August1991

Sure they do. They understand about the in/elasticity of the labor demand for low wage industries and we are mostly a service industry. They understand with monopolising companies with huge profits or even competitive industries that increases in min. wages, it would just simply get absorbed Shannon and Beach, did a study that suggested increase in min. wage would only lower poverty minimally but a redistribution of creative programs targeting the working poor is a solution RB, your argument is blah, then blah and finally blah, blah.Sorry, RB. If you want to help poor people, give them money, directly. Don't jack around with wages. This is so obvious that I'm surprised anyone discusses it now.

Argus, I think your thread is good. But few have posted here. Your idea is sadly ignored. The UN supposedly represents 6 billion people. Not. It is a club of some 200 or so territorial representatives. Most of these representatives are chosen by the local warlord of a territory. The Middle East is filled with warlords, thugs. No wonder Israel gets voted down. (Caesar, are Arab leaders not warlords, thugs?) In textbooks, the UN was created in the 1940s as a response to World War II and the failure of the League of Nations. In fact, the UN was designed to mediate between two superpowers. It did. Now, the UN is otiose. To use Left Wing language, we need a new paradigm. Fast.

Isaac Bashevis Singer is one of my favourite authors. (IMV, he's in a league with Hugo, Zola, Twain and Balzac.) His novel, The Family Moskat, is a really good story. It's also hilarious, if you have an ironic sense of humour. I think Singer is a better storyteller than Sholom Aleichem. Singer's stories are more realistic, more human, somehow. I must admit that I did not read these novels in the original Yiddish. I read translations. I am a bit confused about the connection you make between Singer and the World Trade Center. LLL, what's your point?

I have heard that quote too, MS.I happen to think Suzuki is a smart guy but the anecdote strikes me as possibly true. Is it? (I hope not.) In fact, economic theory has the only sensible understanding of the environment. I am willing to say that economics offers the only way to ensure a proper environment for our offspring. Let's be realistic. The Suzukis of this world are pissing in the wind. Suzuki got his PhD researching fruit flies (I think). His Japanese look made him televisual in the 1970s. (If he had looked like Joe Clark, no one would know him now.)The environment is primarily an economic problem. This misunderstanding has been a source of never-ending frustration to me. For Canadian nationalists, the first good basic vulgarized book about this was written in 1968 by a Canadian. You can still buy Dales's book on Amazon. (Dales applied the idea of the Englishman Coase, published in 1960. If these names mean nothing to you, then you really shouldn't talk about the environment - even if you have heard of Suzuki.) (I am depressed that more English Canadians know about Suzuki than about Dales.)

Canada's sensible solution to a "political" problem (some voters want government to impose a minimum wage). In fact, there are federal minimum wages, as well as provincial, depending on employment. There are also nuances for types of employment and age.IMHO, minimum wage legislation should not exist. If, as a society, we want to help poor people, there are other, better ways to do this. Unfortunately, the pro-minimum wage Left Wing does not understand basic economics. Minimum wage legislation hurts the very people the Left supposedly wants to help. Fortunately, many western politicians understand economics better than Left Wing lobbyists. In the past few decades, the minimum wage has not changed but the labour market has. Wages are now market determined, as they should be.

Gov't does not have the resources? WTF?Let's be honest, Thelonious. There are two people: One can take money from your bank account at any time. The other must convince you to give it money. For some reason, you are suspicious of one person but not the other. Why? Thelonious, ever heard of a Rambler? What happened to Eaton's? Why didn't these corporations use "subliminal advertising"? It is. Government is like an insurance company, or a lawyer, or family.But agreed, a country is something else again.

Greg, You banned "Common Sense". Why? Is the ban permanent? Is it temporary? Is the cause of the ban public knowledge? Are its conditions public knowledge? Greg, are you a transparent bureaucracy? So many questions, so little time.

Our PM is Catholic, as about half of Canadians. (Underdog Irish, French, etc.) The Protestants are Anglicans, not Episcopalians.Sending Canadians to help? No problem. In the future, who knows? Canada's military is now traditional with many East Coast Maritime Lobsters. Canada is changing. But I think the Lobsters will assimilate the foreigners best and make Canada. [This post too is a risk. Am I wrong?]

I'll start here. Wal*Mart spends 'my' money, just as the Liberal Party supposedly spends 'my' money too.Hugo, I see the big difference between the PLC and Walmart. But they are both non-market institutions. I give corporations thousands of dollars every year, and I choose which corporation gets my dollar. I give governments thousands of dollars every year, and I choose a political party every so often. Huh? I fear the Leftists on this Forum won't get my point. (The Leftists who think Corporations are worse than Governments. Suits vs. suits. All Yes Men.) ---- Nevertheless, the government is an agency worth having. Why have two poison pill testers?

Of course, and these agencies are "gouvernement", by another name. Wal-Mart seems good at picking what is good to buy. Are the Liberals or PCs or NDP any different? I want good info. And I don't want to filter through the bad info. I pay you, as an agent, to figure it out for me.Hugo, sometimes this makes sense. That's government. (Hugo, have you ever hired a lawyer?)

Bush jnr? This is the "worst" failure you have found? Do you know American history? Huh? What happens if the US simply pulls out of the UN? Then what? (Have you ever considered a world based on voluntary relations?) Eh? WTF? Have you ever been to Cuba? Do you know anything about the place? (US dollars, not acceptable, gimme a break.) Wake up, smell the coffee. People trust free/black markets. Free/black markets tell the truth. Confused? Think about it. Obvious answer?Gretchen Wilson's Redneck Woman video The American Left really doesn't get it.

Albertans, people in BC, Newfoundlanders and people in Quebec would do quite well if Canada did not exist.Ontario would become another Michigan, or Ohio. I mean no harm when I state that.

Hugo, Stuff (cars, pills, power tools) are sometimes bad. Does it not make sense that we rely on someone else to determine whether this stuff is bad? (Several million people each testing a pill for poison is dumb, no?) Does it not make sense that we only need one person to make the test? (Once we know the pill is poison, do we have to test it again?) Hugo, does it not make sense to have only one person do the pill test for us? That one person, is he or she not the "government"?

RB, the male peacock has many colourful feathers. Why? Desmond Morris made the claim that we humans are a species with sophisticated methods to signal our abilities. Youth is an attractive feature of a partner. Old women incapable of pregnancy signal this by wrinkles and grey hair. Old men signal their impotence by wrinkles and baldness. As a species, we have not changed genetically for a million years or so. RB, how tall are trees in a forest? Why? *Rolls eyes* KK, are you clueless? Women are not aggressive? In some species, the female eats the male after sex.---- Note to BD: This thread, and your reference to rabble, depress me. I mean no harm and maybe I'm wrong. But surely I should get the chance to explain myself. And surely someone (at least one person) should stand up to say that others should hear me out. BD, there was nothing homophobic in my posts in the link you provided. In fact, my posts show a genuine desire to encourage tolerance. Young kids deserve the chance to find their own way. Sorry to use this public forum to make a private point.

Is it different for men?Why does youth appear better? What signals youth?

By my reckoning, there are about 15 regular posters on this forum. On Rabble, there are about 30 regular posters. On Free Dominion, about 20 posters. Poltiquebec has about 20 regular posters. Yet, "Canada" has millions of voters. IMO, I have seen many silly arguments on this forum. I was banned on Rabble. I have barely (never) posted on FD. I post occasionally on politiquebec. IMV, freedom of speech should be paramount. Internet forums are a new forum of communication. Whither democracy? Ordinary people love to gossip. Are Internet forums the future of society? Like law firms? Novels? I create this thread to wonder. Should we defend a right to express a viewpoint? What is an Internet forum?

Why are beards unattractive? What male politicians are bald? Why do women prefer taller men? Why is Clinton sexy?RB, perhaps unwittingly, you are raising a complex question. I raised such a question on rabble and I was banned. On this forum, I think, you are free to discuss your opinions. In any case, I will defend your right to argue whatever you believe. On Rabble, nobody came to my defence. RB, I have defended vociferously other posters on this Maple Leaf forum so you should feel free here too. IMV, the measure of an Internet Forum is how participants defend a poster. On Rabble, no one defended me. I felt like Salman Rushdie.

There were many, many briefs. That was the problem. The bureaucrats cover their vitals. The politicians take the heat. Caesar, I agree with you. Unfortunately, world history shows that Paul Bernardo nutcases tend to seek power. The US Constitution was drafted in an attempt to stop this. So far, 200 years later, the attempt has worked, sort of. The UN Charter, fifty years later, has singularly failed to do anything except breed corruption. Think about it. I tend to agree. IMV, Bush Jnr is not a moron. He's a coward. (BTW, most of us are.) I think he should have flown back to Washington that morning, despite what the Smurfs around him said. That's what Churchill would have done. I think your essay has scored a perfect zero for political astuteness so far.We're all entitled to an opinion. But I disagree with you.Politicians put their face in the line of fire. Bureaucrats draw their face from membership in a gang. Are you important because of what you have done or because you are member of a club? Hmmmm... Guess you never heard of the embargoes against Iraq and Cuba.Cuba has shops that accept US dollars, the primary trusted currency of the island. How did the dollars get there? How many cigars sold in America are Cuban?Iraq embargo? That was UN. Sean Penn went there. So, "embargo"? Let's get serious. How many Soviets/Albanians/Chinese went to Paris in 1965? How many Americans went to Hanoi/Peking/Moscow? Yep, I guess the French are up in arms about nothing. Petit con? Non. Espèce de niaisieux plutôt. IOW, you have no idea. Ever heard of the Canada Council? The CBC? Are you clueless? American? It's fair to argue that Earth is flat and is made of silly putty. Whether people believe you is another matter.Huh? Never has our planet had so many humans so free. Hence, our environmental problems. Actually, they're dead. Uh, Renaissance landscape painters?I am not American but I have a deep appreciation for the Enlightenment. It is unfortunate that you don't share this appreciation.Renaissance? Enlightenment? Are you a Dan Rather, clueless American? For the US, this troop deployment is miniscule. They are not an army of occupation. Only the US can do this now, because it is a democracy. We in the West depend on this. Americans should be proud. As did Athens. Nuh uh. If the Iraq invasion taught us anything it's that the Bush agenda on intelligence is not geared towards building an apparatus that will keep America safe, but for providing selective intelligence to support a political ideaology.BD, you don't get the political/bureaucratic dance.The politicians take the risk; the bureaucrats don't. Sometimes the politicians are wrong. In this case, I think they're right. BD, the strength of the US federal president is the admission of what is possible - and not more. Is it adhered to now?IMV, the drafters were smart White European guys. (But I notice there were no Blacks nor Chinese among them. I have always been suspicious of a homogeneous room.) I agree. But the US Constitution has lasted for over 200 years.But where do ordinary people benefit most. In so-called civilized countries with so-called long histories? For example, China, India, Europe? Let's be honest. Ordinary people have benefited most and lived best in America - the New World. Think. The success of a country is not its GDP.Moreover, these stats don't give foreign trade figures. (But foreign trade is not a measure of success either.) Is the goal to be the richest cadavre in the graveyard? Leave the largest pyramid? The most kids? (How many kids has Conrad Black left?)

MS wishful thinking. I give it 50/50. Trudeau lasted 18 months or so. That's the modern Liberal benchmark. WTF? What role is that? As in, Basra quagmire? Northern Iraq, Kurd quagmire? What part of Iraq has a problem?Central, Tikrit, Iraq? And is it really a problem, or is it the "harsh Afghan winter/NYT/Robert Fisk" quagmire? Since I just drove in freezing rain in Quebec, I think our winters are harsher and this makes for my personal 2005 prediction: the harsh Quebec winter will prevent Americans from a third northern invasion. BTW, why does nobody say anything about Afghanistan? Or Basra? I wouldn't bet on it. An academic study will show that Canada's low murder rate has nothing to do with gun control. Ontario Liberal politicians will foist the problem of regulating pets onto municipal politicians (but won't provide money). The price of a Big Mac will stabilize in the US and Canada. Huh? You mean the temperature in Celsius in Canada?

The interesting side is how the NGOs use this catastrophe to raise funds. IMV, the honest ones explain that any contributions will be used for long term work. These guys love dramatic catastrophes (earthquakes, floods, wars) at slow news times. The more striking the photos, the better. Donations increase. The ongoing deaths caused by malaria or bad drinking water never get headlines. (Without headlines, Andrew Carnegie built libraries in small towns across America.) As much as I thought the movie Wag the Dog was silly, I have to admit that Leftist charities rely on such "Save the Child" images.

MS, do you mean that the air quality in Canadian cities is worse now than in the 1920s and, as a result, more people now suffer from asthma?I didn't see the CBC show. Did it tie school absences through asthma to air quality? Did it make the claim that SUVs harm the air, cause asthma and lead to school absences? Is this what Dr. David Suzuki argued?

It is precisely such evidence that removes any credibility from the environmental argument. Any measure of temperature change must be broad both in time and geography. Regional and annual variations are too large. Since Dennis Meadows' Limits to Growth (heck, since Rachel Carson and Thomas Malthus), various people have predicted the End of Civilization as We Know It. The Leftist slant to these claims is interesting. Some on the Left are Robin Hoods: steal from the rich, give to the poor. But there are some other Leftists who simply want to see the whole thing go up in smoke: Pol Pot, self-loathers, anti-everything. IME, these latter Leftists are often the granola green types. Malthus? I sense the kids have cried wolf too often. ---- With all that said, there is no doubt that, in theory, the Greenhouse Effect exists. The Sun heats the Earth like a microwave oven. The Earth radiates heat like a toaster. It is true that Kyoto is much less about the environment and much more about stealing from the rich, primarily the US. (Kyoto exempts China and India and locks in Germany and Eastern Europe at Soviet emission levels.) Lastly, nobody owns the world's air and the world's oceans. In a world made rich through ownership traded in markets with prices, this remarkable lack of ownership is a recipe for catastrophe. Too much of our world is an open dumping ground.

As to the issue at hand, I have found that Ontarians accuse Westerners of being American (Texan, Nebraskan rancher/oil/farmer types) and Westerners accuse Ontarians of being American (NY, Boston sophisticates). The US is a big country and so is Canada. But there are many differences between Canadians and Americans. Canadians travel abroad anonymously, like Icelanders and Finns. Nobody has anything against us largely because nobody knows anything about us. (Increasingly, foreigners have learned that we have many immigrants in Canada. Family names now matter.) An American abroad is associated with everything from Disneyland to W. In the post above, the only thing I find truly surprising is why any Califiornian would choose Edmonton weather. (Come to think of it, I don't know why anyone would choose Albertan weather, except maybe a Russian.) Cherchez la femme. It must be true love.

Thelonious, I believe the "local user's time" on my account page is Nfld time (1 1/2 hours behind Montreal). I suspect the package provides a time until adjusted. I wouldn't draw any major conclusions.

It is not the borrowing that is the problem. It is the government's purchases of goods and services from the US economy that pose a problem.These are productive resources that too often could be better used elsewhere. Whether the government budget is in deficit or surplus is irrelevant. The size of government purchases is the relevant question.