane.

 

[tbs]

hi K sir,
i have experiences in canada and usa too. i was in OTTAWA for more than 3 yrs and in usa more than a decade.....canada is carbon

copy of usa.....due to english/ white both are cousin brothers....but hispanics are treating different.......



regards
tbs

 

[subbudu1]

<edited>

 

[saidevo]

namaste.

Hope I am not marring the secular tone of the conversation in this thread with these links to the list of Hindu temples in Canada, in addition to the other attractions:

List of Hindu temples in Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canadian Tamil Hindu Temples
Hindu Temples of Canada - A Complete listing

 

[DrBarani]

<edited>

 

[zebra16]

Surely a person of your level of knowledge will know that absolute debt figures don't matter. What matters is debt as a percentage of the GDP.
Please refer to this Wikipedia entry: List of sovereign states by public debt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You will find that USA is number 36. India is not far behind at number 44.

Are you sure that quantum of debt does not matter? I think you are mistaken. The debt has to be returned with interest (coupon rate) whether or not you collect taxes to service the debt. (This is the problem with Greece and Portugal economies as on date in eurozone).

Debt as a percentage of GDP indicates only current year/short term capacity to service, not for the long tenor of 30 years treasury bills. Any shrinkage in GDP will keep pushing up the borrowing rate. That is why, Bernanke and his Greenspan were prepared to drop dollar bills from helicopter, if it would help US to ward off recession.

Regards,

narayan

 

[kunjuppu]

<edited>

?????

 

[kunjuppu]

namaste.

Hope I am not marring the secular tone of the conversation in this thread with these links to the list of Hindu temples in Canada, in addition to the other attractions:

List of Hindu temples in Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canadian Tamil Hindu Temples
Hindu Temples of Canada - A Complete listing

there are probably a lot more.

our sri lankan tamil cousins are very relilgious, and our iyer priests are very enterprising.

all it takes to open a temple, is to rent a shed, install a few idols, and have a kumbabhishekam. over time with increasing patronage, this goes on to become a full fledged agama temple.

the temple revolves around the priest, and the services provided are geared to tamil hinduism and tamil hindu customs like puppinitha neerattal (at the puberty time of a girl), thaippoosam kaavadi aattam etc. murugan and amman are usually the presiding deities, though siva and vishnu are not ignored.

jolly good!!

 

[kunjuppu]

we had an article in the usa with a piechart.

the usa spends 1 dolla for every 64 cents it collects. it collects more from individual income tax than corporate taxes.

it spends money almost equally on military medicaid medicare. and some more on the rest.

so there is a 33% debt, and due to low interest, the debt reliedf now is only about 14% (i think, i may be mistaken here).

my question is, i would be screwed if i run my family like that. sooner or later, i will have to declare bankruptcy.

the canadian dollar, which realistically should be around 80 usa cents, to afford us to sell goods to the usa, has been above par for past 6 months, hitting our exports to our biggest market. thanks to china, we are suviving. we sell only lumber and minerals (& water to the usa).

obama or bernanke can prime the presses and print more dolla bills. screw the creditors.

 

[saidevo]

shrI kunjuppu said in post #33:

all it takes to open a temple, is to rent a shed, install a few idols, and have a kumbabhishekam. over time with increasing patronage, this goes on to become a full fledged agama temple.

the temple revolves around the priest, and the services provided are geared to tamil hinduism and tamil hindu customs like puppinitha neerattal (at the puberty time of a girl), thaippoosam kaavadi aattam etc. murugan and amman are usually the presiding deities, though siva and vishnu are not ignored.

This seems to be sweeping, sarcastic generalization. Going by the Website links and such other information, I don't think the following temples fit the above description:

shrI VaidyanAtha svAmi temple:
Ottawa Sivan Temple-Hindu Temple

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|| B A P S Swaminarayan Sanstha ||

Vishva Shakti Durga Mandir
Vishva Shakti Durga Mandir (Temple) Association, Ottawa, ON

Vishnu Mandir Richmond Hill
Vishnu Mandir, Richmond Hill Toronto, Temple of Hindus & Hinduism

Sri Durka Hindu Temple
Entrance

Sri Katpaga Vinayagar Temple
Sri Katpaga Vinayagar Temple WebSite - Home Page

Hindu Mandir and Cultural Centre
Murtis

Sri Ayyappan Temple
Canada Sri Ayyappan Temple

There may be many other such temples listed in these links:
Hindu Temple Society of Canada RICHMOND HILL GANESHA TEMPLE 10865 Bayview Avenue
Sri Durka Hindu Temple (Thurkeswaram) in Toronto - Templeshindu.com - Hindu Temple, Hindu Temples, Hinduism

What is more important, IMHO, is the legacy of bhakti among the Hindu communities in Canada and other overseas countries rather than the requirement of Agamic conformation of the temples built there. There are several such 'modern' temples in Chennai that are impressive and very popular: for example, the SkandAshramam temple in Selaiyur, near Tambaram has gigantic mUrtis and conducts daily homam to Pratyankara Devi with abiShekam to Meru. Although there is no traditional gopuram, the temple follows the tradition in its daily rituals.
Chennai Om Sri Skandasramam

 

[kunjuppu]

sai,

you see only what you can google or listed. there are a few more unlisted. ok?

i am complementing the entrepreneurship of the priests, who have quickly jumped in, to fulfil a need. small business but usefull stuff to the community. we should admire these folks.

 

[ShivKC]

sh.kunjuppu, how about these things typical to canada.

Toilette pepper!

Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground

canadians are talkative.... so do kunjuppu

 

[tbs]

sh.kunjuppu, how about these things typical to canada.

Toilette pepper!

Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground

canadians are talkative.... so do kunjuppu

hi shiv,
another intesresting french lives in the middle of english.....Quebec is surrounded by Ontario....


regards
tbs

 

[ShivKC]

sir KJ

canada's popular chilled pick...someone said, ,Molson tastes like urine ! :smow:

don't tell me you havent tasted urine, so have no say..

generally, any memorable encounters with that?

 

[Nara]

we had an article in the usa with a piechart.

K, there are a lot of numbers that are thrown around with not much context. To add to the confusion late night comedians routinely joke about China coming and taking over the U.S.

Interestingly, China is only the third highest creditor. Social Security trust fund, which is an arm of the federal government itself, is the largest creditor, holding $2.6 trillion (19%) of the federal debt -- this debt is what the federal government has borrowed from itself, if you think this makes no sense, join the club.

The second largest creditor is U.S. Federal Reserve aka Fed (US Central Bank). Its share of the debt is $1.63 trillion (11.3%), much of this was the so called quantitative easing (printing money by way of computer keyboard). This is also government borrowing from itself. This is why the recent debt ceiling debate was a big sham -- the Fed could have simply write off this $1.63 trillion by another few keyboard strokes.

Third is China with $1.16 trillion (8%), less than the amount Fed created in an instant. If the Chinese come calling the Treasury could turn to the Fed and it can simply make money out of thin air and pay them off. What then? Where is China going to go? This is why China will never call the debt.

(For more details, google "Who owns US Debt")

This preoccupation with the federal debt is a distraction and obscures the real picture. We need to look at USA as a whole, and see the big picture. When we look this big picture, the overall assets and liabilities for the entire nation as a whole, the sky is certainly not falling down.

Let me present statistics taken from the most recent quarterly report Fed publishes. The numbers are in billion dollars.

[TABLE="class: grid, width: 545"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD] Assets[/TD]
[TD] Liabilities[/TD]
[TD] Net worth[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Households and Nonprofit Organizations[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]71,932.40[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]13,874.70[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]58,057.70[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Nonfarm Nonfinancial Corporate Business[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]28,195.70[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]13,508.70[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]14,687.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Nonfarm Nonfinancial Noncorporate[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]10,202.70
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]5,274.30
[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4,928.40[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]110,330.80[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]32,657.70[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]77,673.10[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



This is only a partial picture as the report does not include the assets and liabilities of farms, financial sectors, federal government, state & local governments, and foreign owners. One estimate puts the net worth of these entities at $51,477 billion as of 2008 -- see here for more details.

Adding the two, we get $129,150.10 billion as the overall net worth, yes net worth, i.e. Assets - Liabilities, of USA.

With the total assets standing at $176,049 billion, the entire federal debt can be wiped out in a single stroke if the government levies a one time tax of about 8% on assets. Of course, there is no need for it.

During the 1990s what seemed like a sea of red ink at that time turned into surplus as far as the eyes could see as the economy grew. When the economy turns around, not if but when, the deficit will be gone and debt will start to decline. Even if this does not come to pass soon enough, the overall economic condition is not what it is being made out to be.

A more important priority is to address the jobs crisis in the short run and the widening income and wealth gap in the long run.

Cheers!

 

[nachi naga]

gee nara thanks.

Between the two of us NN may do a better job as I think he believes in the stuff he writes about USA, I don't.

for me you taught me a thing or two about sri vaishnavism,vaishnavism.btw this is a compliment plz.

 

[biswa]

If anybody in the world finds US debt unpalatable, they have a very simple alternative. Don't buy it! Feel free to buy Indian debt or Japanese debt (Japan #1 debtor as percentage of GDP BTW).

There is a reason why US debt pays the lowest interest rate in the whole wide world. Because there are so many buyers, they can do it.

That's it, the markets have spoken! Everybody else, take a break!

 

[biswa]

Deep Friendship between USA and its neighbours? Lets look at how much the Americans hate the Mexicans (hispanics)... it is far worse than Indians hating Pakistanis.

Nope, not true (the last part). There is racial distrust between US & Mexico. But neither US nor Mexico send suicide bombers into the other country. I rest my case.

The only reasons US and Canada got along well are (a) Canada minds its own business (b) Canada is too cold for Americans to invade and mess around with.

This is true. Nobody in their right mind would invade Canada, just like nobody should invade Russia.

I have personally lived in US for nearly two decades and I can vouch that American mindset is vastly different from any other on the planet. They believe in a "God given right" to wage wars and murder millions of people in other countries to "liberate them". They are certifiably insane.

You are talking about Richard Nixon, George W Bush, Dick Cheney and right-wing warmongers. Thankfully that's not the whole country. Perhaps you have not witnessed the regular anti-war demonstrations and how George Bush's ranch got picketed.

Now an interesting foreign policy conundrum for you. Everyday Basher Assad is murdering 1000s of his fellow Syrians. The resistance is clamoring for international intervention to stop the genocide. Who are they looking for help to? Saudi Arabia, India or the US? Or the emasculated body called the UN?

 

[biswa]

Mr. Kunjuppu,

I am beginning to have doubts about your Canadian-ness. You didn't even mention hockey!

 

[DrBarani]

If anybody in the world finds US debt unpalatable, they have a very simple alternative. Don't buy it! Feel free to buy Indian debt or Japanese debt (Japan #1 debtor as percentage of GDP BTW).

There is a reason why US debt pays the lowest interest rate in the whole wide world. Because there are so many buyers, they can do it.

That's it, the markets have spoken! Everybody else, take a break!

That is a bogus claim. The major "buyer" of Treasuries is now the Federal Reserve Bank, not the average Joe. Federal Reserve Bank can pull dollars out of its {3 letters} by "expanding its balance sheet". Hence, it doesn't matter to it what interest it receives from the Government.

Treasuries still have value in the Bond market, not because of the interest rate, but as an inflation hedge. It is a matter of comparison between Treasury Bills and Dollar Bills. In terms of Inflation Dollar Bills LOSE value. Thererefore Treasuries are, so far, considered to be an inflation-hedge just like Gold, but not as a value creator. Hedging should not be misinterpreted as a LOVE for a financial instrument. It is merely an artefact of Liquidity.

 

[DrBarani]

But neither US nor Mexico send suicide bombers into the other country. I rest my case.

If they can also send B52 and MoABs they wouldn't resort to suicide bombs. Somehow emotional wordings seem to give people an impression that suicide bombing is prevalent, dangerous, lethal and caused enormous damage. In reality, dropping a daisy cutter from 40,000 feet and evaporating a whole village because "one suspect may be living there", is a monstrous crime against humanity.

You are talking about Richard Nixon, George W Bush, Dick Cheney and right-wing warmongers. Thankfully that's not the whole country. Perhaps you have not witnessed the regular anti-war demonstrations and how George Bush's ranch got picketed.

I am talking about all their voters. Cindy Sheehan couldn't even win a simple election in the most liberal San Francisco or Berkeley where she lives, and why does anyone think she represents a majority of Americans? In fact, she was arrested by the self-styled antiwar Barack Obama, not even George Bush!

Now an interesting foreign policy conundrum for you. Everyday Basher Assad is murdering 1000s of his fellow Syrians. The resistance is clamoring for international intervention to stop the genocide. Who are they looking for help to? Saudi Arabia, India or the US? Or the emasculated body called the UN?

Pl read the latest US war manual ("Joint Operating Environment") that has already outlined the areas of its interest to mess around with, which included Libya and Syria. All these "rebels" and "resistance" are US Government creations, disinformation campaigns, and media manipulations to plant dissent and disorder in foreign countries. Hence, it is irony that US tries to wear the gown of an Angel.
Any internal protest/dispute/resistance must be left internal. If an egg breaks out from inside, it becomes a chicken. If you break from outside it becomes omelet.

 

[kunjuppu]

Mr. Kunjuppu,

I am beginning to have doubts about your Canadian-ness. You didn't even mention hockey!

immgrunts have not yet got into hockey. they still watch cricket.

pls remember the list was prepared by a tambram buddy of mine.

 

[biswa]

Wikipedia may be right. Or wikipedia may be wrong. But it is never funny!

 

[zebra16]

Third is China with $1.16 trillion (8%), less than the amount Fed created in an instant. If the Chinese come calling the Treasury could turn to the Fed and it can simply make money out of thin air and pay them off. What then? Where is China going to go? This is why China will never call the debt.

(For more details, google "Who owns US Debt")

Are you really serious with this argument? If the chinese do come calling to collect their debt, would you think they would be dumb enough to collect new computer generated IOUs in exchange of old IOUs, instead of real exchange of goods and services?

The first question to ask is why these treasury bills are in the possession of the chinese rather than with the american citizens who vote and authorise the government to print or computer generate these IOUs.

The second question to mull over is, whether it is so easy to pay out international payment obligations by computer generated IOUs. After all computer generation of money is not the monopoly of USA and other countries too have computers to print out the same.

Regards,

narayan

 

[Nara]

..... If the chinese do come calling to collect their debt, would you think they would be dumb enough to collect new computer generated IOUs in exchange of old IOUs, instead of real exchange of goods and services?

Dear narayan sir, the Chinese are not coming, will never dare come, at least in the foreseeable future, so this is a moot point. Under the hypothetical scenario that they do come calling, the IOU the computer will generate is what is called the all mighty $. In as much as the US government controls the money supply, they can simply add x amount of dollars in their bank account and ask the Chinese to go and buy whatever goods and services they want.

The first question to ask is why these treasury bills are in the possession of the chinese rather than with the american citizens who vote and authorise the government to print or computer generate these IOUs.

No, the citizens do not authorize this. The Fed is a secretive arm of the government and they do it with no oversight from Congress, the elected body. The question why the Chinese are holding US debt is a question best answered by the Chinese. My guess is, they consider US debt, for the safety and promised return, to be the best place to park their surplus.

The second question to mull over is, whether it is so easy to pay out international payment obligations by computer generated IOUs. After all computer generation of money is not the monopoly of USA and other countries too have computers to print out the same.

The answer is quite simply -- are there buyers. Even now, a time when the U.S. is in worst economic doldrums since 1930s, still has no trouble finding buyers for its IOUs at next to nothing interest rate. If other countries can do this, I am sure they will.

As long as the $ remains the international currency, the U.S. will have no trouble selling its debt and make money out of thin air. The only other currency that had the prospect of threatening the dominance of $ was the Euro, but its brand is now taking a beating, with Italy joining the PIGS.

My argument is not that U.S. can dictate terms internationally, it may have been the case in the past, but it is increasingly not going to be case in the future. The international monetary system is so interwoven that cooperation is a necessity for economic well-being. China cannot dictate economic terms to U.S. and neither can U.S. to China.

Cheers!