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Who’s afraid of the fiscal cliff?
You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else The Americans, bless them, never miss an opportunity to hype a product or an issue. And the so-called...
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Ottawa’s new foreign takeover rules won’t work in the real world
Ottawa has made a mistake by allowing the buyout of Nexen Inc. by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and the buyout of Progress Energy Resources Corp. by Petronas of Malaysia. Apparently, the...
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‘Grand bargain’ the only way to fix America’s fiscal mess
Fiscal “cliff” is the wrong metaphor. What’s about to happen is not the end of the world, as falling off a cliff would imply. A better metaphor is America is about to head into a “fiscal cold shower”....
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In 2012, technology marched on but human nature continues to mess things up
Technology marched onward in 2012 but human nature did not. The world’s most developed nations continued to squabble over who should — and how to — pay their bills this month, even as the Artificial...
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U.S. system may be nasty and noisy, but at least taxpayers are taken seriously
I occupy the unenviable position of being both a Canadian and an American citizen which means that I must file and pay taxes to each country. The Americans, and now the Australians, are the only...
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Gerard Depardieu emerges as poster boy for ‘global citizenship’
I’ve always enjoyed Gérard Depardieu as an actor, but his most recent role, as an international tax dodger, is pure Academy Award quality. For those unaware of his theatrics, Depardieu left France last...
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The big news at Davos this year — who’s not on the guest list
Attendance at the World Economic forum next week will reflect that corporations, brands and even nations do not last forever The World Economic Forum in Davos opens next week (Jan. 23-27) and will host...
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Marketing is the new diplomacy in Davos this year
President Vladimir Putin’s gift of Russian citizenship and 13% tax rates to French actor Gerard Depardieu highlighted Diane Francis: Welcome to the the next phase of globalization: The nation-state as...
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Is capitalism ignoring the writing on the wall?
One of the challenges in life is to know the difference between a cyclical slump and a transformation that will permanently change a business, industry, economy, lifestyle, living standard, a family’s...
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Harper needs to lead like CEO to reform Canada’s sleepy Senate
In the corporate world, sleepy or dysfunctional boards of directors of public companies often and suddenly find their corporations taken over or besieged by a hedge fund or aggressive change-agent. In...
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8 reasons America should welcome Canada’s oil — and Keystone XL
Canada’s oil sands are besieged with two myths: That a “clean” coal technology exists and that the oil sands imperil the planet as the world’s dirtiest fuel. Both statements are bunk and yet they spur...
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Are ‘extractive elites’ sucking the life out of Canada’s economy?
Politicians in the developed world are preoccupied with dividing up a diminishing pie, not a growing one. Even in debt-free Alberta, an oil bubble is causing budgetary handwringing in government as...
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Alberta: Beacon for Canada’s fiscally challenged provinces
EDMONTON –Albertans are unique because they don’t occupy a parallel universe, living on other peoples’ money. They live in the real world and the province’s current fiscal deficit has sparked...
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Rights, education of world’s ‘little girls’ are key to overcoming poverty
Any economy, culture or enterprise that denies females equal education and opportunities taps only half of its collective IQ. This is a truism, but is ignored by too many regimes, religions and...
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Divine or not, they all need help
Immediately after Pope Francis became the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics this week, he prayed for guidance. And it’s little wonder. He is the newly elected CEO of the Vatican, a sovereign...
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Cyprus story more than just another nation begging for bailout
The old adage is that when you owe the bank a million dollars and cannot pay, you’re in trouble. But if you owe the bank a billion dollars and cannot pay, the bank is. Cyprus is the guy who owes a...
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How old media gave away the store
The biggest heist in history was when newspapers and magazines allowed Google to “crawl” their content to readers, to pay nothing and to sell ads around their stories. Google became, in other words,...
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Tax avoidance becoming bigger than the U.S. economy
My first job in Canada was to create one or two corporations every day for the country’s richest individual and industrialist, E. P. Taylor. This was because my boss, Taylor’s tax lawyer, divided...
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It’s a mad, mad market world
By 1554, The Netherlands had become the world’s first “modern economy” and a leader in technology, trade and banking. That year, some Dutch entrepreneurs imported tulip seeds from Turkey. The hardy,...
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Forget quotas — a change in attitude is the ticket to the top for women
Bombings, poisonings and stock drops dominated headlines this week, but two other significant events occurred. The first was the funeral of the great Margaret Thatcher, the first female in history...
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