As Greece finally gets itself together, the spotlight has shifted to yet another European country with a debt problem even worse than that of the former mentioned.

Italy, the 3rd largest economy in the Eurozone, had claimed for a lengthy amount of time that it didn’t have a debt problem, but now finds itself in a hole and in the center of it is Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

A blog I found on The Economist regarding the end of Berlusconi’s reign clearly expressed the opinion of the Italian people. Berlusconi wasn’t a very liked man―especially in recent months as he stood and watched the Italian economy deteriorate to crisis levels leading many (71% of citizens) to call for his resignation. After losing a key vote this week, he was asked to step down once economic reforms had been passed through parliament and it was to the delight of not only the Italian people, but global markets in hopes Italy would now be able to save itself. (Video Summary)

One might wonder how someone with 17 years of political experience could have led a country into so much debt but looking at Greece as well, it’s not experience that makes a difference. The key to recovery is strong leadership and action, both of which neither country had.

Will the Eurozone survive? Only time will tell.

More than 50 days later, the Occupy movement continues to exist throughout many cities in North America and the world, but the so called “99%” aren’t so united after all and I can personally attest to that.

My personal favourite

In Piper Hoekstra’s blog about “The 53%“, one can see how there are people (hard working citizens from a variety of backgrounds) who don’t support the Occupy movement. Personally, I was getting tired of hearing about the movement especially after there was an overdose and a separate death (a suspected overdose) at the Occupy Vancouver tent city. It seems like all they are doing now is sitting around in tents all day (wasting tax payer dollars) and just hoping something will happen to change their present situation.

NEWSFLASH: Nothing is likely to change and the movement is starting to look more like a lazy bunch of people who don’t want to work. Instead, these people could be like “The 53%” who may agree that corporations are “evil”, but still work hard to make a living for themselves.

While “The 53%” is a more serious response to the Occupy movement, others have quickly turned it into a joke as you can see below.

What percent are you?

About five years ago when you searched the word “trending” on the Google search engine you would likely get a list of definitions. If you do the search today, you’ll be highly likely to find the word Twitter a few times in your results.

Twitter is a microblogging service created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey as a way to send short text messages (known as “tweets”) to a group of people over the internet. Microblogging wasn’t very popular until Twitter (and Tumblr) were created and now we even have microblogs for university courses! It’s popularity has increased dramatically over the years; in 2007, there was about 5,000 tweets per day and it rose to 50 million per day in 2010.

Like other free social networking websites, raising funds to pay all the costs can be difficult if one doesn’t consider allowing outside advertising which led Twitter to offer paid advertising for companies such as Starbucks. However, Twitter has been able to raise more than $50 million from venture capitalist funding (which is money invested into a high-risk and usually new company) and may have an initial public offering in 2013.

Tweets may be limited to 140 characters, but Twitter’s growth still hasn’t found a limit.

Follow me @Harpal_Kandola!

Is it possible to grow ingredients for beer in a metropolitan area such as Toronto? It is for Bellwoods Brewery co-founded by Michael Clark and Luke Pestl. Over the summer, the owners launched their “City Hops” project, “an experiment in growing hops in eight different locations in downtown Toronto”. These hops are planted on the property of other businesses such as Parts & Labour, a restaurant/bar. By using these underutilized spaces, they gain the benefit of growing hops for themselves while creating partnerships with local businesses.

The idea of urban gardening is still a rather new one, but it is becoming more and more popular for two important reasons. The obvious factor is sustainability and considering the environment in the production of produce, but businesses also benefit financially because they lower their transportation costs once again benefiting the environment.This is just one example of how businesses are finding innovative ways to be environmentally friendly.

Mr. Clark made an interesting comment at the end about how even if the program isn’t successful, “there’s a benefit … to greening of space and having it produce something that connects people to the space”. Rarely does one see profits take second place to the environment in our world.

With the uncertainty in the worldwide economy, it seems like nothing is left untouched including Canada’s two largest railways: The Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP).

The CN and CP both find themselves looking for a way to brace for the economic slowdown that is knocking on the industries door and seem to have found a solution in terms of improving their supply chain.

Trains have long been transporting goods across continents, but there had always been products which have been historically  transported by trucks. This is where CP is partnering up with a trucking firm to broaden their shipments of goods that are readily transferred between trucks and trains. With the help of “flat racks”, CP will transport shipments that are going for longer distances making it more efficient for the companies.

CN is also collaborating with other companies such as Agri-Food Central Ltd by signing a pact to strengthen their delivery schedules which include shipments to Vancouver, Montreal, New Orleans and Mexico. CN also bought insulated containers that “can carry temperature-sensitive products” such as beer which has led to appreciation from Molson Coors.

For the time being, both companies continue to chug right along.

Steve Jobs was one the greatest minds and innovators of our generation, but he left a lot behind when he died on Wednesday— just a day after the unveiling of the iPhone 4S.

Mr. Jobs changed the world in many ways with his ideas and creations, but one of his earliest works is sometimes overshadowed by the increasing popularity of the iPhone and iPad. When it came out almost a decade ago, iTunes wasn’t something new, yet with its simple and 99 cents per song price standard, it has grown into the largest music retailer in the world selling tens of millions of digital tracks per year.

Mr. Jobs always seemed to see an opportunity where no one else could. In the early parts of the 21st century, the World Wide Web was continuing to grow in popularity and an enormous amount of music was being leaked online. Taking this into account, Mr. Jobs used information technology to create iTunes: a cheap, legal and convenient alternative to normal retail stores.

The legal digital market is just one of many creations that can be linked to Steve Jobs and one can only wonder if anyone can replace this amazing man.

David Hahn has been in the spotlight ever since he took the reigns of B.C. Ferries, but not for the right reasons. As Cole Routtenberg alluded to in his blog post, Hahn’s seven figure paycheck along with yearly bonuses has sparked public outrage— especially after the crown corporations continued decline in profits over a large span of years.

I strongly share the views of my colleague on the fact that Hahn has failed to do his job and rewarded himself while the public is unfairly left to deal with the exorbitant sailing costs.

Two weeks later, I wasn’t surprised to learn that Hahn had decided to go into early retirement at the end of the year, but not without his pension package of  $250,000, and possibly more, per year. However, he made it clear he was leaving on his own terms, which is quite a coincidence considering the growing opposition and yet another cost cutting program to decrease the $20 million shortfall.

As Hahn rows away from the sinking ship, I sit here thinking that a captain is supposed to go down with his ship or at least be the last one off. I guess he wasn’t a real captain.

A few years ago, Research In Motion (RIM) was one of the most talked about phone companies in the world—with its wireless e-mail service and Blackberry Messenger—marketed primarily to CEOs and other business people. However, much has changed since then and RIM has been treading rough waters in recent months.

What has led to this downward spiral? Simply put, it has to do with positioning. As mentioned earlier, RIM had focused on marketing and selling to the business community where it became and still is popular because of its many capabilities. Over recent years, RIM expanded to try and gain new consumers; the only problem is that many consumers still think of their products as “corporate and stuffy” mainly due to its earlier focus on positioning their phones as the “must have phone” in the business industry. By doing so, they limited their ability to appeal to consumers outside this niche and in the attempt of expanding, they have left a marketing mess on the canvas that is the world.

As Apple continues to fulfill the desires of their target market with the launch of its iPhone 5, RIM is left lost at the crossroads of marketing.

Only a week after the official report on the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are making news north of the border as they try and convince the National Energy Board (NEB) of Canada to let them drill in the untouched Arctic waters.

The main concern about drilling in the Arctic is the possibility of another blowout similar to the BP oil spill and the ability to respond to such an event in conditions such as high wind, high waves, and fog. Oil companies have suggested some controversial methods of cleaning up spills such as “using fires set from helicopters to burn oil.”

Are we running out of oil so quick that we must tap into Arctic reserves to create more supply? Surprisingly the answer is no! Oil output is expected to reach its highest point at an average of 30.15 million barrels per day in August leaving many, including myself, to wonder why we need to further risk or possibly harm the fragile environment in the Arctic to get more oil.

Rules and regulations can’t plug gushing oil wells and with companies like BP cutting safety standards, we may see a similar disaster… or worse.

Just over a year after the biggest oil spill in history was finally plugged, a federal report from the U.S. government puts the blame mainly on the shoulders of BP while also including other companies (such as the rig owner Transocean) with partial blame. Even though the story is a year old, the aftermath and the blame continues to go around with BP and its partners suing one another in court denying responsibility for the oil spill.

The most disturbing fact to come out of this report is that it once again found BP was compromising safety in order to cut costs. Performance evaluations of 13 BP employees involved at the same well, showed 12 of them were cited to be doing cost saving work in their reviews. However, BP is not a small oil company; BP is the fourth largest company in the world based on revenue.

So it begs the question, why is it risking the safety of its workers and the environment to make profits? Was the 200 million gallons of crude spilled, 11 workers dead and billions of dollars in damage worth those safety cuts?