In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenstern and Joshua Rosner, both of the New York Times, do a reasonable job of exposing some of the greed and corruption that led to the financial collapse of 2008 and the Great Recession which America finds itself unable to recover from even three years later. I found the exposé of …
Category Archive: Freedom
Aug
15
Book Review : Rollback
I first read Thomas E. Woods in his book Meltdown, which I reviewed two years ago. Hi most recent book, Rollback, attempts to lay out a process by which America – and by extension many western countries, including Canada – can reduce the size of government and remove many of the ways the government interferes …
Aug
07
Mark Cuban on Patent Law
Mark Cuban has a very good post recommending improvements to the patent law system. While his reference is clearly the US patent system, this applies to most of the patent laws around the world, including here in Canada. I would add one more thing to Mr. Cuban’s short list of fixes. While he focuses on …
Jun
16
A Lesson for Canada’s Dairy Industry
And for the Government of Canada. The Economist, in the Monday 20 June 2011 print edition, has an article on the success of New Zealand’s agricultural exports. Some 25 years ago, the NZ government, in a spate of government cuts, dismantled the supply management system that had coddled various agricultural businesses for decades. The result? …
Apr
20
On Ignatieff’s plan
I was going to write on Ignatieff’s plan for taking power after defeating a Conservative budget following the election, should the Conservatives fail to gain a majority in the House of Commons. But the Premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, has said it much more succinctly than I would have: I am deeply troubled by …
Apr
18
Health Care and Election 2011
To my faithful readers – all four of you – I apologize for my lack of posting this election season. Like many, I find this fourth election in 7 years a little uninspired. Scratch that – I find it insipid and depressing. From all sides. The issues that concern me are those that concern most …
Jan
06
Tolerance in the Muslim World
I find it frustrating that extremist Muslims and Islamist governments complain about western voices being anti-muslim in the West, and using the instruments of liberal democracy to try to prevent being “insulted”, while at the same time condemning, attacking and persecuting non-muslims in their own countries. If Muslims want to be treated as equal partners …
Dec
21
Ayn Rand, Futurist
Normally, I don’t like to post blatant “I agree” posts that simply point to someone else’s blog, but this time I can’t resist: (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12 Dec 201) Earlier this month, responding to a shortage of chemotherapy drugs in Minnesota, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) wrote to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking that the FDA …
Oct
26
Say NO to Pigouvian Food Taxes
The National Post, today, covers an urging by the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s expert panel that the government should impose taxed on sugary drinks and fatty foods as a disincentive to obesity. There is this ridiculous statement: Its lead author insists, however, that the soda-tax and other proposals do not represent nanny-state intervention into diet …
Oct
24
First Nations history in the schools
Recently, my daughter came home with homework that asked the question “Why should we learn about the histories and cultures of the First Nations?” She had begun to answer this in essay form, and asked me to read it. I was frustrated by the instruction she had clearly received at school, as it seemed to …