Tag: money

News

Charity Gives Money Directly To World’s Poorest People

What would you do with a thousand dollars? You can probably think of a lot of fun ways to spend that much money.

But what if your family didn’t always have enough to eat? Or what if you lived in a house with a dirt floor and a thatched roof? A thousand dollars could change your life.

That’s the idea behind a charity called GiveDirectly, which puts money in the hands of poor people and lets them spend it however they choose.

GiveDirectly was founded in 2008 by four American university students. Paul Niehaus, Michael Faye, Rohit Wanchoo and Jeremy Shapiro were studying economics in the developing world. They wanted to find the best way to help the poorest people.

Traditional charities work by raising money from donors and spending it where they think it can do the most good. Charities often support major projects like building schools, hospitals, roads, wells and irrigation pipes, or providing medical care for people in need.

News

Toronto Landmark, Honest Ed’s, Has Been Sold

A Toronto landmark has been sold to a builder in Vancouver.

Honest Ed’s discount store, at the corner of Bloor and Bathurst, will close down in two to three years.

Since 1948, the store has grown to take up almost a whole block.

Over the years, the decorations all over the building have become more and more extravagant.

The public can see the store’s neon signs and colourful lights from two blocks away.

The founder of Honest Ed’s was Ed Mirvish.

News Politics

Canada Makes A New Trade Deal With The EU

Canada has a new deal with the European Union. The agreement is expected to increase the amount of trade between Canada and many countries in Europe.

Trade, in this case, is when one country buys something from another country and vice-versa.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the new deal could increase trade by 20 per cent, beginning in 2015, and add $12-billion to Canada’s income (the money it makes) each year.

The new trade deal is called CETA, which stands for Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

It is expected to create 80,000 new jobs in Canada.

Canada and the European Union have been working on the new trade deal for the past four years.

Canada’s largest trading partner is the United States, but increased trade with other partners is good so Canada is not as dependent on any single country.

News

Canada’s Economists Need To Improve Their Writing Skills: Report

It’s important to be able to write clearly. Some of Canada’s economists are finding out just how important.

An “internal report card” gave mediocre grades to economists at the Bank of Canada on their writing skills.

The Bank of Canada is Canada’s central, or main, bank. “Economists” at the Bank of Canada are in charge of making sure Canada’s economy is healthy.

Every once in awhile, organizations like the Bank of Canada take a look at how well they’re doing.

Just like school report cards, they grade themselves in many different areas so they can see where they need to improve.

News

The Brydges Fail To Sell Their “Essay House”

In October, you’ll get another chance to win a house by writing a persuasive essay.

Calvin and Diana Brydges had been going to sell their $300,000 house for $100, but it hasn’t worked out.

They’re going to try again in October.

The Brydges had been unable to sell their house the “usual way” for two years.

Then they had a bright idea.

They decided they would give their house away in a lottery.

The Brydges would only sell the house if they managed to sell 3,000 lottery tickets.

They got 2,192 essays.

Environment News

NBA Star Donates $1-Million To Oklahoma Relief Efforts

To help his home city “bounce back” after a terrible storm, NBA player Kevin Durant has donated $1-million.

The number of people harmed by a recent tornado in the U.S. state of Oklahoma was greatly reduced, thanks to a special early-warning system.

On Monday, a major tornado hit Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City.

A tornado is a violent storm that usually looks like a whirling funnel.

Residents were warned there was a big storm coming, and possibly a tornado, days before it arrived.

When it actually hit, sirens blared, giving people a 16-minute head start to find shelter.

News

Factory Conditions, Wages Improving In Bangladesh

Things appear to be changing for the better for people who work in clothing factories in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a small country in south-east Asia.

About four million people there work in clothing factories, cutting and sewing clothes. A lot of the clothing they make is sold in stores in North America.

Most of the factory workers in Bangladesh earn much less than workers who do similar jobs in North America. Often they work long hours, and many of them work in unsafe conditions.

Recently there was an accident involving workers in a clothing factory near Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. Many workers were injured or killed.

News

New Designs For Canadian $5 And $10 Bills “Cartoonish” And “Outdated”

The Bank of Canada is ready to show people what its new polymer $5 and $10 bills will look like.

But according to a report, some people say the new bills look too cartoonish or outdated.

The report was obtained by a news service called Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

The report says that the Bank asked focus groups what they thought about the look of newly designed $5 and $10 bills.

The people in the focus groups said they thought the space images on the bill looked too childish.

News

“Bitcoin” Is A New Type Of Money

Bitcoin sounds like what it is–a type of money.

But it’s a special kind of money that could not exist without the Internet. It is digital and virtual; people can’t carry it around in their pockets or keep it in a bank.

Despite these differences from traditional money, there are places around the world that are starting to accept bitcoins to pay for things.

Some restaurants and shops in New York and San Francisco accept bitcoins, and so does WordPress, a blogging website.

A man in Alberta is offering to sell his house for bitcoins instead of Canadian dollars.

Bitcoins have been around for a few years but are becoming more popular.

News

Volunteering In Canada Worth More Than $50-Billion

In Canada, more than 13.3 million people volunteer. That means that on their own time, and without being paid, they work on a project to help others in some way.

This week (April 21 to 27) is National Volunteer Week in Canada, according to an organization called Volunteer Canada.

In a recent report, two economists* have put a dollar figure on all of that volunteering.

Volunteering creates $50-billion in economic value every year for Canadians, Craig Alexander and Sonya Gulati, economists with the TD Bank, say in a report.

They call volunteering “the life-blood that keeps (many organizations) running.”