stimulus package

Andrew Cash: Until now, it’s been acceptable for employers and governments to shrug off any responsibility for freelancers, contract, gig workers

No one said it was going to be easy. The pressures of the first 100 days, the problems that were inherited, the persistent ideological divide between the parties, and the obstacles in the confirmation process of his cabinet secretaries have the new Obama administration taking a strong dose of political reality. Some pundits are saying that the lustre is wearing off, yet Obama’s poll numbers remain sky high. Is Washington that disconnected or does the American public not get it?

In today’s Financial Post, Jackie Thorpe provides some much-needed perspective on the current debate in Ottawa over the Conservatives’ fiscal update, and specifically the need for a stimulus package to save the economy.

In the money: Who wins when President Bush doles out $168 billion to stimulate the American economy? Pornographers, it turns out. AIMRCo, a market research company focused on the adult online industry, says many porn websites have aroused interest from new customers since the checks first went out in mid-May. Some sites have experienced a 20-30 per cent growth in membership rates. A spokeswoman for one site said they polled new customers and found one-third were using Bush bucks to buy smut. “Getting more people to buy porn was probably the last thing Bush had on his mind when he came up with his ‘stimulus package,’ but we’ll take it.”