Canadian Jeopardy!

Talk about unwanted side-effects! We learn this week that Canadian consumer confidence tanked after the Bank of Canada cut rates earlier this month -- and that it had done the same thing when the Bank unexpectedly cut rates back in January. It's hard to be surprised, given all the recession talk that's filled the business pages this past month. And it's not hard to imagine that the rate cut may, perversely, be having the same impact on business confidence: if the Bank of Canada keeps telling you how bad the situation is, chances are you're not going to go out and make a big new investment or hire a platoon of new workers.

One interesting indicator of the state of the economy can be found during TV ad breaks. I'm not thinking of shows like UFC or Duck Dynasty, which attract (ahem) a particular audience, but specifically of the nightly quiz show Jeopardy!, arguably one of the more cerebral offerings* on network television.

Just about every show brings ads for:

• a payday lending company, which uses that well-known Canadian icon, a man dressed in a kangaroo suit, to push its usurious wares;

• an insurance company offering reverse mortgages to seniors who've run out of funds in their golden years; 

• a cheery chap who offers (for a fee) advice on how to restructure your debts and stiff your creditors;

• an ambulance-chasing lawyer looking for clients for his no win, no fee injury litigation shakedown.

Sure, there are one or two pitches for actual products thrown into the mix, but these four spots, together with shameless propaganda from the Federal government, take up most of the interminable ad breaks.

It would be easy to get the impression that the economy was in a deep recession. It definitely isn't, especially in still-prospering Toronto, which is where these ads originate. What's clear, however, is that there's a large and growing population living very close to the edge, people for whom the kinds of services being touted here are a matter of everyday concern. This should be a key issue in the election come October, but of course the kind of folk who rely on payday loans and are pondering personal bankruptcy don't, by and large, bother to vote.

* A low hurdle, admittedly.