On Work

Here is a great video, now 3 years old, where Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame talks about work and the failure of western society to make work “attractive”, particularly those jobs that we really need:   Here also is a link to Rowe’s action after his revelation about the need for more people to be …

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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 …

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The Decline of America

In Mark Steyn’s recent treatise, After America, he makes the case that American society is doomed unless the people of the United States very rapidly repudiate the social welfare state and expansive federal government that they have voted for repeatedly over the last fifty years.   This data, which I found at Zero Hedge, shows …

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The City of Calgary shouldn’t waste time on “sustainable food”

The other day on my drive home, Angela Kokott (CHQR 770 drive home show host) interviewed Calgary alderman Giancarlo Carra (Ward 9) about the City of Calgary’s  efforts to consider the “Sustainability of the Food Supply”.  Carra droned on about the need for the City to have a food plan to make sure that all Calgarians …

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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 …

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On WorkAlberta electricity “market” is brokenThe Decline of AmericaThe City of Calgary shouldn’t waste time on “sustainable food”There will be no Deus Ex Machina

Oct
24

R.I.P. John McCarthy

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Yesterday, John McCarthy, one of the fathers of modern computer programming passed away.  John McCarthy may not have received as much notoriety among tech people as Steve Jobs did, but he was perhaps more influential.

McCarthy developed LISP in 1959, based on Alonzo Church’s lambda calculus, for use in artificial intelligence research.  My contact with LISP was limited to some programming using a subset of Common Lisp in 1998-2000 to extend a system that was originally developed by academics.    My previous programming background was in BASIC, FORTRAN and Pascal and while I initially balked at the prefix notation and plethora of parentheses of Lisp, I quickly recognized the inherent value of code and data being interchangeable.  I have since learned to program (I am no expert programmer) in Visual Basic, C#, Python and Javascript and I still find myself stumbling into the thought “this would be easier in LISP”…

For those who haven’t experienced Lisp, I recommend the books Practical Common Lisp by Siebel and On Lisp by Graham.  Or just see this comic:

So may John McCarthy may see what he discovered.

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Oct
22

On Canadian History in the Schools

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My eldest daughter is in the eighth grade, and she is a fairly typical 13 year old.  She likes and excels at math, likes to read and enjoys most of her classes.  At her school, they long ago merged what were once Grammar, Literature, History and Geography into one giant mess called “Humanities”.  While I suffered through “Social Studies”, this new monstrosity is worse.  Further, it has allowed socialist moral-relativism to displace first geography and then history from the curriculum.

She was asking me questions the other day, leading me to ask her a few.  I was surprised that she did not know who Sir John A. MacDonald was, nor Jacques Cartier, John Cabot, Samuel de Champlain, Wolfe or Montcalm, or Louis Riel.  I was further horrified to discover she couldn’t tell me what year Canada gained it’s independence (1867) nor could she name the 10 provinces and their capital cities.

I asked what she has been learning this year, and she said something about the Silk Road, the Renaissance and how white and black people haven’t gotten along and the black people were mistreated.  I didn’t bother to ask if they had discussed how African tribes had sold other African tribesman into slavery with the European traders…

The school curriculum needs rewriting.  Badly.  Because I don’t see that children are learning much of anything useful…

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Oct
22

On the “Occupy” Protests

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Today on Roy Green’s radio show, he discussed the Occupy protests in New York and other cities, and he had on a caller who argued that (my paraphrase):

Our elected representatives should be the People’s representative, not the Corporations’ representatives.  The government shouldn’t pass laws that limit individual freedoms.

I could agree with that – sounds almost Tea Party-ish!  But then:

Corporations are not my enemy.  But they should be regulated to limit their profits.  It isn’t fair for them to make money if they aren’t paying a living wage to their workers.

Egads! – that’s Marxism in sheep’s clothing.   You see, this is the problem with the Occupy Protestors.  Their understanding of economics is so incomplete and poisoned by socialist claptrap that they can’t see the contradictions in their own arguments.

If you want less government interference in your life, then you must accept less government interference in everyone’s life.  And if someone wants to start a business (i.e. a corporation), then the government shouldn’t interfere in whether the business is making 2% profit or 2000% profit.  Because the ability of the corporation to make money is the difference between it’s input costs (materials and labour) and the price it can charge for it’s product.  Since all of these costs are negotiated in the free market (materials are someone else’s products and the workers can negotiate their wages) then the corporation only makes a profit if it can convince suppliers and workers to work for less than they can get from willing buyers of their product or service.  If Apple can convince us to pay far more for their product than it costs to make, so be it!

The Marxist idea of a “Living Wage” is another dangerous concept.  Minimum wages drive up prices in the bottom of the market, because businesses need to make money.  And minimum wages create unemployment – and the higher the minimum wage the more unemployment it will create – for if the minimum wage is $10 / hr, then any worker who cannot produce more than $10 /hr in benefit to the employer (i.e. productivity) is unemployable.   Those who are the least educated and less skilled will be left with no employment opportunities at all.

 

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Oct
02

Replace Multiculturalism with Common Law Liberties

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Bill Flax at Forbes writes:

A history professor once postulated that the most pivotal battle shaping America’s destiny was not Yorktown or Gettysburg, but Quebec in 1759. There General Wolfe demolished French claims to Canada, which confirmed that America would develop decisively within the Anglo-protestant mold.

The latest Economic Freedom of the World rankings (for 2009) highlight the good fortune that resulted from Wolfe’s win. Many commentators will rightly deplore America’s precipitous descent over the past decade – down to tenth, yet another startling detail leaps from the page. Eight of the ten freest lands were once owned by Britain.

The nations enjoying limited government, property rights, sound currency, free trade, ease of regulation, low taxes and restrained public spending include: Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Chile, United Kingdom, Mauritius and the United States.

The study reveals a potent correlation linking freedom to economic progress. Nations following market principles propel past their government laden counterparts. They earn more, grow faster and “the poorest people in the most economically free countries are nearly twice as rich as the average people in the least free countries.”

Leading to:

It is the Left’s sacred cow that the Third World suffers from Western hegemony. Yet, the greatest happening to befall many peoples was seemingly being colonized by Britain…

Moral relativism and multiculturalism are leading the enlightened west towards the darkness of barbarism and the collapse of civilisation.  Mr. Flax is correct – the world would be a much wealthier and more free place if the ideals that started with the Magna Carta in 1215, and led to the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution were adopted by more nations.

 

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Oct
02

Excessive Government Regulation

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I found this tag on the stroller we push our son around in:

Thank you California

First of all, in a state as financially troubled as California, they can still afford their own “Bureau of Home Furnishings“?  At first I was terrified that this department of the State of California had at least 117 technical bulletins on Home Furnishings.  Then I found out they have 604 of them…  to date.

I guess I should thank the people of California for creating such a bureaucracy that is clearly “protecting” me here in Canada – I don’t see any other jurisdictions’ similar notices so we must all just defer to California.  Of course, the better question is whether we are really significantly safer with such regulation.  I would guess that if a cost/benefit analysis were done,  the money spent isn’t worth it.

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Sep
29

On Math in the Schools

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The teaching of mathematics in our public schools is in a terrible state and Margaret Wente has done a point of explaining one of the key reasons why:

An alarming number of elementary-school teachers are so uncomfortable with math, they can’t teach it properly. This means that more and more students are arriving at university without having grasped the basics.

This is a critical problem.  One of the comments left after her article raises the good question of why do schools bring in experts to teach French, Art and Music, but not Math?

The other problem, which Ms. Wente only briefly discusses at the end, is:

Of course, the current math curriculum is no help, either. It’s long on “discovery” and short on practice and problem-solving. “They don’t seem to want the kids to practise any more,” says Prof. Stokke, who runs an after-school math club for 12-year-olds.

This is a huge problem!  This is why we have a profusion of private tutoring services, ranging from the Sylvan Learning Centers to the Japanese-originated Kumon tutors.  Because the schools are failing for various reasons.

Math is a subject that cannot be “discovered” by the students the way art, music or even literature can be.   Math is perhaps the most abstract concept mankind has ever developed, and there is no way every child has the aptitude of Carl Friedrich Gauss.  Math can only be taught through memorization of axioms, learning algorithms and practicing until it becomes second nature.  But until those things are done with the basics (up to and including algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus), a student can’t even start to “discover” math.  Self directed math discovery is for those gifted in the abstract thought required, and except for those students on par with Riemann, Gauss, Euler, Newton or Godel, is probably out of reach until they reach graduate school…

 

 

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Sep
29

Spend the $5 Billion to mitigate Climate Change

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Today, there was much in the news about the report by the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, which says that the effects of global warming could cost Canada $5 Billion dollars a year by 2020.

If you read my post of January 2010, this would be a great deal!   We should embrace this and give up on any attempts to reduce emissions.   As I explained previously, reducing emissions will cost around $15 Billion per year just to meet our Copenhagen commitment.  And that won’t have any impact on global CO2 emissions, and thus no impact on the climate (if there is a causative link between CO2 and temperature…)

Even if you consider the worst case scenarios of costs rising to $43 Billion a year by 2050, that pales in comparison to the cost of CO2 emission reductions that won’t change anything if the USA, China, India and Brazil don’t take similarly drastic action.  And even if they did (and spent enormous amounts of money), the cost of climate change adaptation will STILL be cheaper.   This is called a cost-benefit analysis, or economic case comparison.

The correct answer is to stop trying to reduce CO2 emissions and adapt if and when the climate changes.

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Sep
27

Say No to More Stimulus

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As the state of the global economy declines, there are concerns in Canada that we too will slide into a second recession (the “double-dip”).  There are also calls that the Government of Canada should consider further stimulus to “help cushion the economy”.

This is a terrible idea.  h/t to Kate at sda for this link to Harry Koza explaining the problem of government intervention in the economy and how Keynesian “stimulus” is a failure.

Keynesian stimulus can never work.  The extra money that the state “injects” into the economy has to come from somewhere.  They either have to borrow it or print it.  The first means taking money from people or businesses that should be investing it in real economic growth – and would if they didn’t have the opportunity to buy “safe” government bonds.  This removes productive money from the economy and redistributes it, poorly, based on political expediency.  It cannot improve the economy.

The latest fiscal profligacy in the USA and EU are not built on borrowed money, however.  They are printing the money, if only in a different guise of having the central banks buy up sovereign debt, because the private sector isn’t buying it.  Only the People”s Republic of China continues to buy USA and EU sovereign debt, and they are going to start making demands…  This method of funding stimulus removes even more productive money from the economy, because it necessarily causes inflation and decreases the purchasing power of every other dollar in the economy.  This inflation has been hidden from us, somewhat, because much of the stimulus has disappeared into the banking industry and stock markets – but it will appear in consumer prices.

So for Canadians, we  must step up and write to our representatives in Ottawa and tell them that we say “NO” to more stimulus.

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Aug
25

On the State Funeral for Mr. Layton

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Unlike some commentators, I do not think it is inappropriate for the sitting leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition to be given a state funeral.  Perhaps he did not hold the honorific “Right Honourable”, nor was he Prime Minister or Governor General.  I do not believe that every opposition leader, nor every prime minister should be granted state funerals.  But because he was the current leader, I will no complain.

Many people have questioned why Mr. Harper deigned to offer this to Ms. Chow and the rest of Mr. Layton’s family.  I have a theory, which I have not seen elsewhere.  It is well known that Mr. Harper and Mr. Layton were not mortal enemies.  Mr. Harper, while he may disagree with the socialist policies of the NDP, does not have the visceral hatred of them that he appears to carry towards the Liberal Party.  Mr. Harper, in his efforts to derail and remove the Liberal Party from power and relevance, has always said he would rather the forces of the right should have to argue against the forces of the left, instead of the corrupt mushy middle.   I believe the Mr. Harper was overjoyed that the NDP were able to become the official opposition, and he knew that Mr. Layton was the key part in that.  He wants, even needs, the NDP to remain strong.  He is showing them, and the people of Canada, that the NDP are a reasonable organization.  He wants people have to choose between the Conservatives and the NDP.  Because it is much easier to sell many Canadians on the Conservatives if the NDP is the alternative, than if the Liberals were a viable option.   So Mr. Harper is being gracious towards Mr. Layton, in an effort to make the NDP look important and proper as the official opposition.

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Aug
15

Book Review: The Original Argument

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The Original Argument was not, as it leads one to believe from the cover, written by Glenn Beck.   It was largely compiled by Joshua Charles, a student at the University of Kansas who heard Beck’s call for some to “translate” the Federalist Papers into modern English so more people could appreciate them.  As far as I can tell, Beck’s involvement in this work was to provide some introduction to each section and a single page summary of the importance of each paper.  Charles appears to have done the heavy lifting of redrafting the papers, yet doesn’t get his name on the cover… Read the rest of this entry »

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