Icebound

... but this report: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/introduction-of-land-transfer-tax-in-other-cities-carries-huge-cost-new-report-1.1937803# ... gives us all the reasons why it is a bad idea. Of course, the MAIN reason (unstated) why it is a bad idea, is that land transfer taxes go to the city for gravy things like transit and sidewalks. If we could only eliminate it, the price of resale houses would go up approximately an equivalent amount, and that would mean extra money in the realtor's pocket, to spend on essentials like manicures and Carribean vacations.

Excellent idea.... but you do know that it would require a coup, right? The current Government of the Land states thusly on its website: Israel is a land and a people. The history of the Jewish people, and its roots in the Land of Israel, spans some 35 centuries. In this land, its cultural, national and religious identity was formed; here, its physical presence has been maintained unbroken throughout the centuries, even after the majority was forced into exile. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence, lost almost 2,000 years earlier, was renewed. (http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Pages/ISRAEL%20IN%20BRIEF.aspx) So your job is going to be to revoke that statement into something secular. Much as that may be the most likely road to peace, it ain't gonna happen. Which means, of course, that most likely PEACE ain't gonna happen. ... ...

I don't think the JDL will be a very big problem in Canada because the Jewish organizations themselves will want to keep their more extreme activities reigned in... and they have been pretty quiet since the last arrests in 2001-03 or thereabouts. The JDL itself is not a CRA charity, but in the light of the current audit frenzy, the CRA might be paying closer attention to any charity that has an even remote association. ...

Oh, please DO explain how that would work ....

You mean better than the Ukrainians had during the pro-EU protests???

The Globe and Mail says 52 charities are being audited. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-revenue-agency-says-charities-probe-even-handed/article19793673/ The are a few listed in various reports..... such as Tides-Canada, PEN, etc........ but nowhere have I been able to find a complete list of all 52. Does anybody have it? ...

Yes it is! Should we use technology to try to reduce it? .... or to create more?

First.... they are NOT, actually, because I have some element of control over the weeds that directly affect me. Second... Your 99.9% figure highlights a dangerous creeping devaluation of democracy and basic human rights. Ideally, you want to extend the same rights to everybody. But when we start to say, "well, its OK if we trample on one out of every one-thousand innocents", we soon start to say well, maybe 2 in a thousand,... how about 50 in a thousand??? When radio-controlled aircraft modelling was an expensive, technically-demanding, time-consuming hobby, only the most enthusiastic would pursue it. But improvements in technology.... especially battery capacity, camera size/weight, digital radio reliability, and GPS-directed flight automation.... has transformed this one category of RC aircraft into cheap, readily-available, "plug and play", off-the-shelf toys.... ...no, not toys anymore.... but serious information gathering devices which allow farmers to map their lands, police to survey the crime scene, and amateur voyeurs to get "cool shots". As the cost continues to plummet, the prevalence for ..shall we say.... "non-productive" use..... will, in fact, become an issue. ...

Yeah, but the quality is questionable.... increased CO2 results in reductions in protein, and increases in cyanide content: http://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/thegreengrok/fertilizationeffect/

Both sides, all sides. Maybe not, but the federal government DOES provide "leadership". Its stamp of approval should be the moral guidance for the rest of the rabble. But since its relationship with the rabble is.... questionable?....then its approval is not going to be trusted.

Well, maybe not "nothing".... but GW/CC is definitely not all of it. Harper's centralized, controlling, "I know better than you", non-compromising style of government for 8 years.... has alienated the very people he now needs as his friends, if this is ever to get off the ground. To get this done, serious science had to be studied seriously... by both sides... they had to talk, negotiate, compromise. To do that, you need relationships, a sense of trust.... and for 8 years, Harper did nothing to gain the trust of scientists, environmentalists, natives. A leader has to lead.... Harper's idea for 8 years, was to WHIP. Whippees tend to be less than cooperative. ,,,

... Harper, Enbridge, and the petroleum industry would have had a lot easier ride, had they not spent the last 8 years digging their heels in against environmental protection and against the science of climate change. So now, no matter what Harper may say, the environmentalists will take their own turn digging in THEIR heels against Harper. Strangely, the pipeline is a lot more likely to be built under a LIBERAL or NDP government, ...if it makes economic sense.... just because of their better relationship with environmentalists. ...

The reason that the cost of health care in the USA is so high... relative to other countries with similar health outcomes.... is that people (or insurance companies) ... are paying for all kinds of procedures and medications which have, ultimately, questionable benefit on health outcome. If you want to hold costs down, then you pick those procedures that are shown to have significant benefit. ... and anyway ... there is nothing to prevent you taking the test if your doctor suggests it... you just pay for it yourself.

Yes. What it made me know is that he put all the data on line for everyone to see. Now, whether that kind of transparency becomes evidence of "fraud" as the article suggests.... or whether it becomes evidence that there is indeed something to what he says..... will probably take more than a week or two to digest and determine... Having seen him explain and defend his thesis.... and then having seen the likes of Kevin O'Learly go ballistic and shout his ideas down without any attempt of discussion, debate, or reason.... assures that Piketty's ideas will be widely accepted, even WITHOUT scrutiny. But it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. Read Piketty together with: "Leverage: Why Cheap Money will Destroy the World" by Karl Denninger. .. . ...

A sort of mini-globalization. Our government has successfully partitioned this country into regions so that.... Each region now has to compete, not only against other countries.... but against other regions of Canada.... in order to attract business and employment. I suppose there is some kind of logic about that..... but does that make us a "united country", or just a free-for-all-every-region-for-itself? ....

Ah, yes... reform the entitlements. How about reforming the underlying structure that caused these "entitlements" to become necessary? Why do we NEED old-age-security? Why do we NEED welfare? Why do we NEED employment insurance? Why do we NEED subsidized housing, food banks, child-poverty programs, subsidized day-care, minimum wage laws, etc. etc. ??? Is it because there is something inherently unbalanced about the way we value labour vs the way we value capital? When even KENNY tells Business that.... "if you can't find workers, then raise your wages... (kind of a free-enterprise thing to say, wouldn't you think?)..... ... and they come back suggesting that he sounds like a union-sympathizer.... then it is pretty clear that business thinks it is "entitled" to cheap labour.... and that leads in part to those other entitlements that you abhor. Maybe its time to reform some of those Business-type of "entitlements", as well... Maybe you will save ALL KINDS of money of welfare-type programs, if you pay a decent wage in the first place... ...

A great quote to describe a Conservative Minister: "Minister Kenny is not known to be a union sympathizer, but some of his recent language would make you wonder" - Dan Kelly, head of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.... from the Toronto Star, Saturday May 17,

No, public sector jobs are not sacrosanct, and like any activity, efficiency is necessary and cost-control is necessary.. yada yada... BUT.... converting one public sector job into one private sector job does not "create" a job, does it?. In the grand scheme of things, it usually DECREASES the number of jobs. But for the moment, let us assume that there is the SAME number of jobs, but that there are supposed efficiencies.... These "efficiencies" are usually brought about by lower wages...which, once again... reduces the buying power of the small guy. We can tweak all we want, but as long as the small guy has no buying power, there will be no big job-creation.... just the same kind of noise we get now.... up one month, down the next.... ...

Yes, but unfortunately, private industry is NOT spending, and thus is NOT creating jobs. And that has not been changing when taxes get cut. So WHOSE spending is going to create jobs? Well,it turns out that jobs are created when the small guy is flush with money and buying. Right now the small guy is up to his ears in debt, and private industry keeps squeezing his paycheck. What you are getting is capital accumulation, and not job creation. Fire 100,000 more and put them into the "non-buyers" category....and see what kind of job-creation you get? ... ...

Building a "new" internet is not a bad idea. Its current evolution is about that of a 1937 Chevy... maybe 1949 Oldsmobile, if you are generous. Long way to go for it to become a 2015 Lexus ....or better. We now have at least SOME experience with global communication and what is good and what is bad about it. What unintended consequences have occurred, and what unforeseen opportunities it has created. Starting from scratch to build something that has more of the good, less of the bad, and some off the wish list could be the next logical step in positive internet evolution.

... Now I know why my Cisco-made Rogers TV PVR has all that random disc activity. It never seemed to make sense when everything is shut down and no recording is supposed to be going on????? ..... ....

YES! I kind of like it. So a couple of million sitting in your investment portfolio SHOULD BE TAXED at 1% per year, just about the same as your mansion on the Bridle Path.... And, of course...restore a point or two on the GST, which most economists told Harper not to cut. Yep... I like it. ...

The reason soaring inequality MATTERS.... is because it is rising FASTER than the rise of GDP. While the workers share of GDP has been in more or less constant DECLINE http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/brent.neiman/research/KN.pdf It may be true that the poor enjoy good and services more than ever, but how much of that is the result of the huge personal debt load? Or, for that matter, personal AND public.... ...

You and I both know that $68M was not going to hire 1000 employees or anything like it. ...

OH? This article would suggest quite the otherwise... http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/poll-50-percent-of-all-catholics-support-abortion-in-all-or-most-cases