Running out of other People's Money

Margaret Thatcher once famously quipped that the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money to spend.

Greece is in the middle of proving that the people who support the socialist ideal will turn on the government they created as soon as that eventuality comes to fruition.

Robber mentality.

I truly wish more people could see the health care issue this way.

In a related note as was pointed out to me by Mike Davidson on FB, Danny Williams decision to go to Florida in spite of his support for the Canada health act is no more (or less) hypocritical than the robber who locks his own door when he goes out to rob other peoples houses.

The Second Tier

Danny Williams proves what those of us who are paying attention already know. There are two tiers of health care in Canada already.

The first tier is the majority that can only afford to pay 40% of their taxes to Canada's bloated health care mafia and accept the service that provides them. The second tier are those who can afford to do that, and escape the mediocre service of nationalized health care and pay for the best healthcare that money can buy... elsewhere.

I don't begrudge Danny getting the best for him, that's rational. However I'd like to remind everyone that in the future when Danny boy comes out in favor of the Canada health act he is being nothing short of hypocritical.

And We Call it Aid...

*

"Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason."

The concept is simple, allow the people of Africa to solve their own problems and they will be better off, and will be able to stay better off.

Imagine if you will that suddenly the average Canadian couldn't afford to buy a house so another country decided that they were going to donate as many fully constructed homes to Canada as possible. Think about the repercussions that would have. The Canadian builders couldn't hope to compete with free houses so they would go out of business, which would push construction workers out of work, which would mean less building supplies were needed, which would lead to layoffs in those industries. Markets are all interconnected and all these layoffs would lead to people having less money to build and buy houses which would exacerbate the original problem, not solve it.

Notice in this map that South Africa entirely surrounds the tiny country of Lesotho. Aid is supposed to go to countries suffering from drought or other such serious disasters right? Well, how is it that the entire area surrounding Lesotho requires less than 1% Aid and that country needs between 5 and 10%?

A true plan to revive the economy

Stockwell Day is now Canada's Treasury Minister, and will have to make cuts to government spending amounting to about 8% to reduce spending by $19 billion over the next five years. To make this palatable to voters and the opposition parties, transfer payments are to be considered "untouchable". There is a lot of fat in terms of programs which are either not delivering what is promised, have outlived their usefulness or are mismanaged and can be reorganized to run more efficiently. Consider that large corporations like Canadian Tire or Wal-Mart typically only have five layers of management, while government departments have convoluted structures with multiple layers of management (reputedly as many as 30, but I'll leave that as anecdotal until I see proof)

I think the emphasis on protecting transfers is wrong headed, but that is because I don't see the idea of the State seizing wealth and property from the productive to give to political rent seekers and the non productive as being a proper role for the State.

However, given political reality, cutting transfers to individuals would be electoral suicide, so about $61 billion is untouchable.

We can still look at other areas like transfers to governments (especially governments with their own sources of revenue like offshore oil or hydro), which gives us another $46 billion to work with.

Subsidies should be cut for another @ $30 billion

Crown corporations should be cut as well, since that provides another $8 billion

Adding that up, we can get $84 billion in cuts. Sustained for six years this would allow the entire national debt to be paid off, and if the program is sustained for 12 years then all unfunded liabilities (CPP, pensions, etc.) are also covered.

Not included in this virtuous circle is the possibility of reductions in operating expenses due to the ending of so many programs, and of course the reduction of the $30 billion/year in debt payments. Real tax cuts can be made from the savings here, energizing the economy and in all likelyhood speeding up the entire process through increased tax revenues.

Here is a real program to get behind: don't leave the debt to our grandchildren but pay it off before our children leave school!

Take that Alinsky!

Over the years, the Progressives have infiltrated and taken over mass media and popular culture. Their memes are embedded in virtually any TV show, movie or piece of music, providing an echo chamber of self referential and self re-enforcing themes and ideas. Original and critical thought is not just discouraged, it is simply drowned out.

Or is it?

Take a look at this video which lays out the two main strands of economic thought in an entertaining Rap video:

"Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk

Andrew Breitbart of BigJournalism fame now has a catchy tune for "Retracto the Correction Alpaca" (itself an entertaining meme):

http://bigjournalism.com/retracto/2010/02/09/introducing-the-retracto-the-correction-alpaca-theme-song/

Enjoy, and pass these on.

Facta Non Verba

Remember, Canada's health care system is just as good as any other...

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

W.E. Henley

Haitian Earthquake & global warming

Well if Danny Glover says it it must be true...

What is that old saying about staying silent and being thought a fool, and opening your mouth and removing all doubt?

Danny, you are a fool.

Exactly What We Don't Need

This, from Lawrence Martin, is exactly what we don't need. Note in his praise of the once and future king that it isn't because of anything he has actually done, but more because he is "young, articulate in both languages, dashing, magnetic."

I would rather that Lawrence Martin had come out in favour of principle, diligence, trustworthiness, honour or loyalty... Certainly any one of these things is more important, more telling of the nature of a man and his worth as a politician than good looks, the gift of gab, flamboyance or enamouring qualities.

As long as the people look for the qualities Mr. Martin extols we will lurch from bad government to worse, from one duplicitous self-serving politician to the next.

I don't care about a politicians age, I care about his ideas and ideals and none of the ones we have currently have either in abundant supply or good condition.

Say No to "Fair Trade"

I've always avoided "fair trade" products, equating them with collectivism and anti-industrialists, this article proves my assumptions correct.

Capitalism and freedom remain the best and surest road to prosperity.

H/T Diana at Noodlefood

The Third World

In our backyard.

Aside from the issue of national sovereignty there is no discernible difference between the cleptocratic nature of many "First Nations" and many of the banana republics and their theiving leaders in Central Africa.

It's interesting that the people on the reserves don't get fired up over this, but hey... it's not like its their money anyway is it? They just wait and hope when its time to take their turn they can have a chance to feed deeply off the white mans guilt too.

And here I was going to try to stay positive and even festive what with x-mas being so close...

Oh well, "the best laid plans of mice and men", and all that.

Christmas

From the Ayn Rand Lexicon...

[In answer to the question of whether it is appropriate for an atheist to celebrate Christmas:]

Yes, of course. A national holiday, in this country, cannot have an exclusively religious meaning. The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of any particular religion: it is good will toward men—a frame of mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be part, but is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion.

The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”—not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form—by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .

The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores and other institutions—the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only “commercial greed” could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.

The Objectivist Calendar, Dec. 1976.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Lies, Damn Lies...

And AGW

Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

The HadCRUT database includes specific stations providing incomplete data and highlighting the global-warming process, rather than stations facilitating uninterrupted observations.

On the whole, climatologists use the incomplete findings of meteorological stations far more often than those providing complete observations.

UPDATE:

It's not about global warming... Follow the money, follow the noise.

What people say is important. When the activists chant “stop green capitalism”, they honestly truly mean it. It's not that its not green, its that it is capitalism.

Then President Chavez brought the house down.

When he said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really and imperial dictatorship…down with imperial dictatorships” he got a rousing round of applause.

When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening.

But then he wound up to his grand conclusion – 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ - “our revolution seeks to help all people…socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell....let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation.

Canada's evolution to a two party state

Canada's political left should unite if they want electoral success.

The NDP may manage to split left leaning Liberals, but I think they are more likely to court and win over the Greens, as their actual philosophies are much more closely aligned. The Greens must be frustrated in both the total lack of electoral success and the antics of Liberal Senate wannabe Elizabeth May, so I think they will be receptive to overtures.

However, the big turning point will happen post 2014, when new seats are created in the House and it becomes possible for any party to win a majority without seats in Quebec. This will marginalize the BQ, and Quebec voters will abandon the BQ in droves to keep a “seat at the table” in Canada's Parliament. Since the NDP is a Social Democratic party and the BQ is a National Socialist party, the BQ voters will move to the NDP as the national party with the closest political philosophy.

Will everyone on the political Left want to join or merge with the NDP? of course not. Given that 51% of the Greens reject it, there are still 49% of Green voters on the table (and I think the 51% is the older, more libertarian “Greens” from the founding days). After all, not 100% of the Reformers or PC party moved over to the CPC when it was founded, and stranded remnants of the Greens, BQ and LPC will probably wash up on the beach between now and 2014 depending on how smart the NDP are and how fast they work should they decide to read this post and act on it! (Anyone want to forward this to Jack Layton? Heh).

The core philosophies or ideologies of the NDP will appeal more to the Greens and BQ than anyone else, and only the NDP has the critical mass of operatives, money and political experience to actually do this. Certainly if the Progressives want to finally gain political power, this combination makes the most sense, uniting similar groups into a single national party rather than several marginal and regional parties.

This also makes the choice very clear to all Canadians on election day, a clear decision between the Classical Liberal philosophies of the CPC (however much they honour them in the breach) and the Progressive philosophies of the new Socialist Alliance Party. The post 2014 landscape will be much clearer for all.

“Unite the Left” will certainly take a while, how long did it take to go from Reform vs PC to Alliance vs PC to merger?

The BQ have no real incentive to merge today, but their voter base will see the changes in the wind after 2014, that should start the process of an NDP/BQ merger, or an NDP takover as former BQ voters move to the NDP to keep a seat at the table.

The Greens will probably come to the NDP if asked nicely (i.e. offered some real incentives), and a large fraction of their voter base will follow since the NDP offers pretty much the same ideology. This is probably something the NDP will have to initiate and manage to completion, and yes, it is something of a wild card as to how and when this can happen. Left leaning Liberals might start flocking to the Socialist Alliance Party in a sort of reversal of the former NDP players shifting to the Liberals since they will follow political power, and a rapidly growing Socialist Party will certainly be an attractive force compared to the constant bickering and searches for a new “Dear Leader” that the Liberals have been reduced to. After all, who will have a better chance at getting the keys to the treasury?

Will this happen tomorrow? No, of course not. Many Liberals are clinging to the idea that the Young Dauphin will be their “Dear Leader” who takes them back to power (and the ones who don’t are probably gathering around the Bob Rae/Power Corp faction). This fight will take some time to play out. There are five years to go before seat reapportion becomes mandatory (and the Prime Minister can upset the entire timeline by bringing in legislation creating the new seats any time between now and 2014), which I see as the trigger. Jack Layton could start the process sooner by reaching out to the Greens, and maybe to disaffected left Liberals, but the big shift won’t come until Quebec voters see that it is really possible to have a Parliamentry majority without having seats in Quebec.
Two notes here:


1. The rush from the BQ might take place right after the 2014 period, or they might need to be “convinced” of their irrelevance in one post 2014 sitting of Parliament, but the Quebec voters will indeed move.

2. “National Socialist” in its correctly political meaning: this is a Socialist party which divides the spoils on the basis of “ethnicity” rather than “class”, “gender”, “victim hood” or other non racial group identifiers.

Copen-hating

Hold the line.
Don't give in to this crap.
Don't allow them to turn Canada into their cash cow.
Stop the politicization of science.
Expose the lies.

Old PM's Don't Die...

They go to Copenhagen to say stupid shit.

Ignoring for a moment that Anthropological Global Warming is bunk, or at the very least not science, is this guy serious?

The New Horror File

(Ripped from the headlines: Dec 8, 2009)

Woman 'sentenced to death for adultery'

"Nine men are awaiting trial in eastern Spain after allegedly sentencing a woman to death for adultery in an unofficial court held under Islamic sharia law."

More compassion from the religion of peace.


Climate conflict

"The EPA's endangerment ruling could allow the Obama administration to regulate emissions without approval from lawmakers in Congress and the Senate."

Didn't Americans fight a war to win the right to have their voices heard in government?


The Real Inconvenient Truth

"A planetary law, such as China's one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently, which is one million births every four days."

Why don't the nut-jobs that write these kinds of doomsday articles ever take into account the human propensity to solve problems, to innovate and to create new opportunities in response to reality? How many thousands of years have people been claiming that we are going to destroy the planet or be wiped out by our own excesses?

Hey Moon-Bat's listen closely Human beings are adaptable!!!

Meditarianism

When 50% of a province's resources are concentrated on running a single program then you no longer have a government run program, you have a program run government.

This is the situation Ontario finds itself in. According to the Frasier Institute next year the Ontario government will spend more than half its revenue on health care, the year after New Brunswick will follow suit, by 2034 four more provinces will follow suit...

With no alternative available to the citizens, the government is essentially nothing more than a support system for medical totalitarianism.

In Meditarian Canada, health care runs you!

The Charitable State.

Invariably when arguing for complete laissez-faire policies and the dismantling of the welfare state the question that the statist asks is...

"What are we to do with the people who can't fend for themselves as well as others and who need assistance in order to survive in society?"

The Objectivist response is that the individual can do whatever he wishes to do, but that he can not claim the right to force others. That he can not take his personal penchant for charity and with the loaded gun of government force others to be charitable.

There are two man-centric ideologies at work here, represented by the welfare state, and the charitable state.

The welfare state is ruled by conflicting premises.

On one hand is the claim that we men are caring creatures and that we are not "wired" or "evolved" in such a way to act as self-centered, egoists and individualists. The claim is that each and every one of us needs the community, the collective and as a result men overwhelmingly realize that the collective is greater than the sum of its parts. This reasoning is used to indicate that men should help one another, that we ought to be charitable, altruistic toward our fellow men.

The other (and contradictory) premise, which leads the welfare state to use its ill gotten force is that men are nasty, selfish, ignorant brutes who would never stop to help their fellow men and therefore must be forced to support all sorts of initiatives and progams to alleviate the suffering and hardship of those less fortunate.

Yes, the claim is that we are simultaneously "hard wired" to be altruistic and yet need to be forced to think of anyone but ourselves. This is a contradiction of epic proportions.

The Objectivist stance on the less fortunate is simple. Let each and every individual choose whether he is going to be charitable or not, depending on his preference and his ideals, his values and his own situation. There is no need to force charity.

Without government forcing the charitable to pay for every politician's pet project or well connected pressure group's personal agenda the amount of disposable income available for charity would be immense.

The benefits to the contributors would similarly be valuable to them. "Contribute to a home for the homeless? Sure! It might reduce crime, it would certainly make the city look better. Donate to the family down the street in their time of need, but of course..."

Funny isn't it that it is the selfish egoist's that are certain that individual, honest, uncoerced charity can function as required, and that the altruistic, collectivist humanists see the need to point a gun at your head and demand your money for their life.