The new President of France, Francois Hollande, has stated that he is against the severe austerity that European governments have been adopted and forced into by the EU, ECB and most notably, by Berlin. He has stated that the solution to France (and Europe’s) economic problems is more government spending. He is calling for the …
Category Archive: Freedom
May 15 2012
On Jobs and EI
I fully support the statements by Finance Minister Flaherty regarding the idea that there is no bad job, and that people on EI should have reduced opportunity to refuse to take jobs that are “unsuitable”. It is ridiculous for Thomas Mulcair and Peggy Nash of the NDP to argue that “skilled workers” who have education …
Apr 29 2012
More on Students Whining
Further to my previous post, one key thing I’d like to know about the protests in Quebec: What subjects are the protesting students majoring in? I’d be willing to bet that most of them are not studying a STEM field. I would like someone to go poll these students and ask two questions: Name …
Apr 19 2012
On Living Wages, a silly socialist idea
This week, Brian Pincott, one of the left-wing members of Calgary City Council (#yyccc) tweeted about an article published by his former co-alderman, Joe Ceci. This article espoused the idea that government should legislate a “living wage”. Let us examine a few points Mr. Ceci makes: We’d need to begin by valuing all working …
Apr 07 2012
On Conscience Rights
The issue of “Conscience Rights” has come up in the Alberta Election campaign, and I for one think this is a very good thing. Why? Because it draws a distinct line between those who support individual freedom, and those who support groupthink. Only Wildrose and leader Danielle Smith have spoken out in favour of letting …
Mar 25 2012
On Governments funding Governments
This week, while driving to work, the local radio news had quotes from Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) and Alderman Brian Pincott regarding the recent decision by the Alberta Provincial Government to raise the education property tax by 7.2% on residential properties. Now, for some background: Calgary City Council (#yyccc) had already decided to raise …
Jan 28 2012
Alberta electricity “market” is broken
Back in 2000, the PC government of Ralph Klein purported to “deregulate” the electricity industry, with the promise that more competition and the free market would provide more choice and better prices for Albertans. But something went wrong. Today, although many power plants have been built and the total installed base of power generation …
Dec 08 2011
There will be no Deus Ex Machina
Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge has provided a link to a very good article at Gold Switzerland: With most of the world’s major economies as well as the financial system bankrupt, there is only one solution that can save the world economy. Like in the Greek tragedies, Deus ex Machina is now the only way that …
Nov 18 2011
On Government Spending and Debt
Recently, the discussion in Europe about the need for austerity programs and higher taxes has continued to use the original Euro currency agreement, which allowed governments to run deficits of 3% of GDP. This was foolish from the beginning, but is especially foolish now that the governments of Europe find themselves nearly bankrupt. How does …