2010 predictions…
Filed under: General, Government, Humour, News, Politics, Travel, United States
Yes, New Years is just a few days away so I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and predict a few things myself. Hey, even I have the tin-foil hat to match!
In 2010 (and in no particular order)…
There will be no Election Federally. The Liberal Party will continue to languish on the sidelines while Iffy remains predictable. Expect 2010 to be the last year of Iffy’s reign.
Frank McKenna will again say he’s not interested in the Leadership of the Liberal Party.
Stephen Harper will remain Prime Minister. Look for a reprise behind the piano singing “Day in a Life”.
Bob Rae will still be Bob Rae (Socialist in Liberal Clothing) and all that that entails.
Provincially, Dalton McLiar’s Liberals will win the two by-elections because Ontario voters are sheep.
Ontario will remain a “have-not” province.
Newfie Jokes will officially be renamed Ontario Jokes.
On July 1st, 2010 we will have the BST/HST/DST whatever you want to call it, because you can tax people into prosperity no?
Tim Hortons will raise the price of their crappy coffee again.
Canadian Tire will continue to have that annoying slogan and music on all of their commercials, and yet I still cannot buy just one bolt, I have to buy a package of 20.
I will finally finish the front deck to our house.
2010 will ring forth a new swath of celebrity deaths that will make people realize how empty their lives are by following these celebrities. They will be sad at their deaths and say things like, “Wow I didn’t see it coming.” Then these people will find new celebs to follow and life will be good again.
Tiger Woods will be divorced. Elin Woods will be rich.
Britney Spears will have another breakdown and shave her head again.
Another Twilight movie will come out boring millions of husbands, subjecting them to hours of mind-numbing stupidity.
Johnny Cash will still be dead. So will John Wayne.
Some unknown idiot with way too much time on their hands and no job will grab a video camera and upload something so stupid onto Youtube that millions will view it and love it.
Some new web site will come on the scene that will make Facebook and MySpace obsolete and yet be so stupid that people miss the time wasting site Twitter.
2010 will be the new 1985 with every one-hit wonder from 1985 being remixed by someone in 2010 because originality in music died around 1985.
On December 30th, 2010 I will write another blog posting predicting 2011 and seeing how wrong I was about 2010. I really hope I am wrong about 2010.
Happy New Years everyone, don’t forget not to talk on your cell while driving, always eat your veggies and remember your manners. - Phil
Canadian Government buys million dollar properties in Buffalo?
From the Buffalo News : http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/707047.html
Let me lob the easy questions:
1) Why is the federal government buying million dollar properties in of all places, Buffalo, NY?
2) Why is the federal government doing this during the recession?
3) Why is the federal government, if they need to buy a new house for a diplomat, not buying a more cost effective house? One that cost less than oh say, 1.38 Million.
and lastly…
4) IF you are going to spend 1.38 Million US on a property, why the hell would you buy it in BUFFALO? If I had 1.38 Million USD and I wanted to buy a property, I’d buy in a place that is WARM all year around.
Let GM Fail!
Why can we not let people fail? In the past it was ok to fail. You start up a business, it’s a success; then you screw up and you fail. You learn from your failure and start again.
What does saving GM at the tune of $1.4 Million per job do? What do we learn from this failure?
NOTHING! SFA! Zip, nadda, nothing!
It is going to cost the taxpayer, not the government, $1.4 million per job saved. $1.4 million to a failed company rewarding failure.
Here’s an idea, give each worker of GM $1 Million to never go into work again. Period! Here’s your cheque, get the “eFF” out.
What would a now unemployed GM worker do with $1 Million dollars? Invest in the economy, start a business, save for the future. The options are endless.
- Older workers would retire early and use the money as their nest egg to retire on.
- Middle Aged workers would likely invest for retirement and be able to live comfortably on the money with another, lower paying job as well.
- Younger workers would likely invest in starting their own business.
- Idiots and stupid people will just spend the whole amount as soon as they get it buying stupid things they cannot afford. Six months later they’ll be at the pawn shop selling the last of the stuff they bought to get a pack of smokes.
All four options are viable and needed:
- The idiots and stupid people will put an immediate cash infusion into the retail marketplace.
- The Younger People will create small business which stimulates the near-term market.
- The Middle Aged will have security in their future, will probably spend some money down the road and take lesser paying jobs in the market now, not having to cover all of the expenses they had in their family when they worked for GM.
- The Older Workers will spend short and long term as they will enjoy their retirement, travel, spend and for any end of life health care, the cash can be used there too which promotes stability in our service industry.
Stop me if this makes too much sense.
Lets take this one step further with a side-track. I’ve always been a train-geek, it goes partly with being the son of a railway employee and having lived around trains for 31 of my 33 years. My particular interest is in a railroad called The Rutland. The Rutland died in 1961 during a general strike on the line over wages and work rules. In 1962, the company petitioned and was granted permission by the US Government to abandon the line from Northern New York state across into Vermont and down the west side of Vermont. Parts of the line was sold, all of the equipment, real estate and even scrap material was sold. In total by 1965 the parent company had received $8,000,000 in income from the scraping of the line. If the railroad had received all of the concessions that they wanted from the strike and the railroad had survived, in 1965 they would have likely made about $350,000 in income after expenses. In this case the whole is not worth more than the sum of its parts, and neither is GM.
If you take GM as its parts and sell it off after paying off the workers to never come into the company again, you have incredible amounts of scrap, cars, plants, real estate and technology that in the end is worth more separately than as a whole. Look at the tentiave deal for Magna International to take over GM Opel Europe.
If you part out the good parts of GM to other companies, and then scrap the plants and buildings from what is left over and is not useful you should get enough money to clear the debt and possibly even pay for all of those $1 Million Dollar cheques.
Not a bad idea, too bad it would never fly. Common sense and government does not go hand-in-hand.
GFYS GM, Ford and Chrysler
Filed under: Government, Money, News, Ontario, Politics
The big three automakers in Canada are holding their hands out for money from the Canadian Government. In order to “save” 100,000 jobs in Ontario, they want billions in loans. In my opinion, the big three can GFYS!
No WAY should any corporation, large or small, get a bailout with tax money. The automaker’s issues are their own. THEY kept building SUVS when the market didn’t support it. THEY gave credit to people who didn’t earn it. THEY caved into the unions when it came to wages. THEY gave their executives large bonuses while THEIR companies tanked. THEY created THEIR own problems.
THEY should have to fix it.
If I run a business and manage it so poorly that it’s going bankrupt, but I employ two workers, would I get a handout from the government? No. It would be said that I should have run the business better and that I would have to deal with the consequences of my actions. So too should GM, Ford and Chrysler; Really so should they all. The banks that are getting 50 billion in mortgages bought from they by the federal government when they didn’t ask for it. The banks don’t need the buyouts, and they are not passing the savings onto their customers.
All levels of Government, federal and provincial should be looking at ways of getting the private sector to boost job creation, not handing out money to companies that have shown they are irresponsible with money. GM lost 15 Billion in 3 months and they get a handout!
So much for responsibility!