Sunday musings

Still another week has passed without snow.

How much longer one wonders?

It will come, and in large amounts accompanied by intense cold, sheeeeeeeeeesh, already I am looking at the calendar counting the days until Spring arrives.

OK, so Europe has come up with a plan to save Greece. The stock markets rally, the Euro gains and all is well again.

Really?

Actually nothing was accomplished. Just a declaration that time is short and something has to be done. Vague hints that China will invest in the European Monetary Stabilization Fund. That Banks will take a fiscal haircut much higher than they agreed to before. Pardon me if I say that this is nothing new at all. Just pull up some news from last month or the month before and see what I mean. The only solution that I think will work is if the European community agrees to form a sort of United States of Europe with one central government for all. This would mean surrendering sovereignty by all those countries to an economic union probably controlled and directed by Germany. Kind of ironic if the loser of the last 2 world wars becomes the end victor as a result of economic means.

I cannot imagine the Greeks, Italians, French or British agreeing to this but options appear limited. If the European want to keep their lavish cradle to grave social system paid for by a decreasing middle class something will have to give. Either reductions in massive holidays, pensions, social programs must occur or I foresee violence running rampant in the streets.

You see an echo of this in the Occupy demonstrations in the United States where confused middle class people and their children see the loss of what has been termed the “American Dream” with no alternative in sight. A large part of the problem is the expectations of people in this decade were fueled by money from the bankers with almost no collateral involved. You had people buying ½ million dollar homes with no money down, with not enough income to afford mortgage payments when interest rolled over and increased. Add in buying all the “toys” people came to regard as necessities and you have the basis for economic disaster. The banks were quite willing to lend this money as the bubble continued to expand fuelled by the easy money. Once interest rates started to creep up, the money supply dried up virtually overnight leaving people with houses worth less than the mortgaged amount and credit card bills unmanageable.

As in Europe, the middle class is now being savaged by the politicians, many who are wealthy and have no awareness of the fiscal condition of their constituents. Instead you get a situation of the politicians pandering to specific interest groups in order to stay in power, not to serve those who elected them to lead them out of this mess. Why do you think the Tea Party sprung up anyway?

A so called Super Committee was set up by the American Government to hammer out an agreement on ways to reduce the American debt and remove the paralysis that has caused the Government from basically functioning. In fact the Speaker of the House who derided the President for his lack of leadership never did present a budget proposal this year, so intent was he on scoring political points and burnishing his credentials much to the detriment of the country itself. The Super Committee is at a standstill and nothing probably will pass and so in 2013 (after the Presidential election of course) will a series of massive cuts be applied to all parts of the government from Social Security to the Military. Wanna bet that if Obama is defeated that the Republicans will find a way around that?

The British Commonwealth Association has met in Australia and as another example of wasted resources and an old boys club has decided not to form a Commonwealth Human Rights Commission. That would be embarrassing to countries like Nigeria for one. Indeed the importance of the Commonwealth has diminished so much that over 1/3 of the countries sent Foreign Ministers instead of their Head of State.

In Canada legislation has been introduced by the Federal Government to eliminate a registry for long guns. This registry was set up following a massacre of 14 women in Quebec at a technical school by a madman. Opponents have said it is a waste of money and a needless bureaucracy. They say criminals would never have registered guns in the first place and this is a hindrance on hunters and farmers. Police Departments say they use it all the time but are unable to furnish proof of use and validity of these claims. I have always said that if you are caught in the commission of a crime with a weapon – you automatically get 15 years minimum added to whatever sentence is imposed.

Also legislation was introduced to effect changes to the Canadian Wheat Board which will eliminate it as a single marketing arm for the (mainly Western) Canadian farmer. I do not know enough on this topic to make any valid comments at this time but I do wonder why the same dismantling of Dairy and Egg Boards is not done in Eastern Canada. Especially when you pay over $5 for 4L of milk in Canada and if you drive across the border to the States, you pay in the $3 range.

So it is my birthday coming up this Tuesday and I think that I am slipping over the edge of wanting to acknowledge it anymore. The smoke alarm threatens to go off now what with all the candles that are on the cupcake that I buy from the local bake shop. I remember as a youngster eagerly awaiting the day I would turn 20 as that seemed to denote a majour milestone in the making. Funny how it came and went, just like 30, 40 50………………………………………………………

Next year I think I will do something just a little bit out of the ordinary and weather permitting, arrange to go on a glider ride, or then again, maybe a skydive excursion.

The Northeast of the States has been hit by a snowstorm this Saturday and I wonder how the Occupy Wall Street protesters are dealing with the weather change? I think if I was one of the people behind the movement, I would have perhaps started it in mid June rather than now.

Just a thought.

American Republican candidate for President Rick Perry has put forward an idea of a flat tax for people. This would be in the 20% range and of course would have wrinkles for the poor, elderly and disadvantaged. While possibly not the best plan, it IS a plan and has a lot to think about. I like the simplicity of it and the fact that all would pay this tax and the amount would be a constant and eliminate loopholes for a large number of individuals. Maybe it might work here in Canada as well.

As we enter the last 8 days before the Saskatchewan Provincial election it appears that not too much has changed. The Opposition NDP continue to promise $ left and right – almost 3 billion and counting, I wonder where the money is going to come from. They say that they will raise the royalty tax on potash from 5% to 10% but are not accurate in this as the total tax paid is more like 30% once Federal and other tax chargers are added in. The Sask. Party has not added to the promised total and continues to campaign on a sound prudent fiscal mode. One sad thing is that both parties seemed to have discovered the poor in this campaign. The reality is that this issue will probably fade the day after the votes are counted. The poor in any election have little clout and that is just a fact of life unfortunately.

I went to our vet the other day to book out cat in for boarding for when we go on vacation in February. In talking to the staff I found out that most cats live to about 16 – 18 and the odd one to the early 20’s. Our monster is now 18 but still seems in good shape so hopefully he will be with us for a while yet. There was a cat named Marcel at the vets who became your best friend as soon as you walked into the office and liked nothing better than to have a tummy rub from you. Sadly I found out that at the age of 16 he passed away this summer.

We really do place too much attachment on our pets.

Still would not change this however.

Got my seasonal flu shot on Friday. It was done at a seniors housing residence and I have to tell you, that with all the silver hairs there, I felt myself slowly starting to resemble them!

Oh well. Could be worse I suppose.

Well, that is it for this week,

Take care out there,

Flatlander52

Sunday musings

Ever see the movie Groundhog Day? The story where a man wakes up every day to the same day again? That seems to describe the weird feeling I get from the ongoing soap opera in Europe over the financial problems emanating from Greece. Again the politicos are meeting and creating a less than sufficient fund to backstop that beleaguered country’s economy. The banks now are hardening their aggressive response to demands that they take a financial haircut over this mess, one that they had a large part in as the lenders, of 60% rather than the 21% that was talked about before. Do you think that any loss will really be borne by the banks? Hell no, they will pass this on to their depositors in fee and interest rate increases. The average taxpayer will pay for this, just as they did in America during the great crash of ’08. You did not see anybody fired or any institution fined did you? Hell, their bonuses still flowed as if nothing has changed and the politicians did squat about it and continue to do so to this day. As a friend said to me the other day, it is hard to imagine that a country like Greece with 3% of the European economy can be the potential cause of the end of the European Union and the Euro itself. If you want to have an educational experience in the financial field, look up the derivative market meaning and see what it did in ’08 and then ask why a large US bank is quietly folding its European derivatives and transferring the money back to the homeland?

So Sunday is the official day of liberation for Libya, now that Kaddafi is dead. This country missed an enormous opportunity to move towards democracy in the way of his death and now the aftermath. As has been reported, he was shot and then his body was dragged through the streets of the city where he was captured. Then the corpse was stored in a walk in freezer and people are allowed to view it. Even though the Muslim religion requires burial to be as soon as possible after death, this has not happened. Many learned scholars have lamented this fact and that this seems to be the start of an Arab winter where old tribal conflicts reappear and democracy is left behind. If this is the case, many will have died in vain.

The first country in the Arab Spring revolution, Tunisia has announced plans for its first free, multi party elections. Proof that change can occur and be good for the people. Sadly, things appear to have changed very little in Egypt so far. Yes Mubarak is out, but little else appears to have changed. Many would argue that that is not so bad as Islamic fundamentalists have for years wanted to overturn the government there and apply their own version of Sharia Law there.

The American President, Obama, has announced that all troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year. One would think that this news would be approved by all. Not apparently for those in the Republican Party. According to who you listen to, he is going too slow, going too fast, did not ask Congress. In their obvious hate for him, they say and do anything to try to discredit him to the American people. Any and all legislation that he has proposed to help restart the economy has been opposed at every step and defeated in Government. It makes you wonder what paralysis will occur in government if he is re-elected in 2012? The world cannot have an America that wanders indecisively both at home and abroad.

In Canada, there were 3 shipyards bidding on 2 contracts worth about 33 billion over 10 years for replacement icebreakers, destroyers and supply ships. Astoundingly, politics were left out of the decision and one contract worth about 25B went to Halifax and the other for 8B went to Vancouver. The loser in this was one in Quebec and at this point there has been very minimal negative feedback from various politicians in that province.

Quite unusual to say the least.

Here in Saskatchewan, the election campaign continues. A web site has been set up that tracks the $ amount the parties promise to the electorate as part of their bid to form the government. The link is http://taxpayer.com/blog/17-10-2011/spendingtrackerca. I find it interesting that the Opposition Party, NDP, who boasts of their previous fiscal prudence have committed to almost 1.5 Billion so far and the governing Sask. Party, demonized as wastrels by the Opposition, are at a paltry 330 million. If polls are to be believed, the Sask. Party will return to govern with at least the same amount of seats. If so, it is hard to imagine that the leader of the Opposition would retain his position, both as a result of the vote and also the fact that he is in his 60’s and would be approaching 70 when the next election is held in 4 years. This may be just a case where he truly is and will have been, yesterdays’ man.

We had another fine late fall week and it looks like snow may be coming near the end of next week. This is still way too soon for me. But then again if it is cold, with snow on the ground, then the little tykes going door to door on Halloween will rush through the street early and quickly, which may not be such a bad thing. Funny how ones’ attitude changes from the days when you went door to door to now where you are at the door handing out the treats! Our block has undergone a shift in population over the past few years. At one time the owners were those that had purchased houses 25 years or so ago when the block was being built. Then recently age has made some downsize to apartments or the older ones have moved into assisted living facilities. The people that moved in are of course much younger and have little ones of their own and these now proudly do the door to door routine that was done so many years ago by another generation. It is moments like this that makes you start to feel the years that have added up so quietly on you. You sometimes wake up in the morning and wonder where the time went. It seemed like yesterday that words like retirement were just that – words, not something you did daily.

OK, so I told you the saga of the winter tires on my vehicle last week, now let me tell you about those of my wife’s car. Whereas mine were installed no charge, hers cost over $50! Obviously the mechanics at our BMW dealer use gold plated tools in order to do their work on vehicles. Even replacing a taillight bulb cost $35! Sheesh, you nearly have to take out a bank loan to do service work on a BMW these days. But then again, if she did not have her own vehicle, shudder, I would have to drive her every where she wanted to go!

Yup, better off having the Beamer I think.

I pulled out my winter jackets, gloves and assorted gear in anticipation of the months to come. Sure did nothing to make me feel good about winter. The nights start earlier and the sun rises later in the morning and I sure as Hell do not like that at all. I think I am starting to get into my Scrooge mode a bit earlier than normal for some unknown reason. I think it is just that I am finally facing up to the fact that I resent winter and know that there is very little that I can do to change it. I must admit to having a tough time trying to say or think of anything good about this season. Oh yes, I do – there are no mosquitoes in winter! Finally something positive for me to say!

I have a map of the world where I have stuck pins into countries that I have had the pleasure to visit over the years and occasionally think about ones that I would like to see. Two that come to mind (due probably because some of my readership is from these countries) are Singapore and Russia. Both polar opposites of the other but both have a fascination and allure for me. I doubt that the opportunity will arise for a visit, but, boy, would it be fun.

The horrific flooding in Thailand continues unabated. Long range forecasts indicated the rain and flooding will continue for another 6 weeks at a minimum. The total cost of that will be horrendous to say the least. Wonder what the world community will do in response to this disaster. Also did you know that most of the world’s computer hard drives are made in Thailand and that already shortages are being noted due to factories being shut down with no firm date to re-open?

You notice how the drought and famine stories from the Horn of Africa have dropped off the media screen? Instead we in the West are treated to more drivel about Lindsey Lohan and Kim Kardashian, two people who have done absolutely squat in the real world. Instead they feed off the media and the money that is generated from this nonsense.

In a strange story, German police have apparently arrested a couple and accused them of spying for Russia. Apparently they are accused of doing so since the Cold War era. Hmmm, that would put them in their 70’s wouldn’t it? Oh well, this should make a good movie, maybe a comedy?

So, with a fond tip of the hat to Maxwell Smart from the TV series – Get Smart, I bid you goodbye for another week.

Take care out there,

Flatlander52

Sunday musings

Sometimes the changes technology makes in life is amazing. We have lived in our house for over 25 years now and decided that this year we would replace our street side fence – all 90’ plus gate that is. I had considered doing it myself but looked at this and thought, hmmm….not going to happen. First would be dismantling the existing one and then hauling the remains to the rubbish yard. Then sinking new fence posts, after taking a day to paint them with preservative followed by another 3 – 4 days of putting up the actual fence boards, headers and the like. Then there would be another couple of days for 2 coats of stain – minimum.

So instead we decided to go high tech and have a PVC  - recycled vinyl fence done instead. Talk about an eye opening experience. First off a truck rolls up and one person steps out. After greeting him I asked where the rest of the work crew was. He smiled and said, “what rest of the work crew?” He was it! So, I shut up and went into the house while he went about his job. I sure am glad that I kept my mouth shut while he proceeded. Zip, out comes a saws – all (reciprocating form of electric saw) and 2 hours later the old fence is cut down and stacked on a utility trailer, ready to be taken away. Then he fires up a compressor and uses a pneumatic driver to set up 10 foot fence posts. Then he installs railings, headers and boards and by 4:30 is finished except for the gate which will be installed Monday. Wow, one man, one day – kind of left me for a loss of words – which for people that know me, is a rare occurrence.

Yes, it cost more than the traditional type made of wood, but all in all, well worth the difference.

So the other day I had my winter tires installed on my vehicle. I have them mounted on their own rims so the expense of always changing over from summer to winters on one set of rims is eliminated. So of course what happens except that after getting back home and parking on the driveway for 10 minutes, one of the tires goes flat! So I get the local Motor Assistance Association to come and change the tire over to the spare so I can take it to a repair shop – only to find that they are too busy to attend to this minor problem for the day and will have it back to me the next afternoon, oh and by the way, I will have to change the tire myself as they once again are too busy!

I think there is a wall in my garage that has quite a few dents in it now from my repeated pounding of my head at in frustration!

What do you think of these protesters in mainly the USA, but now other parts of the world that are staging sit in demonstrations in parks of major cities against the so called 1% rich that apparently run the world? This 1% includes millionaires – which I find interesting because if you for example take a retired widow living in Vancouver, B.C. who still has her own house – well she would probably be worth 1 million on paper but probably is scraping by on pensions and investment money. By the look of many of the protesters, you see many with portable computers, iPhones and other so called necessities. You do not see many of the truly poor, people from the ghetto in these demonstrations, it appears to be mainly middle class, predominately white people attending these demonstrations.

One area that should, but probably will never be addressed, because governments live in fear of the investment community, would be for legislation to curb and manage the computer driven algorithms that are part of the financial industry. A slight hint of a drop in the value of anything that can be investment driven automatically generates massive buy and sell orders in the virtual blink of an eye with no human oversight or control. A good example is the way the financial community is reacting to the ongoing events regarding Greece. If a person would honestly look at things, what is different in Greece now as compared to 3 months ago? I know that this may be a bit simplistic but I would suggest that there is little or no difference at all – except for the action of money traders and the bankers. Another way of allowing for better social program funding would be to increase the GST (goods and services tax) across Canada as this tax applies to everyone. Increase in deductions for the poor would offset this increase while those more able to pay, would. However with the recent tax revolt in B.C. and Ontario, this is a non starter with the Canadian taxpayer. A quick calculation on the raising of taxes on the top so called 1% would mean a possible rebate of about $30 per person – big deal!

Food for thought at least.

Thailand has been hit by another series of large monsoons. Large portions of the country are under water again. With the melt of a good amount of both polar ice caps, the water levels in the world seem to be on the rise and that bodes poor for many people in impoverished parts of the world that are at or near sea level.

It has been noted that the 7 billionth person will be born soon, and that should occur in India, a country with an extremely high birth rate. It is ironic that in Europe, Canada and the United States the birth rate is not keeping up with the replacement rate needed to maintain services and standards of living and countries that are emerging powers the birth rate is booming. Eventually somebody somewhere is going to realize that this increase in world population cannot be indefinitely sustained by the limited resources of the planet and at that moment, hard choices will have to be made. When will this happen? I think probably within the next 30 years or so.

Here in Saskatchewan we are starting the second week of the provincial election campaign. Promises abound from both parties with everything from scare tactics and cute photo ops of one leader with children while the voice over drones on how only that party cares for you – something they never did while in power. And by the way to the other leader earnestly expounding on how fiscally responsible his government has been these past 4 years. At the end of the day, it will probably come down to the old story of who do you trust the most? Hell of a way to run a province, but that is the way it has and will continue to be until someone finds a better way and that does not appear to been any time soon.

So American President Obama has decided to send 100 military troops to Central Africa in order to apprehend the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. I hope this works out because this sounds a lot like the logic I heard when the Americans sent “advisors” to Viet Nam many years ago and we know how that turned out and at what cost.

On the other hand, news reports indicate that American troops will leave Iraq months before the former end of the year deadline. History will eventually judge the merits and results of that invasion on the country, region and indeed the world itself. Hard to believe how long ago it was and that it was done under the pretense of denying weapons of mass destruction to Saddam Hussein. A fabrication that really did not fool people very long at all.

Who can forget the photo shot of a jubilant President Bush standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier proclaiming “mission accomplished”?  A statement that came back to haunt his presidency.

Fall is over, snow should start falling in about a week or two and already many days are cold, overcast and dreary almost shouting out its warning of the cold days to come. Four, five months to basically endure and survive loom on the horizon. Time to make sure tea supplies are on hand, bread making material are stocked, chai latte mix placed on the shelf for later consumption. Somehow winters now seem crueler than when I was in my twenties. The soon to come arctic cold will bite deeper and last longer than before. I don’t know, maybe it is time to listen to what friends of ours have said over the years about life on the west coast where winters are barely noticeable, and see what life there would be like.

However in the meantime, our mid winter break will suffice, even though I now know that February is in the middle of bloody summer in Argentina! So there we go, from minus forty to plus 38 or so in one day? No wonder we got such a good deal on accommodations when I booked. It seems even the people of Buenos Aires – Portenos (sorry, my program does not allow for the proper accent over the e!) flee to the cooler countryside to escape the heat! Something tells me that I might even enjoy coming back to winter for the last month or so, ah who am I kidding?

Well, as a reader tells me, this is the end of another waaaaay too long blog for this week so I bid you goodbye for now.

Take care out there,

Flatlander52

Sunday musings

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

This weekend marks the end of summer/fall here in Canada. It is also the weekend where enough turkey is eaten to ensure that leftover meals of turkey sandwiches and soup will predominate the menu for the rest of the week. In fact just enough to ensure that ones’ appetite will return in time for the Christmas turkey.

Most of the leaves are off the trees, the grass has changed from deep green to a light brown as it snuggles down for the inevitable snowfalls to come. Next week hopefully I will get someone in to blow compressed air throughout the underground sprinklers to clear out water from the lines so that they do not freeze and crack over winter. Also time to put weather stripping around windows to make sure that no insidious draft sneaks in through spaces to chill the interior and increase heating bills.

Steve Jobs of Apple corp. died this week and countless stories and eulogies have been written about him and his place in history. Truly no man in recent history has had more of an impact of the world, with invention as such as the Ipod, Imac, Ipad and the like. In fact he had 313 patents to his name. The majour result of his efforts was to make computers user friendly and intuitive where the early PC machines where focused on the dreaded c prompt design- many of us remember those difficult days.

One thing that no one has expressed is what I consider to be the dark side of his efforts and that is the Itunes store where for a small fee you can purchase music, videos, games, television shows and the like. This is a store of a massive data gathering system that tracks your purchases and probably builds a consumer profile of you that many advertisers would love to have access to. I have concerns over such a thing and wonder where the intrusion on privacy starts and ends.

1984 anyone?

You want to talk about water?

Many parts of the world have experienced dramatic shifts in weather patterns recently and that has affected the water supply in many areas. Look at the drought in Texas or the Horn of Africa for example. Here is a graphic showing the changes in water from March 2010 to March 2011 and it is interesting to see areas such as Western Canada and its increase and then relate it to the amount of flooding and crop damages that happened in the 2 years. The dark blue shows where there has been massive increases of precipitation and the orange shows decreases.

I see in the United States numerous small scale demonstrations breaking out against banks and Wall Street where the saying is that the “99% are tired of the 1%” destroying the social fabric and economy of the country. This could spell danger for the Republican Party as they are the party that supports big corporations and banks against any and all form of taxation and regulation. This could be the swingback against them and the Tea party that has held the American Government and economy hostage for the last 2 years with their rigid ideology and mantra. 

This week also saw the 80th birthday of both the Dali Lama and Bishop Desmond Tutu, two giants in the history of the world for their efforts on the behalf of mankind. Not too many people can share this distinction. Many would rank them with Mother Theresa, Gandhi and the like. I would as well.

We went to a play put on by an amateur group last night based on the Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.They had a great deal of enthusiasm for the play and while not of the best caliber, gave an entertaining time for the audience.Listening to some of the post performance comments that ranged from positive to slightly negative, I was reminded that as in life, it is always easier to sit in the background and criticise than actually go up on the stage and perform oneself!

Meanwhile the dangerous economic news continues from Europe with more inaction from governments on the crisis with Greece and the consequences for the once powerful Euro. The politicians seem more concerned with their gold plated salaries and pensions than doing what they were elected to do. They sit by and let the banking industry continue to dictate to them what course of (in)action should be taken Of course no institution will agree to controls over transparency and corporate responsibility. Try telling some aircraft assembly employee of 15 years that has always worked hard, paid their taxes, never cheated on income tax, that the crisis is their fault and as a result will have to be fired. That is in essence what is happening and yet the general population seems too bewildered to force their politicians to do something about this. Modern history may be approaching a tipping point in the balance of wealth distribution and the results could be nasty indeed.

Have you ever stood back and looked at all the "stuff" in your place of residence? 

It is amazing how much accumulates over the years once you do so. We decided that this winter will be a season where we go room by room and embark on the process of decluttering. I started in the lower level this past week and oh boy, is this going to be an effort. It is like one of those old time comedy shows where you pick up one item, say it is junk and then turn around and say no, it is too important to throw out.Then you discover that items that you want to get rid of are worth next to nothing to other people when you advertise them for sale and to add insult to injury it will cost money to dispose of them!

Ah, the horror, the horror!

Of course you probably have already seen the silly flaw in starting this process at the cusp of winter- it will be damn cold and snowy when I try to take items to the waste disposal site. It would have been waaaaay too easy to do it in summer right?

Whoever said one gets smarter when one gets older really was not that accurate, at least it seems in my case. 

Well, outside the sun is shining brightly, no clouds in the sky and the temperature is a nice plus 15 and I can smell the slow start of the cooking of the turkey in the oven as I type. So that means it is time to say good bye for another week.

Take care out there,

flatlander 52