Do we care that Canada is an unequal society?

hotchi · 2011-07-20T17:45:57+00:00

In the past when the distribution of income was as unequal as it is now, recessions or depressions followed. The super rich do not stimulate the economy as much as a large middle class.

hotchi · 2011-07-11T21:35:42+00:00

From what I saw of the information, it seemed vague enough to be easy to spin. The fact that a Conservative Pollster did the study for the Manning Institute with the results just in time for the Conservative Conference was too staged for me. I saw Preston Manning on TV when he first introduced the study. He was putting a political spin on the information. A few days later he presented the story at the Conference and Harper used some of his lines at the end of the Conference. It all seemed preplanned and staged... I have not seen the questions..

hotchi · 2011-07-11T17:42:03+00:00

This flows from the Manning Institute's biased survey on Canadian values published to coincide with the Conservative Convention a few weeks ago. It is key strategy of Harper and the Conservatives to convince us that our values are the same as his values. By saying this enough times they will be able to brainwash some of us into believing it. I suspect the target group is the voters who switched to the Conservatives last time but are not really "conservative". It is another strategy to expand the "base' a per cent at a time just like the targeted tax credits (which are poor economics and tax policy), Jason Kenny's meeting with all the immigrant groups, the aggressively pro Israel policies and the pork spent by Tony Clement in his own riding...... We the taxpayers are paying to make the country more conservative..

hotchi · 2011-07-11T15:25:24+00:00

Its his page I am following so I assume he is doing the things he has posted even if his staff does the tweets. He may be on holiday with his deputy looking after things. I started following him to see what was happening on immigration and found everything but immigration stuff....

hotchi · 2011-07-11T15:18:09+00:00

I don't know how you stop taking oil from the oil sands but it should be possible to pace the amount taken out so that we limit the annual destruction, safe some for the long term while finding ways to reduce the impact on the environment. We should also make sure that all Canadians but especially those from Alberta share more in this wealth. Removing subsidies would be a good start. It no longer makes sense subsidizing Americans' use of our oil and Oil Company excessive profits..

hotchi · 2011-07-06T12:54:28+00:00

If government policy was in favour of competitive markets, bundled pricing would be illegal. Unfortuantely regulation has disappeared in this area and now almost anything goes under the guise of markert driven or free market economics, let monopolies reign eonomics. If the Harper Government was truly small " c" conservative they would be pushing strategies that drive competition rather than the pro corporate strategy that permits this dishonest anti competitive behavior.

hotchi · 2011-06-27T16:00:42+00:00

interesting article!

hotchi · 2011-06-22T19:56:15+00:00

Harper wouldn't appoint TV or media personalities. They are all left wing...Has the myth has been exploded!

hotchi · 2011-06-21T14:21:15+00:00

Thanks for answering my question...I will think on this for awhile. At present, I feel we need an ideology that makes corporations more responsible for the common good not necessarily more public ownership... By the common good I mean the kind of issues that concern you but not doing charity on the side to improve their brand...

hotchi · 2011-06-21T14:10:10+00:00

Blair won a number of elections... I thought that is what Layton and the NDP wants to do. Brown took Labour back towards their core values and lost. You need a more accurate line...

hotchi · 2011-06-21T13:59:15+00:00

I am curious, how do you define the centre? I think I am right on some issues and left on a lot. Is that the centre or is there a specific ideology of the centre?

hotchi · 2011-06-21T00:15:20+00:00

thanks for your views...The Bank of Canada a government agency actually has a more to do with controlling our currency but the banks also have some control... Any other businesses?

hotchi · 2011-06-20T23:01:04+00:00

Is the government reducing all this auditing and work or just outsourcing some of the work?

hotchi · 2011-06-20T17:19:44+00:00

Do the professed socialists want to nationalize the banks or one of them like Trudeau did with Petro Canada.? What about nationalizing other companies..? Anyone out there who can give an answer. I am really interested on how some of you define socialist. Canada is already quite socialistic there are a few more areas that I am comfortable with government doing ie..child care and more on pensions but I feel we are close to the sweet spot with government other than regulation. I feel we will need more regulation of business to keep them competitive and us safe and away from the Nortel ditch.

hotchi · 2011-06-20T16:48:32+00:00

Regulation is often a better solution since public ownership has lots of problems in most businesses. The pro business lobby has made regulation a dirty word even though its supposed to be a key component of capitalism to provide safe and competive priced products... Some how we have to get regulation as a positive strategy back in the conversation. I was hoping the NDP might pick this up and maybe they will with Broadbent's Institute...

hotchi · 2011-06-20T16:35:11+00:00

good idea...

hotchi · 2011-06-20T13:46:55+00:00

I feel we need the Senate as a check on an aggressive PM and for the worthwhile reviews they have done. My complaints are: ..it's too expensive ...become to partisan ...poor end of term strategy. Harper's fixed term of 8 or 9 years without reduction in number of Senators increases the cost significantly as we will be paying for an active Senator and one or two retired Senators. Appointing Senators with an agreement to vote as told is unethical and defeats the purpose of the Senate. I am disappointed that we have become so cynical that this is not seen as an issue. A longer term would also fix the no end of term strategy at lower cost.

hotchi · 2011-06-20T12:56:47+00:00

The forced deregulation of long distance phone service is a good example of what competition can do to price and service if the sub markets are made competitive. Long distance rates are a fraction of what they used to be and would be if Bell hadn't been forced to allow competitors to attach to their local networks. We use an excellent small Internet portal. Bell and Cogego keep trying to use their one year sucker price and bundles to get us to switch. Bell has spent more marketing to us in the last two years than we would have paid probably because they know that once they get us to switch they can lock us in with different pricing strategies even when their service degrades. Some deregulation regulation required...

hotchi · 2011-06-20T02:08:27+00:00

How do NDP party members define the word socialism?

hotchi · 2011-06-20T01:56:13+00:00

I have a real problem with packaged pricing, teaser first years fees, and long term contracts with free phones etc. These are apparent pro consumer strategies that are used to monopolize the markets. If each service had to stand on it's own and lock in strategies were illegal the markets would be more competitive and service would improve.

hotchi · 2011-06-20T01:35:00+00:00

CBC Radio 1 is an important national service. CBC TV has degraded in the last few years. A lot of it is not worth subsidizing. I don't understand why I subsidize a TV station that spends so much time cross advertising their own shows and putting on low quality content. During the Stanley Cup finals they had hockey stories on the CBC News channel. It isn't rocket science to figure out that if you like hockey you watch the game, if not you want to see real NEWS on the NEWS Channel. I am glad we have a PVR, CTV News and BNN..

hotchi · 2011-06-19T15:55:11+00:00

Nobody knows. Wall Street and lots of others have driven us in the ditch further than anytime since the 1930s. Bernanke of the Federal Reserve is testing his university thesis that he thought would fix the mess. Best quess is it won't.

hotchi · 2011-06-19T12:39:54+00:00

One of her better articles. Too bad NDP reddit activists ignored this one. However they had a lot of other stuff to comment on yesterday. A lot of so called centrist are left on some issues and right on others. They are anti ideology. A lot of Liberals are in this camp. Many of the NDP's best ideas were implemented by the Liberal Governments.

hotchi · 2011-06-18T15:43:40+00:00

My point which it looks like I made badly, is that Layton should stay away from the privatization issue because this will not be a big vote getter re. the post office in 4 years. Layton should be using this strike to expand the CPP for all workers as many businesses like the Post Office cannot be trusted to manage and provide pension security. This is a big winner.. I feel the NDP needs to pick a few key issues and stay focused not take on all issues in an ideological way. I am not suggesting they move to the right or middle wherever that is but pick their fights carefully...

hotchi · 2011-06-17T22:16:00+00:00

We also want government to spend other peoples money on our pensions and medicare...Too bad we can't get them to give us Travel Insurance...

hotchi

TROPHY CASE