Month: May 2022

Quote of the Day: “Is diversity our strength? Or anybody’s strength, anywhere in the world? Does Japan’s homogeneous population cause the Japanese to suffer? Have the Balkans been blessed by their heterogeneity — or does the very word ‘Balkanization’ remind us of centuries of strife, bloodshed and unspeakable atrocities, extending into our own times? Has Europe become a safer place after importing vast numbers of people from the Middle East, with cultures hostile to the fundamental values of Western civilization?” Thomas Sowell

Simeon Kibaalya from TheRecord’s Community Editorial Board had an op-ed just two weeks ago and now he is back with another column on today’s Insight (Huh?) Page. Good. I’d rather read Kibaalya then… well… ummm… oh never mind. Today he talks about the upcoming provincial election and he has a list of issues he wants addressed. He suggests that: “I’m voting for the party I believe is the best to deal with: a lack of affordable housing and rent; a health-care system that has been pushed to its brink during the pandemic; the high cost of living; the protection of our environment when it comes to decision-making in the building and development of our infrastructure; finding solutions to narrow the income inequality in our province. A good start is a minimum guaranteed income and low-cost, high-speed internet for all in the province, north and south.” O.K. I get it. But let’s look at his list of issues for a minute. The “lack of affordable housing and rent” is really not a provincial problem at all. This is effectively handled at the federal level due to interest rates and at the municipal level since one of the biggest obstacles is local building and zoning restrictions. Since we accept around 400,000 immigrants a year, this also places a huge burden on the demand for housing. His wants action on “a health-care system that has been pushed to its brink”. Don’t we all. But as I have mentioned before, our socialist so-called health-care is bankrupt. No amount of money is going to fix it. And besides, this is almost exclusively a federal issue since they responsible for the Canada Health Act. He mentions the “the high cost of living”. Not sure how anyone except the federal government is going to do anything about this. He suggests he wants action on “the protection of our environment when it comes to decision-making in the building and development of our infrastructure”. I’m not even sure what this means. Also “finding solutions to narrow the income inequality in our province” is a rather obscure comment. My year end is at the end of June. I’m going to make more than twice as much money as I made last year. But if my neighbour make three times as much money, what do I care? The term “income inequality” is just bogus. The fact that I make more than the average person means that I also pay more taxes. Does Mr. Kibaalya want me to pay less taxes? Sorry, I don’t understand. He wants “minimum guaranteed income”. And so do I. I want to eliminate the massive bureaucracy that the multiple policies and programs have. And for some reason, he adds: “…and low-cost, high-speed internet for all in the province, north and south.” Again, internet service is a federal issue. Not sure why he wants his provincial taxes (I assume Mr. Kibaalya pays taxes…) to subsidize people at their northern cottages to watch cat videos. He concludes his op-ed with the standard “Get out and vote” spiel and says: “Voting is the most fundamental principle of democracy. We are lucky to live in a nation that makes it easy to vote and encourages us to do so. So please go out and vote.” Actually, I encourage people who are not engaged, not to vote. Stay home and flip through your Facebook or Tik-Tok feed. If you are only voting to “…go out and vote”, then stay home.

Quote of the Day: “Politics is not about empirical realities, but about popular images. So long as the image of rent control is good, it wins votes at election time-and that is what it is all about, as far as politicians are concerned.” Thomas Sowell

What an appropriate Quote of the Day. I don’t search for specific QOTD from Dr. Sowell, I just grab them from a list.

On the Insight (Huh?) Page today, Gary Whetung writes about the Uvalde school shooting. I’m not going to comment on his op-ed or on this tragedy. But, I do want to say that I don’t know of one Canadian that gets the Second Amendment. Not one. And it appears that there are lots of Americans that don’t understand it either. Let me say that the Second Amendment is the most important Amendment because it protects all of the others. And since Canada has such a close relationship to the U.S., it protects us as well. When you have a Prime Minister and a Liberal / NDP majority who go along with invoking the Emergencies Act over a couple of dozen truckers honking their horns, and banks that are more than willing, gleeful it seems, to freeze bank accounts and assets of people, then we need the Second Amendment more than ever.

On the Editorial Page today, Fred Hahn, President of CUPE give us a laundry list items that the NDP are going to do to “improve” health care in Ontario. One of the items is braces at $13,000 a pop. Nice. No wonder the NDP is just a useless, reckless, know nothing party. Same with CUPE.

I’ve said before that to get an op-ed in TheRecord, you only need a leftist outlook and the ability to type a few sentences in some semi-coherent manner. On the Insight (Huh?) Page today, Karen Thompson of the Grand (M)other Act To Save The Planet (GASP) – I’ll bet they spent weeks coming up with that name – talks about the need for a Basic Income plan for Ontario. Again, as with all of these BI programs, they fail to address one of the main features of BI – and that is BI replaces all other income supplemental programs for lower income people. Not once in their op-ed or on their website do they address this issue. So, unless BI proponents fully recognize and accept this feature, then this program becomes just another failed government handout.

Quote of the Day: “Whether the particular issue is crime, automobile safety, income statistics, military defence, or overpopulation theories, the one consistency among them is that the conclusions reached exalt those who share the vision over the great unwashed who do not.” Thomas Sowell

Finally, some good news from TheRecord’s resident ChickenLittle, Susan Koswan when she says: “Polls are showing the environment and climate change are low on the list of issues for the June 2 Ontario election, sitting at fifth place behind health care, cost of living, housing and the economy.” Great. Real people have better things to worry about than the made up, future disasters that are always just around the corner. Maybe it’s time for Koswan to take a break from her constant doomsday prophecies and go plant a few trees.

Quote of the Day: “The key word among advocates of multiculturalism became ‘diversity.’ Sweeping claims for the benefits of demographic and cultural diversity in innumerable institutions and circumstances have prevailed without a speck of evidence being asked for or given. It is one of the purest examples of arguments without arguments, and of the force of sheer repetition, insistence and intimidation.” Thomas Sowell

John Milloy didn’t think much about the Ontario’s Leaders Debate. On the Editorial Page today, he has an op-ed where he tells us: “However, all I remember hearing was the intention of each leader to throw huge amounts of money at every problem in a way that was somehow different from the boatloads of money promised by their competitor. Did I really talk that way when I was in politics?” Well, John. When you were first elected in 2003, Ontario’s net debt was around $133 Billion. But when you left politics in 2013, the net debt was $276 Billion. I’m not sure if you really did ”talk” that way, but the net result is the same, isn’t it.

Quote of the Day: “If one chooses to call tests that require the mastery of abstractions culturally biased, because some cultures put more emphasis on abstractions than others, that raises fundamental questions about what the tests are for. In a world where the ability to master abstractions is fundamental to mathematics, science and other endeavors, the measurement of that ability is not an arbitrary bias. A culture-free test might be appropriate in a culture-free society—but there are no such societies.” Thomas Sowell

I haven’t written about Luisa D’Amato for a while. Not sure why. Maybe she hasn’t written anything that I’m interested in. I don’t know. I can’t remember a column of hers that read all the way through for some time. Oh well. Anyway, today’s column on Page A5 caught my attention. Anytime she writes about the dismal failure of our so-called educational system is always interesting to read. The fact that all of my teacher friends hate her clearly means she is usually on the right side of the issue. She discusses the Ontario NDP and Liberal “election pledges to end the standardized testing of students in mathematics and literacy by the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office.” She quotes Dr. David Johnson, Professor of Economics at WLU who asks: “Why would you object to spending $30 million to audit a $30-billion system?” Well, you would object to it if you are a teacher because you don’t want to be held accountable, that’s why. So, when will D’Amato come around to the solution to all public education issues and recommend (or at least discuss) voucher systems and paid for private education that has proven time and time again to be far superior to our mediocre, union driven system?

Quote of the Day: “The welfare state contributes to this [economic] disparity by reducing the need for people at the bottom to earn income and by penalizing their earning of income, since higher income leads to a reduction in eligibility for government benefits.” Thomas Sowell

One day after the mind numbing Editorial trying to explain away Canada’s historic inflation rate, Robert Williams interviews Dr. David Johnson from the Economics Department of WLU. Good interview. Strangely, Dr. Johnson says basically the same thing I said yesterday regarding inflation. Coincidence? No, economic fact. Something that the Editorial Board completely misses. Too funny…

Have I ever mentioned that I hate TheRecord’s just brutal Community Editorial Board? Yes I have!!! Every chance that I get!!! I said once before that their self absorbed, perpetual victimization is not a reflection of our community and their blatant disregard for any balanced approach to community issues was pathetic to witness. And I mean it. But, the one person who usually has something interesting to write about is Simeon Kibaalya. I like him. I like his writing style. I like his topics. And today is no exception. He talks about the need for green space in our cities and mentions that parks and trails are good for both the body and mind. Accompanying the article is a picture of a mother and her daughter flying a kite “while exploring trails in the Chicopee area of Kitchener.” Nice. But Mr. Kibaalay talks about green spaces, maybe he should remember that flying a kite would have resulted in a ticket less than two years ago due to the disastrous COVID polices from the Region. Let that sink in for a minute.

Quote of the Day: “The feeling that the government should ‘do something’ has seldom been based on a comparison of what actually happens when government does and when it does not ‘do something’.” Thomas Sowell

Bonus Quote of the Day: “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.” Milton Friedman

Today’s Editorial talks about “Pierre Poilievre’s simplistic explanation for runaway inflation, and then his troubling proposal for saving the economy. “ The Bank of Canada has at it’s major goal, to control the monetary supply to keep inflation between 1% and 2%. They failed. The reason they failed is because they, as the editorial correctly states, purchased “hundreds of billions of federal government bonds during the pandemic.” While the economy was shrinking from the self destructive COVID-19 lockdown policies, there was a “rapid increase in the quantity of money” because of the BofC’s actions. This leads to the huge, greatest in 40 years inflation rate we have today. Sure, there are other external influences, but we have far more money chasing far fewer goods and this is the main cause of inflation. The Editorial concludes with this gem: “Were Poilievre to get his way, he’d undermine the independence and credibility of the central bank, thereby shaking the confidence of investors looking at Canada as a place to put their money. Whatever Poilievre’s selling, Canadians shouldn’t buy it.” Actually, just the opposite is true. Creating a stable inflation rate is one of the main drivers of investment since inflation erodes current and future profits. Having huge, unsustainable, Keynesian driven deficits (as Editorial after Editorial have suggested), is the reason we are in the pathetic situation we have currently.

Quote of the Day: “The time is long overdue to count the costs of runaway rhetoric and heedless accusations – especially since most of the costs, including the high social cost of a breakdown of law and order, are paid by vulnerable people for whose benefit such rhetoric and such accusations are ostensibly being made.” Thomas Sowell

Since the Ontario election was called, there have been numerous editorials, Letters to the Editor, op-eds and general hand-wringing about the current housing “affordability crisis”. But if anyone wants a pretty clear picture as to why we have a “crisis”, (I don’t think we do, so I must be in the minority), all you have to do is read today’s Editorial. It talks about a couple of development projects underway in Cambridge and Kitchener. It also gives us some stats on general price increases over the last few years. But the most interesting part of this Editorial is the last few sentences: “In this region, developers want the right to build their condos on some of the most sought-after real estate in Canada. In return for being granted this privilege, they should be sensitive to the community’s needs and willing to help it meet them. Kitchener is already hitting its density targets for its core. At this point, the developers need city council as much as it needs them.” So for the “privilege” of buying land, designing a structure, taking a risk on building the property, attempting to sell the units for a profit, the Editorial Board thinks that councils should then somehow blackmail developers into being “sensitive to the community’s needs and willing to help it meet them.” Right. Got it. And just how much do these perks add to the cost of each unit? Well, that isn’t discussed or addressed in the Editorial of course except to acknowledge that “…the developer pledged at least $600,000 to help a local affordable housing project.” The high cost of housing is a local issue. And it starts with the nonsense that is generated by the idiots at local councils – and amplified by the local idiots at TheRecord’s Editorial Board.

Ricardo Tranjan is a Political “Economist” and Senior “Researcher” at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). He has an op-ed on the Editorial Page today suggesting that: “Social assistance rates keep recipients in poverty.” Of course, any op-ed from the CCPA writes itself. Standard stuff. I get it. He tells us that in Ontario, “…863,000 people in 571,000 households live in deep poverty while receiving social assistance.” Not sure where he got that stat since he doesn’t tell us. Again, standard stuff. I tried to verify this number but couldn’t because he doesn’t define “social assistance”. There are a number of programs that assist people in Ontario – not sure if he added all of them up? Of course, I assume that certain individuals are on multiple programs. Again, when you’re from the CCPA, I guess you can just pick a number, any number, to justify your agenda. But with all of these one side only op-eds, not once have I every read about suggestions or ideas of the how or why people are on these programs and never have I read about suggestions or ideas of the how to get people off these programs. But then again, standard stuff, standard op-ed, standard agenda.

Quote of the Day: “Eventually, however, the fact that many once-poor places like Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore achieved prosperity through freer international trade and investment became so blatant and so widely known that, by the end of the twentieth century, the governments of many other countries began abandoning their zero-sum view of economic transactions. China and India have been striking examples of poor countries whose abandonment of severe international trade and investment restrictions led to dramatic increases in their economic growth rates, which in turn led to tens of millions of their citizens rising out of poverty.” Thomas Sowell

Cheyenne Bholla let’s us know on Page A3 today that the Green Party is promising to build 160,000 “affordable” housing units. This gem of an announcement came from Mike Schreiner, the Green Party leader if they are elected in the upcoming election. Now Bholla didn’t say give us a timeframe when whese 160,000 units will be built – which is kind of important. And of course, no estimate of the cost of these units or where they would be build or where the money would be coming from to build them. But it’s an election and if you have absolutely no hope of getting more than one seat in the legislature, then I guess you can promise anything you dream up. But a quick calc shows just how stupid this promise is. Let’s say that each unit costs $500,000 to build. This is not an unreasonable number since land costs alone are a huge part of building. (Oh, yea, he also promised not to build on farmland or wetlands, of course…) So, these 160,000 units would only cost $80 Billion (that’s Billion with a “B”). Yup – sounds just about right for this idiot. Even if each unit only(!) costs half of that, it’s still $40 Billion. Bholla tells us that Schreiner says that “(The) housing affordability crisis is the No. 1 issue facing Ontarians right now…”. Really, but what about climate change? Isn’t that the number one issue? Maybe there are a whole bunch of number one issues for the Greens? Of course, I think that a basic understanding economic principles would be the number one issue with the Greens.

Graeme MacKay sure knows where his paycheque comes from, doesn’t he??? After a few Editorials talking about the upcoming Dobbs decision, MacKay’s Editorial Cartoon today has five U.S. Supreme Count Justices pulling down the Statue of Liberty holding a copy of the Roe v Wade decision on a “Women’s Productive Rights” pedestal. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth regarding this cartoon. The Dobbs decision, if it stands as leaked, simply turns the Roe decision back to the States. The original Roe v Wade case has been criticized as just a bad decision – more based on political expedience than on Constitutional law. The upcoming Dobbs case simply acknowledges this error and turns this back to individuals states. This is by far a more democratic and effective outcome since each state can now decide on how to handle their abortion laws. Having a more democratic (state level) process is far better than a country wide federal statute. But hey, if it fits some TorStar editorial stance, then who cares if MacKay’s cartoon is completely wrong headed and baseless?

Quote of the Day: “Today, despite free speech and the mass media, the prevailing social vision is dangerously close to sealing itself off from any discordant feedback from reality.” Thomas Sowell

Paige Desmond on Page A3 today interviews Niall Lobley, Director of Parks and Cemeteries for the City of Kitchener. He is embarking on a plan to try to make city parks and open spaces “more welcoming”. To do this, he “wants to hear from marginalized communities” “which will include unsheltered people”. Yea, let’s turn every park into a tent city filled with people who don’t pay taxes while the rest of us, who do pay taxes, can just enjoy greenspaces somewhere else. Is everyone at the City of Kitchener an idiot? What must Councilors think when they read this nonsense? Or maybe they just don’t care…