A belated Happy New Year – here’s to a healthy and prosperous 2015. The beginning of a new year brings freshness and hope that “things” will be better.  It would be nice if we could bundle up the previous year’s trials and tribulations and say, “abracadabra…disappear”.  Don’t bother trying, it doesn’t work.  Flipping the calendar over doesn’t mean there’s no carryover of issues and problems.  Don’t know about you but to me the world seemed to become a nastier place in 2014.  We Canadians will always remember the terrorist attack on Parliament Hill in 2014. The carryover from that incident into 2015?  I think most of us believe it will happen again, it’s just a matter of when; and now we deal with the images in Paris.  Innocent people were slaughtered because of political cartoon in a newspaper.  I think it’s going to take a real effort in 2015 to maintain a positive outlook, and shut out the madness and evil. 

The New Year is all about a positive outlook. Resolutions are made, only to be abandoned by mid-February. I don’t make any resolutions because I know February is coming. No, what I do is go into every year with a theme. That gives me a lot of wiggle room.  It’s a macro approach versus micro.  Example, contemplating losing 15 pounds, while elbow deep and family sized bag of Lay’s salt and vinegar potato chips, is a fool’s errand. The resolution shouldn’t be to lose 15 pounds…the theme should be “overall wellness”.  See – all kinds of wiggle room.

Since there’s no way to shut out the world you’re left with no choice but to look at the issues through a dispassionate lens.  Fact – China’s economy is contracting, as is Brazil’s and India’s.  Not long ago the emerging markets were going to be our economic saviors; today, not so much.  Fact – Europe is once again a bit of a mess.  The Greeks, they’reeeeeeee back, are talking about leaving the Euro Zone.  Empress Merkel of Germany said that it’s okay if the Greeks leave. That means we can all raise a glass of Ouzo, and toast the Greeks a safe avito (Greek for goodbye). If Merkel says Auf Wiedersehen, it’s time for the Greek’s to put on their Sunday best Lederhosen, and look smartly when exiting. Fact – Russia’s economy is in a mess.  Putin still has popular support in Russia, but let’s see what happens when cells phone, Benz’s and Prada bags started being repossessed with greater frequency in Russia.  And what happens if Putin gets really mad?  We just might find out in 2015.

Closer to home, the giant is back. The U.S economy is arguably one of the most robust economies in the world today. The U.S greenback is soaring, Americans are spending, which helps Canadian exports. The price of oil impacts both the American and Canadian economy. The way it’s going now it’s just a matter of time that our credit cards will be credited 10 cents a liter at the pumps. As for interest rates?  I now believe we’ll see a rate increase in the U.S. in 2015.  Will Canada move in lock-step?  Doubt it, the Canadian economy is still too fragile, but who can say with any certainty. 

So, there are a lot of issues – hot spots – in the world that will impact us in 2015.  Hopefully 2015 won’t result in us looking back on 2014 with fondness.  Time will tell. 

Until then, anyone want a salt and vinegar chip?  Oh, sorry, all that’s left are those tiny little pieces in corner of the bag.

Until Next Time,

Cheers.