Graduating students have high debts and the chance of finding a good paying job appears to be low, according to the leading pundits. This may all seem very daunting if you're a grad with two or three part-time jobs who's barely scraping enough together for rent. Here are some suggestions on how you can achieve these goals with careful planning and creativity.

With the Canadian debt-to-income ratio at an historic high, one can only hope that our collective access to information is enabling Canadians to do a better job at aligning their actual behaviours with their stated goal of debt reduction in 2014.

A government's claims of economic competence must surely depend upon a sound record in certain crucial areas -- such as economic growth, debt reduction, balanced budgets and management of the tax burden. On all four counts, the Harper regime is a serious disappointment. As for taxes, that's where Mr. Harper brags the most. But check reality! While claiming they never raise taxes, the Harper Conservatives have in fact increased the net tax burden on Canadians in each of their last four budgets. It happens in dozens of nefarious ways which they hope you won't notice.