I'm sorry to tell you this waitstaff, but a lot of people hate tipping.

It's confusing, with people inevitably hemming and hawing over how much to tip and how much is fair, it's awkward, as it's not like you have to, and it's extremely random. How much is enough? How much is too much? Why do some service industries expect to be tipped in some areas, while it's perfectly acceptable not to even think of tipping others in different parts of the same industry?

After all, we're expected to tip the baggage handler at a hotel, but not the person at the front desk. Plus, some people believe that tipping is downright discriminatory, since data shows that blondes are tipped more than brunettes and black customers actually do tip less than white customers, which has caused discriminatory blowback for black customers by the restaurant industry.

Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt, of Freakonomics fame, recently tackled this issue in their newest podcast.

From The Great Depression to The Global Recession, often what follows is an upswing in suicides, alcoholism and drug abuse.

However, in their new book, The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills co-authors Dr. Sanjay Basu, an assistant professor of medicine and an epidemiologist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and David Stuckler, a senior research leader at Oxford University and a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, argue that it's not the recession that causes "veritable health epidemics that ruin or extinguish thousands of lives," but the efforts of the world's governments to enact austerity measures meant to balance their individual country's respective budgets.

The problems start mounting because often the social support programs such as unemployment, old-age pension, disability income support and healthcare are the first things to be cut back as governments begin to try and balance their budgets. The British Government approached the recession by doing just that -- cutting billions of dollars in social support programs -- and as a result, they are now growing their economy at less than half the rate of the U.S., which employed a strategy of stimulus, rather than austerity. To make maters worse, the peer-reviewed data that Basu and Stuckler collected shows that the UK has yet to fully recover even now and may be on the verge of what they call a "Triple-dip" recession.

For each man, the consquences of such devastating austerity measures are personal and each knows first-hand that the way a government responds to a recession can be a matter of life and death for the people who live in the countries that are impacted.

At a young age, Dr. Sanjay Basu's mother was sick with a lung infection known as coccidiomycosis and his father traveled across America trying to make ends meet, so he could pay her medical bills. Later, as an undergraduate in mathematics at MIT, he learned that statistics tell the story of who lives and who dies. We caught up with Dr. Basu in San Fransisco and he told us why austerity is so deadly and how people must fight back.

We've all heard how to be smart with our money: Save for an emergency, make more than you spend, pay down your debt, track your spending, create a budget and more. Most of us follow these maxims in an effort to fulfill both long and short-term goals, like a vacation, or a home or just to make our greatest dreams come true.

But, if you ask popular inspirational speaker and former think tank executive and business strategist Danielle LaPorte, too often we go after the goal only to discover we didn't really want that particular thing in the first place. In actual fact, we're not chasing a particular goal, we're chasing a particular feeling and she encourages all of us to get clear on how we actually want to feel in our lives, before we lay out our intentions.

She asks: "What if your most desired feelings, consciously informed how you planned your day, your year, your career, your holidays -- your life?"

Yes, Danielle LaPorte contends that we all have the procedures of achievement flipped upside down and righting them, she says, is only one way you can up your game when it comes to making money.

While the banks and credit card companies lure us deeper and deeper into hopeless financial holes that become our bastard albatross for decades, it turns out their is a way to fight back without simply giving all our money away to a greedy figurative vacuum.

Financial soothsayers are shouting from the mountain tops that you can get out of debt and, incredibly, all it apparently takes is $10 a day. But, as if you've just witnessed an incredible feat from a magician, you're probably asking, "How'd they do that?"

Well we'll show you. Obviously, they will all be a slow burn, but by the end of the process hopefully you'll be able to break the chains of the debt that's impeding your freedom. It can all be found in personal finance expert Jean Chatzky's book Pay It Down.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that both the Toronto Star and the media news and gossip site Gawker have reported that they have seen a portion of a video that allegedly shows Toronto mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine.

You also know that the owners of this video have requested $200,000 in return for a copy of the entire video and that Gawker has been using the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.com to solicit donations from the public for their own "Crackstarter Campaign" in an effort to raise the funds to buy the video and publish it for all to see.

But, then Gawker announced last week that they had lost contact with the owner(s) of the video with the following statement:

"The last time we established contact with the people who are in possession of the video was this past Sunday, and we have not been able to reach them since," wrote Gawker editor John Cook, adding: "If we end up meeting that goal and fail to consummate this transaction, we will-as we promised at the outset-donate the proceeds to a Canadian non-profit that addresses substance abuse issues."

Gawker said they would donate the funds to a Canadian substance abuse charity if the campaign reached it's goal. ($183,450 with 26 hours to go, as I write this) But, who died and made them king? What if Gawker donors don't want to see their money donated to charity and would instead like their money back? Besides, if the money is donated to charity as a plan B, who gets the tax deduction?

These and other questions will be answered after the jump...

These days, it seems talent isn't enough. Celebrities have to get their name and image out there as well, hawking so many products with their faces on them that it can be utterly nauseating. Toys, clothes, fragrances, jewelry, food, drinks, accessories and more: the list goes on ad infinitum.

But some things celebrities lend their name and image to are downright dangerous, particularly when they get in bed with the credit and debit card companies largely responsible for so much debt around the world.

More and more the public is able to apply for credit and debit cards with their favourite celebrities face on them, but the fees and interest charges are often so high that only the rich and famous who endorse these cards can afford them.

​Ahead, we'll show you whose promoting what cards and pull back the curtain on what the card companies are charging you to have them.

Any first time car buyer is guaranteed to be intimidated by the terms and lingo used by most salesmen on the lot. Problem is, if you miss what's being said, you may miss great opportunities to save big money. This is why we've prepared a gallery of all the lingo you need to know to gain the upper-hand when buying a car. Some of these terms aren't even supposed to be public knowledge, but members of sites like CarCostCanada.com will get a piece of that secret information and most definitely gain an advantage during the negotiation process.

Click on a a photo to find out how.

With spring in the air and summer on the way, Canadians from coast to coast have begun asking themselves that age-old question, "Is it time for a new car?" It's no surprise the country's automakers are listening. "Manufacturers realize a growing number of consumers consider purchasing or leasing new vehicles in the spring," confirms Ben Spatafora, National Director for Car Cost Canada, "and they've become very competitive in enticing consumers to act on their impulses."

Trouble is, car-buyers can feel intimidated by the flood of advertising being pushed their way. "It can be overwhelming," adds Spatafora, "not to mention confusing. At Car Cost Canada, we believe an informed consumer is an empowered consumer. Since 1999 we've made it our mission to provide our members with up-to-date, easy to understand, essential information that allows them to not only choose the right vehicle for their needs, but also save Time, Money and Aggravation in the process."

Car Cost Canada is a is a national service that provides detailed, online new vehicle pricing data for its members. The company's website at CarCostCanada.comis accessible 24/7 and is continually updated, making it easy for potential car and truck buyers to compare every manufacturer's current incentives, factory rebates, cost pricing information, finance and lease rates, and more. As such, they're the perfect people to tell you what to look for if you're in the market for a new car this spring.