Cision employees and CAW union

I heard a radio advertizement from CAW telling clients of Cision to stop doing business with Cision since their employees have been on strike for more than a month.

You have to wonder: if Cision is able to operate without its employees and still serve clients, the employees are probably a lot more redundant than they realize. Just a guess.

Governments — that means us tax payers, by the way — at various levels are some of the clients of Cision so, I would rather we see cost savings in the future. Cision operates world wide. If the Canadian branches can not keep their costs competitive, the jobs will go elsewhere. These employees who are on strike should tighten up their belts and take concessions.

What the hell does an auto union have to do with Cision employees, anyway???

Obama and the Democrats Plan to Destroy the US Economy

Three little words could mean an end to American prosperity: cap and trade,

The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.

When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman-Markey, it broadly compared the economy with and without the carbon tax. Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill’s restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.

New EI reform for Canada

All of this nonsense talk from the Liberals demanding reform to employment insurance is pissing me off. Clearly, they are just using EI reform because they have no other principle to uphold. However, it has got me thinking that maybe it is certainly time to reform Canada’s employment insurance once and for all.

It is time to abolish employment insurance altogether. If any government is serious about about creating jobs, that government would make things easier and cheaper for employers to keep people employed. Abolishing employment insurance would abolish those payroll deductions.

What to do about the shrill cries from the hoards of socialists who pretend to defend the unemployed?
Easy. Tell them to shut up.

What to do with the unemployed?
Nothing. Let them continue looking for a job.

What to do with your bleeding socialist heart that can not bare to let unemployed people free to look for a job in the new economy?
Well, here we may consider some compromises. I propose that the unemployed can go on welfare.

We already have a welfare scheme. Why not use it to its full advantage? There is no reason to waste tax-payers’ money paying for extra layers of worthless bureaucracy managing the old employment insurance scheme when EI payments are nothing but glorified welfare.

Premature praise for Ben Bernanke from a crank

Jim Cramer, a crony capitalist who frantically demands monetary inflation, of CNBC’s Mad Money, offers laughable praise for Ben Bernanke:

I’ll just come right out and say it: Ben Bernanke will go down as the greatest Federal Reserve chairman in history.

which really is not saying much but then he demonstrates either his complete ignorance or disingenuity:

Bernanke then proceeded to eviscerate the laissez-faire economics of the previous administration and its endless faith in the markets that produced the fiasco that was Lehman Brothers.

Jim, who are you trying to kid? or are you really that ignorant?
The previous administration was categorically not fostering laissez-faire economics in the least. Quite the contrary. The previous administration was actively intervening left, right and center. At a bare minimum, the state monopolization of a currency is completely counter any laissez-faire economy.

Jim Cramer The Crony concludes:

The moment of crisis has passed, the parallels to the Great Depression are gone, all because Bernanke learned the lessons of history and refused to let it repeat itself. Bernanke once seemed Lilliputian compared to Greenspan. Now their statures have been reversed.

Oh, no. The crisis has not passed and the parallels will continue into the future: spiralling inflation.

Stimulus Isn’t Working: Obama Decides to Dig Deeper Hole

It seems President Obama isn’t willing to accept that his fiscal stimulus is a colossal failure, in fact, it’s full steam ahead for the rookie president’s Keynesian policies:

The White House acknowledged it has spent only $44 billion, or 5 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus, but that total has always been expected to rise sharply this summer.

“Now we’re in a position to really accelerate,” Obama said.

[...]

The economy has shed 1.6 million jobs since the stimulus measure was signed in February, far overshadowing White House announcements estimating the effort has saved 150,000 jobs. Public opinion of Obama’s handling of the economy has declined along with the jobs data.

For the first time, the administration admitted the economic forecasts it used to sell the stimulus were overly optimistic.

$45,000,000,000.00 / 150,000 jobs “saved” = $300,000.00 spent per job, hardly what I would call sound fiscal policy. Not to mention the stimulus contained a number of “buy American” provisions which will undoubtedly deepen the job losses:

At first glance, “Buy America” floated courtesy of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars ostensibly to revive an economy that would create American jobs, looked like a political winner. Indeed, it may have initially looked like a godsend in what was to be a coming U.S. unemployment rate that would skyrocket to its highest level in a quarter of a century.

[..]

Now many U.S. exporters fear the provisions will backfire, costing American jobs as other countries retaliate. Some municipalities in Canada have already begun organizing boycotts of U.S. products, and EU and Canadian officials say they are reviewing their options.

Suprise Suprise, the US Fiscal Stimulus is a Failure

Dick Morris points out a sobering truth about the failure of “stimulus” economics:

Here are the details. In April, personal household, inflation-adjusted income rose by $122 billion. Of that increase, one-third or $44 billion came from the government’s stimulus program. But while personal income was rising, household savings (which includes paying down credit card balances, mortgages, student loans, car loans, etc) rose by $132 billion — $10 billion more than the rise in income. So personal consumption dropped 0.1%.

The stimulus package was a total and complete failure. As predicted, as happened with Bush’s 2008 tax cut, as happened with the Japanese stimulus packages of the 90s, fearful consumers sat on their money and wouldn’t spend it. Keynesian economics didn’t work. Again.

The economic situation in Canada is not likely to be much better.

John H. Cochrane writing at the economist.com:

There is little empirical evidence to suggest that stimulus will work either. Empirical work without a plausible mechanism is always suspect, and work here suffers desperately from the correlation problem. Quack medicine seems to work, because people take it when they are sick. We do know three things. First, countries that borrow a lot and spend a lot do not grow quickly. Second, we have had credit crunches periodically for centuries, and most have passed quickly without stimulus. Whether the long duration of the great depression was caused or helped by stimulus is still hotly debated. Third, many crises have been precipitated by too much government borrowing.

Behind the Liberals

National Post:

A Nanos poll showed the Liberals with 37% likely voter support, compared to 32% for the Conservatives, while an Ipsos Reid poll put the figures at 36% to 33% in favor of the Liberals. Both polls are accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 95% of the time.

“Support for the federal Liberals continues to incrementally trend upwards,” Nanos said in a statement, noting that support for the Liberals was up from April’s 36%, while support for the Conservatives was down from 33%.

WHY? Give your two-pence in the comments, please.

The Question Nobody is Asking About Electric Cars

Another Canadian Pride moment happened the other day, as Magna (yes, that Magna) Corp. announced that they had purchased Opel and planned to start manufacturing  electric cars in Canada.

Yay, right?

News comes yesterday that no sooner had they purchased said “profitable enterprise” than they found themselves in Ottawa begging for cash. (Hat Tip to SDA.)

My question.  Where is the electricity going to come from?  Electricity is not a renewable resource.  It is the product of resources.  Renewable and non-renewable resources produce it.

Except, we already don’t have enough of it.  BC buys electricity, despite producing massive amounts of hydroelectric power.  The Greens have put a stop to any more “renewable” energy coming from new dam projects.

Nuclear power is out, because it’s got as good a reputation as DDT.  (With about the equivalent basis in fact)

Wind power is irregular, and makes mincemeat out of birds. (More than the Tar Sands by some measures.)

Solar power is nowhere near efficient enough yet.

Oil and gas?  Oh yeah, that’s what we’re trying NOT to use.

I am ready for someone to explain it to me, but I haven’t heard anyone try yet.

GM bailouts are “regrettable, but necessary” — not!

Harper is making me puke:

“Do we do our share and keep our share of the industry here or do we let it be restructured to the United States?”

Well, if it was put to a vote, I guess I would choose to let the whole industry be restructured to the United States, thank you very much. Oh, well. Like most things in a democracy, you never really get to vote on anything of substance.

UPchuckDATE:

The federal and Ontario governments do not expect General Motors Corp. (GM-N0.75—-%) to repay the bulk of the $9.5-billion (U.S.) in Canadian loans the auto maker is receiving as part of Monday’s bankruptcy filing, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
—SNIP—
The governments will try to recoup their money by divesting shares over eight years, hoping the stock price is high enough to provide a return. The auto maker doesn’t have to pay back any more than the $1.3-billion loan.

Oh, I get it. This is just an extension of the American Print And Pray strategy to managing economic disparity. Of course “The Canadian governments could not just stand “idly by” and do nothing, Mr. Harper said, after the former Bush administration in the United States decided late last year to rescue the auto sector.”

Seriously, though. This has nothing to do with cars, industry nor the economy for that matter. The purpose of this bailout is just to subsidize the General Motors pension plans.

UPchuckDATEtoo:
We can not forget the parts manufacturers either. We can not let them fail, now, can we?

Quebec government plays favorites in abortion industry

The Quebec government is instituting more stringent regulations on abortion providers. Various clinics are no longer going to find it worth their while to offer abortions. Yet, there will be making exceptions:

En fin de journée hier, le ministre de la Santé, Yves Bolduc, a par ailleurs indiqué que les centres de santé des femmes, des organismes à but non lucratif où se pratiquent notamment des interruptions volontaires de grossesse, ne seront pas soumis aux règles les contraignant à devenir des cliniques médicales spécialisées.

Too bad. Quebeckers who want abortions are going to have to wait longer.

Next Page »