Maximizethis writes with regards to Ron Paul's interview:

"Aim for the federal government to immediately live within its means, to take the pressure off the Fed to create money."

Clearly the USA government is doing exactly the opposite, and by printing more and more money, is throwing gasoline on the fire. (The Canadian federal government is struggling too to live within its means.)

Some sort of "...flation" is just around the corner. I'm not an economist but I do follow historical trends (being of the age that I can do so); so what are we looking at? Deflation, stagflation, inflation, hyperinflation? The menu doesn't look at all appetizing.

The Canadian federal and provincial governments (most) have endeavored to live within their means by following balanced budgets. But we too are getting sideswiped by what's happening south of the border.

For those investors who are activists and wish to contact their Canadian politician here's a weblink and two suggestions:

http://canada.gc.ca/directories-repe...

1) If we are to invest taxpayers dollars, lets invest wisely. e.g., Mining infrastructure. (Pej - by the way, I agree with your comment about environmental maintenance and cleanup at mining sites.)

2) Recognizing that the majority of Canadian investors wish to help build Canadian companies in order to make them competitive and strong, create a Canadian securities regulator that has "teeth", really big teeth! (Think The Unpardoned Conrad Black)

Screwing the retail investor has long term consequences. Big consequences, politcally, socially, and economically. But we are toothless unless we contact our politicians. They will listen.

But to whom (you ask)? David Wilson (OSC) or Joe Public? Realistically, they will listen to both. But there are many, many more Joe Publics that pay tax dollars than David Wilsons. You can figure out the math. And so can the politicians. Math=votes=politician's pay checks. (In order to be fair, some politicians are ethical i.e., they're not just motivated by their paycheck.)

So tell your politician how to spend your taxpayer dollars, and how to build a better economic and investment infrastructure for Canada.

The consequence of sitting on your butt in these difficult times is pretty simple: a fat ass.

Snug