The Economy's Impact on the Retired

There was one strange news on the top of the stories the other day: A retired man at 76 has become homeless. I'm baffled! It was said that the man, who bought his house 3 decades ago, had to sell it because he no longer could afford his mortgage. He does not have any place to live now and is awaiting the so-called low income housing or something like that. He even  considers going back to work! While I feel bad for the fella, I have the hardest time understanding how something like that happened but before going through different scenarios I see other possibility: Is someone behind this fake news to just give people a warning about their finances?! This, does not usually happen in Canada. No one cares! This is what is said in The Bronx Tale and that is true. The Federal Government's no one job to create revenue and they do whatever it takes to do that. So I don't see how could happen to the gentleman. If he is 76 now and bought the house 

Sonny, played by Chazz Palminteri, on right is taking to C, played by Lilo Brancato. No one cares was one morale of the story, The Bronx Tale. I didn't like it as much as I expected. The actors are great but the story was not satisfactory to me 

30 years ago, it means he bought it when he was 46 which is a bit late, or maybe it was not his first but houses were way cheaper 30 years ago. Unless he bought a very big house and was paying a big mortgage, it doesn't make any sense. And then the mortgage amortization is another question. People usually finance a property for a period of 25 years, at most. Perhaps there was a longer period available at the time and wanted to pay less over a longer period of time. And then he does not have anyone to assist him. No wife, no common-law partner, no kids, no siblings! One might say in this economic situation no one helps any one else! Or in other words: No one cares! I guess the slight decline in inflation has not helped either. The inflation rate went back down from to 3.8% from 4%! I don't want to speculate and say the guy was horsing around for 30 years but all of the possibilities should be considered. 

(Photo, top: I've been working straight since Nov. of 2019 except for the 3 months before starting the new job and almost every night my supper is something like this with a piece of flat bread which I started making at home. I could go to a fast food joint and pay $12 for a sandwich or order a delivery but I know there're always days that we might be deprived from a steady income. So I don't spend excessively. That is not the case with the majority of people, I believe) 

The challenges of the new Job

It will be one month since I have started this new position. People have been nice so far but I think it is because I still consider me a newbie! It also could be my position. I basically take no nonsense from no one! It is too early to judge though. The company wants me to do two tests to obtain 2 certificates and I would be reimbursed for the cost once I obtain such certificate. It's not but but I have no time to study. I barely am able to write this! Too tired and have to go to bed soon. 

That's one challenge that I will have to overcome to have this permanent position and hopefully:
1) I can either work until I retire,
2) Find a better position in 5 to 6 years, or 
3) Jump to the Government position in less than 4 months!

The other challenge, which became harder just last night is the commute. It took me nearly two and a half hours to reach work today! The distance that I normally cover in 65 to 70 minutes! I saw a shared accommodation just yesterday. A house with 6 or 8 rooms, I guess. The rooms were okay but could be cold in winter and the public area, the living room and the kitchen was a mess. It could easily turn to a pigsty when all the rooms are full, particularly in the weekend where I would not have been there, had I rented a room(!) but in the afternoon it would be chaotic! The original idea was wrong! I should get a 1-bedroom which will cost around $1000. It saves me lots of hours every week and tens of dollars of gasoline money but I need stuff and it would be a hassle to haul them all to the new apartment. Not to mention the damn lease, down payment, reference, proof of employment and all the shit you have to go through to rent an apartment for the job that you don't even know how long you would be there! 
(Photo: A semi-truck has is facing south while was driving north on Queen Elizabeth II Highway in central Alberta! I saw a number of vehicles engaged in incidents. Trucks, vans and sedans. I had to slow down to 40 km/h 937 miles/h] at times to be able to reach my distance in one piece!)

What Led to E-Coli Outbreak in Calgary?

Without beating about the bush, I'll tell why those poor little kids were sick and they're parents are worried. Yes. More than 100 kids got sick in Calgary, Alberta and had to be hospitalized because they had been fed contaminated food. Why did something like this happened in a so-called rich(!) country? Perhaps every online and actual dictionary (paper format that no one uses any more!) shall be re-written because we need to redefine " Rich "! Nevertheless, from root cause analysis point of view, there're three factors that were involved in this disaster:

1) Greed: This is what a Western country is based upon: Money, Money and more money. Majority of the people's daily effort is to make more money, pay less for the things that they don't like to pay and evade taxes, which in a way falls under the previous category. Businesses, mostly, try to cut the corner and the ones pay no attention to the costs, resolve the problem when they realize they have spent way more than what they had budgeted, by laying off people. Many foreigners, more specifically refugees, chase money the minute they get their first job until they can, working 2 or 3 jobs and many work illegibly by accepting cash. It's very likely that the business, the daycare or daycares which the incident occurred within them, selected the guilty food catering company because they had the lowest price and I don't want to make accusation but when you don't have a business license, which was the case with the catering company, it means that you don't care about nothing including the quality of the food, hygiene and safety of their clients. You only think about money and that's what happened. 

One of my all-time favourite books from one of my all-time favourites authors. I used to read a lot. With the internet and problems in life, I don't get many chances these days

2) Carelessness: I rarely eat outside because I know the people who are involved in the practice of food preparation, barely care about food safety and hygiene, no matter where you go. George Orwell in his book Down and Out in Paris and London tells horrible stories about the way food is prepared in different restaurants in Paris where considered one of the top tourist destinations in the world. While it is a true story from late 1920's, I'm quite sure that many situations still exist today. 

3) Laziness: Many lazy asses work in different business everywhere in the world. In food industry you find plenty like any other industry. While there's no available statistics, you can see this in some restaurants known as fast food. Once I counted as many as 15 employees, cramped, in a small fast food joint location. That, however is one side of the issues. If you look at the parents side, you'll realize that many parents select or forced to select childcares which provide food. The first group do that out of being lazy. Apparently parents have so much to do these days rather than preparing a healthy lunch and snack box for their kids! I can imagine what those things might be. 

Now that nearly a week has passed, everything is forgotten and people move on until something horrible happen again and then this time the so-called authorities think of having a new bylaw and enforcing it!