We all need a little push every now and again!
Do you need to upgrade your computer systems or hardware?
Now may be the time. Canada’s Economic Action Plan includes a temporary 100% capital cost allowance (CCA) rate for all new computer hardware and systems software for all Canadian businesses.
Normally the CCA is 55%, which means that you can only deduct 55% in the first year. The temporary 100% CCA means that you can claim the full amount of your computer hardware/software purchase in the first year.
The government is hoping to accelerate the investment in technology and computers which will increase productivity. This initiative was implemented on January 27, 2009 and is available to all Canadian businesses until February 1, 2011.
The estimated cost of this initiative is $340 million in 2009/2010 and $355 million in 1010/2011.
For more information please consult your tax advisor or visit Canada’s Economic Action Plan – Budget 2009.
www.budget.gc.ca/2009/pamphlet-depliant/pamphlet-depliant2-eng.asp
Some other initiatives for Canadian businesses:
Reduction of taxes for small businesses – 11% on the first $400,00 of qualifying income.
Canada’s Manufacturing and Processing Sector – 50% straight line accelerated capital cost allowance (CCA) rate to investment in manufacturing or processing machinery and equipment.
Mineral Exploration – temporary 15% mineral exploration tax credit
A group of frogs were travelling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told the unfortunate frogs they would never get out.
The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead.
Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and simply gave up. He fell down and died.
The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and suffering and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out.
When he got out, the other frogs asked him, “Why did you continue jumping? Didn’t you hear us?” The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.
This story has two lessons:
1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.
2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them. Be careful of what you say.
The power of words…it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time to encounter another.
I got this in an email – it’s interesting so I thought I’d share.
What are we missing?
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston and the seats average $100.00 each.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.
The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing each and every day?…
Ok just to warn you – this is going to be a vent! Why is it people who have no idea about farming making stupid comments and complain about farmers?!
I was just doing some research for my work (not this website) and I was online reading an article from a city paper. At the end of the article there is an opportunity for comments. The article I was reading was about the dry weather that we are having and how the Alberta and Saskatchewan farmers are worried.
A couple of the comments that were made were just funny – like the guy who commented that he spent $300 on plants, it’s ok right now because he’s home to water them but if he has to go away to work – they’ll die and he’ll lose $300! Oh my goodness – how terrible! Then there were a couple of comments about how farmers don’t believe there is global warming but yet we are in a drought situation – well first of all I’m not sure why people think that farmers don’t believe in global warming and second – there were droughts before global warming really started affecting the earth. We farm and we do believe in global warming and we try to be environmentally friendly as possible. We grow our own vegetables in our garden, buy locally from our neighbors as much as possible, we recycle as much as we possibly can and we only drive our vehicles to town when it is absolutely necessary. I know some people who drive their vehicles to go for a walk!
The comments that really got me upset were the ones about how the farmers are always whining, are always the first ones with their hands out to the governments for subsidies, have millions of dollars of land and equipment so the city can’t expand and farmers sell overpriced, ‘tainted’ beef and pork (??)!
First of all, drought is a concern for farmers. If we don’t have enough grass or hay to feed our animals it means that good quality breeding animals will be going for slaughter. And being as this drought is so wide spread in most of Alberta and Saskatchewan it means that the markets are going to be flooded with animals which also means that prices are going to tank – not just fall – tank! This means that these good quality breeding animals are not going to be worth anything, but the farmer would rather sell the animals than watch them starve. Being as all of the crops including hay are so poor in Alberta and Saskatchewan there is going to be a shortage of feed which leads to price inflation. If the farmer does decide to keep the animals the feed will most likely have to be trucked in from elsewhere. We’ve already seen hay prices triple in just the past couple of months and the cattle prices are dropping significantly.
As for the government subsidies – well last year we got a total of $325 in government subsidies. Now granted we are a relatively small producer with just under 100 head of livestock but I think on the most part any subsidy plan that the government implements is poorly managed. Take for example the 3 million dollars that the Alberta Government put into a new subsidy plan. The 3 million dollars was supposed to be over a 5 year period but in the first year they ran out of money by paying out big amounts to farmers who did not qualify. Mismanagement?? I think so!
I’m not sure why they think our meat is tainted – where do you think McDonalds gets their meat from? What about all the packaged and processed food, wouldn’t that be considered tainted? And finally, our product is not overpriced. It is by the time it gets to the grocery store but what the farmer actually gets is no where near what you pay at the grocery store. Most of the pricing comes from the feedlot and packing plant before getting to the grocery store. And by the way, it costs money to feed, truck and process the meat that ends up on the grocery store counter. While I agree that meat in the grocery store is overpriced and someone in the meat industry is making a lot of money, I guarantee you it is not the farmer!
Why don’t we flip it around – I think pretty much everybody would like to make more money. And everyone pretty much thinks that their commodity (whether it’s a service that they provide or work that they do for someone else or an actual product that is being sold) is worth more than it is, but the bottom line is, your commodity is worth what ever someone else will pay you for it. Finally, when it comes to government handouts, it’s not only the farmers that have their hands open it is every citizen in this country. I mean really, tell me who would say “No thanks” to the government when it’s handing out money?
