Laffer wins again

Shockingly I found a great article in the Globe and Mail (I suppose it is not too shocking since it was an opinion piece and not journalistic news that is totally biased).

Neil Reynolds uses Iceland as the model that Canada needs to follow if it wishes to achieve economic (and therefore social) prosperity. Iceland cut corporate, investment, and income taxes over the past decade and as a result has seen tax revenues sky rocket. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy seeing supply-side economics in action! Arthur Laffer had it right a long time ago with his ascertion that lower taxes increase tax revenues. Unfortunately this profound idea is counter-intuitive and most Canadians are not capable of understanding and trusting this concept.

Toyota Prius does more harm than good

It appears that the Toyota Prius isn't all that it is cracked up to be.

"Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius."
"When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius’s arch nemesis."

For the full article click here.

As a concerned citizen for the environment (notice extreme sarcasm) I demand that we boycott Toyota, stone and key all Prius on the road, and demand that more people drive Hummers!

Stephen Harper puts Bono in his place.

For Bono to expect world leaders to make him a priority is asinine. I am proud to be a Canadian today as Stephen Harper puts Bono in his place.

"I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't my kind of shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy," said Harper in a dig at his Liberal predecessor Paul Martin, who met Bono regularly. (source: reuters)

Bono is a rockstar, not a politician or a world leader. It is amazing to me that world leaders give Bono any of their time, but I guess they are star struck just like most of society today. I am happy to see that our Prime Minister is in Germany to work, not get autographs.

Keep up the good work Mr. Harper.

Haven't We Seen This Before?

Did someone say bubble? I am not an alarmist nor am I bearish on the markets and the economy. However, I am skeptical about housing prices. The headlines I read in the paper and comments I hear from everyone around me are almost word for word the same comments I heard in the run up to the tech bubble bursting. As far as I can see there is no fundamental economic basis for the current housing prices. Here is a fancy chart I found over at smalldeadanimals.com

High Gas Prices My Butt.

There has been a lot of media attention on the "record gas prices" of late. The price of gas must be kept in perspective with all other prices. Everyone around me drones on about how much their house has increased in value and how brilliant of an investor they are. Prices of most goods are increasing rapidly so what do you expect to happen to gas prices? Decrease when everything else is increasing?

Check out the Cato Institute article here for a great breakdown of comparative prices.

And stop with the "record gas price" talk, inflation adjusted prices are not at a record. You can take solace in knowing we have a ways to go before we get there. (see here for a chart on historical gas prices)

Another thing that gets on my nerves is hearing the shouts of rage against the big evil oil companies making record profits at the expense of the little guy. The reality is that the government is making more money than the big bad oil companies. If you are upset about high oil prices then get upset at the government and demand that they lower the gas taxes. While you are at it demand that they lower income taxes and capital gains taxes.

Ahhh, you shouldn't have!!!

What gift do you give someone that has everything? Marines. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that he will return the 15 hostages he took as a "gift" to Britain. A gift? Can it be a gift if you stole it in the first place? For my bosses next birthday I am going to steal his coffee mug then wrap in a bow and give it to him. Happy Birthday!! I hope you enjoy the "gift".

What a joke Ahmadinejad is does anyone in the world take this guy seriously?

An Exercise in Futility

How can people be so misguided?

Robert Taylor, of Barrie, Ont. wants to stick it to the big bad oil companies. His suggestion is that no body buys gas on Saturday. Wow, that is clever. This will send a profound message to the gas companies, staff down on Saturday but make sure and staff up on Friday as everyone fills up on Friday to ensure they have enough gas to make it through the boycott day. This idea is so ridiculous. The gas companies don't care when you buy gas as long as you buy it.

It appears that Taylor is not alone. Boycottgas.ca has a similar idea but slightly different approach. Their idea is for nobody to buy gas from certain gas stations for 30 consecutive days. But only a couple gas stations are selected each month. The hope is that the targeted gas stations will be so squeezed that they will realize the power of the consumer.

What these people don't realize is that gas prices are set based on supply and demand. The ONLY way to drive gas prices lower is to reduce the demand, not simply shift it. Rather than not buying gas on certain days or from certain companies simply reduce your consumption and don't drive. The trouble with this solution is it requires personal sacrifice, sacrifice that people will not make. What Taylor and his ilk do not realize is that consumers are fine paying high prices for gas because it means that they can maintain their lifestyle. Until people are willing to sacrifice their lifestyle gas prices will continue to rise.

My suggestion, buy shares in the oil companies, drive an SUV then cheer every time gas prices go up!!!

The Second Coming of Christ???

No surprise, this is how the left views Barrack Obama.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=2818040&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Once a tax raiser, always a tax raiser

Here is a shocker, the Democrats in the US are proposing the largest tax increase in the US history. What do you expect from the Left. Nearly $400 billion in new spending over the next 5 years. Sounds to me like the Dems are looking to buy the next election. Unfortunately for them they aren't in Canada where that actually works!

My dream team

Most people have an idea of the hockey players or basketball players that they would want all on their "dream" team, a team that would be unstoppable. Well, here is my dream team.

"One of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism"

Further to my previous posts on the religion of global warming, I found this excellent speech from Michael Crichton (now of course I find it excellent because he is saying exactly what I have been saying but it is well worth reading). Please follow the link to read the entire speech, what follows are excerpts only.

"Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There's an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there's a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe."

"And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly it seems facts aren't necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. It's about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them.

Am I exaggerating to make a point? I am afraid not. Because we know a lot more about the world than we did forty or fifty years ago. And what we know now is not so supportive of certain core environmental myths, yet the myths do not die."

"Because in the end, science offers us the only way out of politics. And if we allow science to become politicized, then we are lost. We will enter the Internet version of the dark ages, an era of shifting fears and wild prejudices, transmitted to people who don't know any better. That's not a good future for the human race. That's our past. So it's time to abandon the religion of environmentalism, and return to the science of environmentalism, and base our public policy decisions firmly on that."

"Lawmakers Propose Ultrasounds Before Abortions"

Rep. Greg Delleney (R-Chester and York Counties), said, "I'm just trying to save lives and protect people from regret and inform women with the most accurate non-judgemental information that can be provided."

I think this is a great idea. Too many girls have an abortion because they are naive to the realities of the consequences of that decision. Abortion is final and therefore should require full and complete disclosure of all of the facts before it is allowed.

Of course, the left will not like this idea. They want to keep the emotions that go along with being a mother out of the discussion because they know that once the mother sees the child they will be more likely to keep it.

Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life what is wrong with making decisions based on all prudent facts. What is wrong with providing mothers with all of the facts and details of their decision and the ramifications? If abortion is sound policy then pro-choicers should have nothing to worry about. They should support this proposal to ensure that when abortions do occur they are just and warranted.

What is wrong with fact based decisions?

"There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period."

One thing I hear over and over again that irks me to no end is the word "consensus" relating to global warming science. YOU CAN NOT HAVE CONSENSUS IN SCIENCE!!! Science is not open to votes and science is not based on majority rules. Science is based on facts. When I hear the word "consensus" (like I did over and over again during Al Gore's speech to the U.S. House Committee today) it tells me that the accompanying argument is weak and can not stand on its own.

Michael Crichton had this to say:
"Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.

Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period."

"US CD sales plummet"

CD sales are down 20 percent over the first 3 months this year. This comes as no surprise to me, I stopped buying CDs years ago.

There are three main reasons why CD sales are down:
1) No good music. There are no new artists that have come out in years. And all of the existing good artists seem to just release "greatest hits" CDs with the same songs only in a different order.
2) Music industry has taught the youth improper morals. Lyrics in todays music teach that wrong is right and right is wrong. When your product teaches dishonesty don't be shocked when the listeners are dishonest.
3) Music industry did it to themselves by attacking and not embracing the new technology. How many years and millions of dollars have been spent trying to fight downloading? The music industry should have embraced it right from the beginning as a way to increase sales. Instead they chose to fight it and in the process alienate their entire customer base. I know of no one that feels any sort of loyalty to record labels, they have painted themselves as the bad guys.

The reality is CD sales are going to continue to drop. Downloading is the preferred choice today. It is cheaper, more convenient and I only buy the songs I want and don't pay for the filler songs.

As an aside, for anyone that may be confused it is perfectly LEGAL to download music in Canada. You are charged a tax for every CD, video, blank CD, blank DVD that you buy. They expect you to steal the music so they charge a tax. The judges in Canada ruled that since you are paying this tax you have a right to download. So download away!

"I just wish occasionally they would show the same passion for Canadian soldiers"

“I can understand the passion that the Leader of the Opposition and members of his party feel for Taliban prisoners. I just wish occasionally they would show the same passion for Canadian soldiers,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons.

Based on the above statement the Opposition is demanding an apology. For what? Do they really expect Canadians to believe that they care about Canadian soldiers? Under the Liberals spending to support our troops was drastically reduced, and since losing power the Liberals have done nothing but demand that the troops be removed from Afghanistan, the place that they put them in.


Stephen Harper is just telling it like it is. Dion, if you don't like these statements then spend more time in support of the troops than in support of Taliban extremists.

"Liberal Comuzzi expelled from caucus"

In typical Liberal style Dion has kicked Joe Comuzzi out of the Liberal caucus for saying that he would support the Conservatives budget. Joe, how dare you stand up for what you believe, you are a Liberal you should know better than to do that.

“If they can find that in the budget — which I suspect very much (they can) — it would be silly of me to vote against that. I'd be voting against my constituents.”

I commend Joe for actually doing what I believe politicians are elected to do, which is to act for the constituents.

Must see T.V. - "The great global warming swindle"

I may be a little behind most of you but I finally saw "The great global warming swindle" last night. I recommend that everyone watch it, if for nothing else to get a different point of view than is spewed daily from the media. The video can be viewed here.

A few things that stood out to me were:

• it was based on scientific data, provided by actual scientists
• it covered a wide array of topics including: debunking the myth that CO2 causes GW, why the ice caps melt, the motivation for scientists to develop wild views on GW, and the flaws of models
• it dealt with the myth that 'even if the science is wrong making changes to help the environment will not hurt us'
• it contained interviews from scientists that do not have a political or self promoting agenda

If you have seen "An inconvenient truth" then you must see "the great global warming swindle" to gain balance and perspective.

Dion doesn't have a leg to stand on

Does anyone at all give Stephane Dion even an ounce of credibility when it comes to the environment? He preaches Kyoto as the answer to all our environmental problems yet when he was in the position to make changes, he chose to do NOTHING. Now he expects Canadians to believe that he is serious about the environment, give me a break. The only thing he has ever done for Kyoto is pick up his crap and scratch his belly.

Dion unveiled his latest plan for the climate: the answer it appears is to tax businesses. Sounds like a Liberal plan to me.

What he and many Canadians seem to not understand is that any additional costs as a result of regulations will simply be passed on to consumers. So if you support his plan to tax corporations then you may never again complain about the price of gas. Liberals claim that their plan will only cost $1.17 extra per barrel of oil produced from the oil sands (keep in mind that is a Liberal number so take it with a grain of salt). The reality is that $1.17 will be passed on to the consumer, as it should. Also, the increased cost will make projects in the oil sands and other areas of Canada less profitable which will drive new investments out of Canada. Resulting in fewer jobs and lower economic stability. When you fill up your car and see $1.50 or $2.00/litre don't blame the oil companies, blame Dion because he is the source of the increased costs.

Increasing taxes is NEVER the solution to ANY problems. In fact, increasing taxes is often the problem in the first place.

There is at least one sensible Democrat alive (most likely the only one)

Senator Joe Lieberman is right on with his comments earlier this week:

"There is something profoundly wrong when opposition to the war in Iraq seems to inspire greater passion than opposition to Islamist extremism. There is something profoundly wrong when there is so much distrust of our intelligence community that some Americans doubt the plain and ominous facts about the threat to us posed by Iran. And there is something profoundly wrong when, in the face of attacks by radical Islam, we think we can find safety and stability by pulling back, by talking to and accommodating our enemies, and abandoning our friends and allies. Some of this wrong-headed thinking about the world is happening because we're in a political climate where, for many people, when George Bush says "yes," their reflex reaction is to say "no." That is unacceptable."

What a sad state our society is in when it is considered evil to stand for truth and right, when defending evil is preferred over defeating evil. What a pathetic lot our society is becoming.

Michael Moore Exposed (thankfully he remains fully clothed at all times)

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Michael Moore is uncomfortable with his own tactics being used on him. Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine, Canadian filmmakers, decided to do a documentary on Michael Moore. As you would expect Michael wasn't very eager to comply.

"The film shows Melnyk repeatedly approaching Moore for an interview and being rejected; members of Moore's team also kick the couple out of the audience at one of his speeches, saying they weren't allowed to be shooting there."

What is wrong Michael does it make you uncomfortable to have people distort the truth about you? I guess you would know what it's like since you are the epitome of distorting the truth.

Melnyk sums it up best with:
"We're a bit disappointed and disillusioned with Michael"