How to destroy an economy, explained in 3 minutes.

The video below is care of my contact at CATO, Dan Mitchell. So, it is specifically directed to the American situation, but it carries a universal message with regard to the action of a government that has unbridled powers.

"On a quick path to ­bankruptcy"

Last year he was dead last at 29.7 out of 100. Deficit Dalton has improved to Ninth spot this year, losing only to Robert Ghiz's PEI for worst performing Premier. This was published in an annual study: Measuring the Fiscal Performance of Canada's Premiers, 2011. That's encouraging but still a major drag on the Canadian economy because of Ontario's size.

A column in todays Financial Post by some of the authors of the study claims that: "during McGuinty’s tenure, program spending has grown 7.1% annually — more than twice the average rate of economic growth (3.2%). If an Ontarian family managed its budget the same way — that is, by increasing spending at double the rate of income growth — it would be on a quick path to ­bankruptcy."

The column continues: "in power, the McGuinty government has accumulated $41-billion in deficits with plenty more to come over the next six years ($68-billion)..........(Premier) McGuinty (is) quick to blame the economic downturn for (the) deficits, the reality is (the) current fiscal woes are primarily the result of excessive spending well before the recession." So will McGuinty change his ways if re-elected? You can bet he will be forced to by our increasingly precarious fiscal position.

Lies my Premier tells me....

Sick of the Liberal ads yet in this oppressively short election campaign? I am. Especially the ones where Doubtless Dalton stands alone spouting....well, untruths. OK, they're lies.

Lie #1. Ontario has North America's First Full Day kindergarten. Not quiet, this article from the New York Times in Sept 1996 shows it's not really a new idea nor is Ontario the first jurisdiction to try it. It's also not really a good idea, check this and this.

Lie #2. If you watch the entire 30 second YouTube video, each statement is "supported" by "footnotes" in the lower right hand corner. Most of the "support" is from the Ontario Ministry of Education about the good job it's doing as the department responsible for education. Hmmm, kind-of-like self appraisal, giving oneself high marks for doing a good job. I would always give myself high marks, especially if I wanted to keep my job. Good support, eh? Another of the supportive footnotes is from McKinsey & Co. an independent word-wide consulting firm. This company had as one of its Canadian consultants one Jim Coutts. Who is Jim Coutts? He was a Secretary to Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, both well known Liberals, you remember. Is it possible that the Canadian arm of McKinsey & Co. that ranked Ontario schools among the best in the world has anything to do with the Liberal Party of Ontario? Like maybe some of the staff are Liberals? No! I'm sure that's not possible.....

Transit Solutions in the GTA - Election Day minus 24

During the course of the Ontario election campaign, I will attempt to post alternative solutions to issues that are important to the campaign. So, below is a posting from Gene Balfour, Libertarian candidate in Thornhill Riding just north of Toronto. The topic is transit, does the government have the only solution, indeed, should the government be involved?

The GTA has recently been declared as the area with the longest commute to work in Canada and it is a top concern for residents, including those in the Thornhill riding .

I have first hand experience with commuting issues and can relate to the concerns of my fellow commuters.

I have lived in Thornhill this past 20 years and in North York the previous 25 years. Since 1978, I have been a regular TTC subway rider. While public transit has been “the better way” for me than commuting by car, I have also run to work, rode my motorcycle to work, taken the bus, and I occasionally drove my car to the office.

Today, people have many options for commuting. These include: walking, running, cycling, using a scooter or motorcycle, car and car-pooling using public roads as well as toll roads (407ETR), bus, street car, subway, commuter train.

What does this tell you? It tells me that people will use the commuting option that best suits their needs and circumstances at any given point in time, and that the commuting issue will be resolved by there becoming available as many viable options as possible - 'viable' being the key word.

There will never be one "silver bullet" that government will find that will satisfy all commuters. Gridlock and long commutes have been top citizen issues for as long as I can remember - if our governments were able to provide the answers, then our commuting issues would have long ago been solved.

It is time for a new approach - one that involves the dismantling of the government monopoly in transportation services that exists today, and opening the flood gates to profit-motivated private sector ideas and solutions.

In simple terms, I would approach this transportation strategy in two ways:

Step 1: Identify the government-imposed deterrents to private sector investment in transportation services, and remove them to create a vibrant and competitive "commuting services sector" in the GTA . This must include the elimination of the many unnecessary transportation regulations that discourage and curtail the creative thinking and capital investments that are needed to address our complex and chronic transportation issues.

Step 2: Notify and engage the business enterprises who possess the know-how and resources to address our transportation issues, and proclaim boldly the Ontario GTA area is enthusiastically seeking businesses who can finally "put to bed" our commuting complaints. It will be very important that allow competition in this new "commuting services sector" to follow its natural course without government meddling so that the forces of competitive options and pricing will keep the costs low. In addition, unionized labour should not be allowed to operate in this sector so as to maintain competitive pricing and service levels.

Free-enterprise entrepreneurial businesses will always trump government monopolies in pricing, service, convenience and quality. Since the industrial revolution, almost all of our most significant technological achievements have come from entrepreneurs whose profit motive has driven them to seek and keep happy customers. Government has had its chance – now its time to let capitalism come to the rescue.

To compliment Gene's message above, I have appended an excellent related video brought to my attention by Andrew Phillips from the Ottawa area. Randal O'Toole, a Senior Fellow at CATO discusses the privatization of transit in US cities. Well worth your time.

Crashing the statist party....

Ontario Election Day minus 25.
My first all-candidates meeting came as much a surprise to me as to my hosts. Just the other day my wife noticed a tiny article in the local paper about this meeting, my name was in the article, so I presumed they were expecting me. They weren't. When I showed up this afternoon at a local Chinese Mall, still no official invite, and no real idea what was going to happen, and no seat at the table, they were surprised. But after a brief discussion/negotiation and their realization that I was not going to get off the stage, they made room. Fortunately I was able to present my two minute speech from a Cable TV taping the day before - perfect for this. Here it is for anyone that needs a quickie intro:
I’m ___your name___, the Libertarian candidate in ___your riding___.

Take a moment and imagine receiving notification that you, and every member of your family, owed $21,000. That is the debt the Government of Ontario will have accumulated on your behalf by the end of this fiscal year. That’s $84,000 for a family of four! That debt has doubled since Dalton McGuinty took office just 8 years ago because spending has doubled. So, is the government twice as effective? Is health care better? Has education improved? Has traffic improved? Where did all this money go?
Everyone understands that monopolies result in increased costs, reduced service, and quality, while competition reduces prices, and improves service. Consider how your electricity bill has gone up – no competition. Consider the sale of liquor, beer, and wine – no competition. How about the long wait times for medical care? Again no competition!
Libertarians would allow a competitive medical care system in Ontario, greater choices in education, and real competition in producing electricity that would reduce your electricity bill. We would remove the government monopoly on the sale of liquor, beer, and wine.
Libertarians realize that government debt is our debt. We would make significant cuts in government spending decreasing the size of government as quickly as possible, including the elimination of many ministries and most of the 630 agencies within our first term. As spending is cut, tax reductions will follow; we can all have more choice about how and where our money is spent. Make a historic choice, choose Libertarian, ___your name___.  Find out more at libertarian dot O-N dot C-A

The meeting topics were: the economy, healthcare and longterm care, helping immigrants settle, education and tuition. There was enough time between each speaking turn for me to come up with a brief speech outline explaining a Libertarian position on each topic. All of the comments were translated into Cantonese in deference to the audience, and I know I scored some points. Culturally the audience, and all the politicians except me,  are attuned to statist solutions for many things. But many of these Chinese are private entrepreneurs and understand where money (wealth) comes from and abhor paying tax and being taxed. It was a good day.     

Change-A-Head, pick your poison!

September 7th marked the first day of the 2011 Ontario Election campaign, the day the writ is issued. Ontario elections are short in time, just 29 days, though this one has been smoldering for months. Public attention is just now starting to focus on the issues and the options.

Dalton McGuinty has, in just eight short years, doubled the per capita debt because spending has doubled in the midst of world economic turmoil. McGuinty has used his majorities in two terms to re-engineer the way electric power is produced and consumed by citizens. The Liberals have bought into the AGW theory hook-line-and-sinker by closing coal-fired generation stations and replacing them with solar panels and windmills. The Liberals are so heavily steeped in eco-fanatasies that they even consider conservation as part of electrical generation, a source of energy! That's a bit like saying that not eating is nourishing.

That is only part of the re-engineering the Liberals have instituted. They think Ontarians should have their choice of pet dog breeds restricted, and they know how best to care for everyone's lawns by restricting the use of weedkillers. They want everyone to quit smoking, or else. This week junk food has been removed from Ontario schools, and it won't be long before Ontarians are smuggling potato chips across the border (like they do now with weed-killer) because the government does not want people to get fat. At this rate, the Liberals will be legislating our choice in wardrobe soon.

So, if they have doubled the debt and the spending what has improved? Is health care better, with more choice less hassle and better service? No, instead of allowing choice they are cracking down on physicians who charge a bit more for better service. The previous link has a snitch-line so people may inform on their "greedy doctors." The Liberals and their partners are even disciplining physicians for the crime of voluntary fee-for-service. Are the roads better so that traffic is minimized? No, the GTA has the worst traffic anywhere.

 

Surely the extra spending and debt has improved something. Many billions went to GM and Chrysler to "preserve vital manufacturing jobs." That of course has saved the economy of Ontario and now things are booming, the recovery is in high gear and the future looks rosy. Oh, wait a minute, that's not true either. The "stimulus" spending here and around the world doesn't seemed to have helped. As I write this, Greece looks to be on the verge of default (once again). Spending and debt are problems everywhere, yet somehow the Government of Ontario believes things work differently here.

The picture above came from an idea after I saw an article written for the PC party called: "Change ahead," which referred to their plan to govern the province. It doesn't matter which of those heads is governing the province, the differences are so subtle that none of what I have written about above, would change substantially. Its time for a historic leap of faith. Its time for Ontario to choose a party that will return choice and prosperity to Ontarians. A vote for a Libertarian candidate, will at the very least register a protest that "change-a-head" doesn't work.             

Media panders to ruling incumbents and wannabees

With just days to go before the writ is issued and the 2011 Ontario Election campaign officially begins, the Liberal incumbents are shoring up the immigrant Muslim vote. In the picture on the left Michael Chan, Minister for Tourism and Culture and my very own MPP, then Gerry Phillips and Bas Balkisoon on the right. What do these three have in common besides being Liberals? They all have substantial numbers of Muslim voters in their ridings and they are giving away money to a Muslim group. Not just any Muslim group, this one has some issues, but more on that later.
Just as the Liberals are pandering to the ethnic voter, the media, both local and national love pandering to the mainline parties.
Just last week I sent a letter to my local newspaper that was critical of the incumbent Liberals. A quick email response from the editor asked if I was "registered as a candidate?" "Yes," was the answer and I explained that my papers were not official yet. No matter, the letter was not published, too bad.
Of course in every recent edition of that newspaper was a story about the local incumbent Liberals doing this or doing that with tax dollars.
The Liberals have been high on OPM (other people's money) since they took office in 2003 and they have been assisted by the media. The print media in this area is dominated by a company called Torstar. Torstar produces the Toronto Star, often called the Red Star in my circles, and it owns the Metroland Group which coincidentally prints the local newspaper in my neighbourhood.
During elections, incumbent parties spend lots of their cash on ads in these local papers, my local paper has a Liberal ad on almost every page, thats OK, they are spending donations. But on those same pages are glowing stories of the good things that Liberals do and are doing, for this community with OPM, your OPM. My pitiful little letter may have swayed the entire election in my favour....right?
The national news papers are just as guilty of pandering to the main parties. Click this and it will bring you to an op-ed, conveniently placed with 3 days to go before the rules change, of the PC Leader giving his "prudent" plan for getting spending under control. He would slash spending by almost 1% by the end of his first term. Decisive!
Anyway, back to that Muslim group. Here is Ezra Levant on a bit of a rant (that rhymes!), on behalf of the new SUN NEWS channel which isn't exactly mainline media, yet:  

Self assembling structures....

In biology its well known that organisms are self-replicating. Some organisms can, by themselves create copies of themselves. For example a single-celled bacterium can divide and produce two bacteria. Plants produce seeds that are able to produce new plants. Two humans, male and female, can produce another human.
This idea of self-replication goes all the way down to DNA, thousands even millions of parts are self assembled into new DNA copied from a template. DNA, can itself through intermediate molecules, make proteins. This is fairly well understood.
But what about buildings or machines assembling themselves, is that possible?
As a movie lover, I immediately thought of the Terminator series when I saw the video below. You know where the computer becomes "self-aware," then all hell breaks loose. Machines make more machines and are at war with humans, is that possible? Maybe, watch:  

Two problems that governments never admit...

Ontario's Debt Clock

In preparation for the Oct. 6th election, my local newspaper asked me for the two most pressing issues in my riding in 500 words or less. They might expect me to rail about the horrendous traffic, or long waits for medical care or the growing nanny state. No, those are just symptoms of the deeper more fundamental problems. Problems that won't be fixed by electing the same old parties and replacing them again with the same old parties. So here is my letter - 496 words -, and if you are a Libertarian candidate, or a candidate for any party for that matter, you may use this:

The two major problems facing Markham-Unionville are the same as those facing the entire Province of Ontario; they are:

 

(1) the increasing DEBT and 

(2) the increasing SIZE of Government.

When Dalton McGuinty was first elected, he promised not to raise taxes or have deficits. He has flagrantly ignored both promises.
The 2011 Ontario Budget, projected the debt for 2012 to be $282.3 Billion, more that twice the debt when the Liberals took office in 2003.
That budget also projects continued deficits and increasing debt until 2018, and that assumes that the economy will improve and interest rates stay low. This unprecedented, reckless, runaway spending is directly related to the second major problem: the size of the Ontario Government.
The Liberals have increased program spending in virtually every ministry as the Ontario government assumes more and more responsibilities from the private sector.
For example: McGuinty’s full-day kindergarten program has severely impacted private sector nursery and daycare businesses. At the same time, the Liberals have created an entire Green Industry of windmills and solar panels subsidized by taxpayer’s dollars through the FIT and microFIT programs.
The debt has been acknowledged by the Progressive Conservatives, and their laughable solution is to cut spending by 2% per year for four years, but increase spending in Healthcare and Education at the same time. That is not a solution at all.
All across the Western world, governments have realized that the profligate spending of the past 50 or 60 years has been greatly overdone. As a result governments have been forced to cut back everywhere, at all levels, to avert a financial crisis worse than the one the world faced in 2008-09.
In Ontario, Libertarians would make real cuts in government spending and decrease the size of government as quickly as possible. At first a budget freeze would be instituted followed by 10% cuts in program spending in each of the first four years across all of the 30 Ministries. This would include elimination or amalgamation of at least half of the ministries within one term.
For example, Markham-Unionville MPP Michael Chan’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture would be closed. There is precedent for this, in the US. The state of Washington closed their Department of Tourism in June 2011 due to budget constraints. Almost immediately, a consortium of private businesses and industry stakeholders formed the Washington Tourism Alliance, shifting costs from the State and public sector to the private sector.
Ontario has over 630 agencies, many like the LCBO, demand huge budgets. Even the Liberals have announced that they plan to cut a paltry 14 agencies if re-elected. A Libertarian government would cut hundreds of agencies, including the LCBO and allow competition in the retail sale of liquor, beer, and wine.
As government ministries and agencies are reduced, and program spending is cut, tax reductions will follow. Ontarians will have more choice about how and where their money is spent, and Ontario will become the dynamo of Canada once again.

Walmart vs. FEMA in hurricane relief

That picture shows Hurricane Irene poised to assault the US Eastern Seaboard. The cleanup is ongoing at the time of this posting. The destruction, while bad enough, is not as bad as it might have been. Warnings came from POTUS Obama himself, from various State Governors, and from a slew of lessor officials. As usual, private commercial television news broadcasters carried the entire event live and round-the-clock, for the benefit of casual viewers, and those directly affected by the storm. The broadcasters disseminated the official warnings and trotted out their own expert commentators providing what amounted to a free service for all concerned.
By and large the cleanup is local, as it should be, but of course Federal and State government agencies will provide some of the assistance because the political "optics" require such help, whether needed or not. The whole thing is reminiscent of a similar hurricane disaster in 2005, Katrina. That storm, which resulted in widespread destruction around New Orleans, showed just how out-of-touch a top-down federal government agency, FEMA, could be with respect to its primary purpose. FEMA has been rightly criticized for its raison d'être today, in the case of Irene, and for it's handling of Katrina. Steven Horwitz has an interesting perspective in this video, on the way a private company Walmart, was in many ways more effective than FEMA: