Gold: So What Changed?

Call it what you want, but this was no update-it was, and is a Budget, a very political one at that.

Why does Dion keep allowing himself to be politically snookered? Yesterday, almost during the reading, Duceppe and Layton already staked out their positions and would vote NO for the budget-leaving Dion as the Harper/Flaherty Kingmaker, or goat responsible for calling an election.

We know Layton wants an election now and with reason (gain of 10 seats from LPC) but perhaps Duceppe doesn't want to go to the polls right now.

Watch for a fast and furious slate of laws that the CPC will bring forward. Dion will continue to have NO choice, then a spring or fall CPC engineered election 2008 election with the CPC running on their record-and Dion running on what? Social justice? Kyoto?

For the best of the LPC, Dion should vote this down, force an election, let the cards fall where they may, and allow the LPC to find a new leader and FINALLY and RIGHTFULLY renew itself at last. read more

A financial nudge from Uncle Sam

Kim and Robert Canfield filed for bankruptcy last summer to save their home from foreclosure. The Saugus couple makes about $5,500 a month after taxes. Their monthly mortgage payment had climbed above $3,000. The house has been in Robert's family since the 1920s, but they could no longer afford the payments.

Bankruptcy courts are empowered to reduce debts to manageable proportions for people who file under Chapter 13 of the US Bankruptcy Code. A rush of people similarly desperate to keep their homes contributed to a 57 percent increase in Chapter 13 filings in Massachusetts for the fiscal year that ended in September.

But as the Canfields learned, there is one debt the courts can't touch: The mortgage loan on the home where you live. Bankruptcy courts are better equipped to save your car than to save your home. read more