Tory Piggies At The Trough

Put your finger on your nose and say oink, oink. In the land of the Fraser Institute home of the cheerleaders of Harpers less is more, the folks who hate to see taxpayers (read business) gouged by the government comes this gem. See the Harpocrites are just like the Liberals. Wait a minute wasn't Emerson a Liberal once? This is another case of meet the new boss same as the old boss.

$14,000: EXPENSES Four civil servants flew here to brief Emerson; he says it was worth the cost

Senior federal civil servants spent thousands of dollars travelling to Vancouver to brief embattled International Trade Minister David Emerson, disclosure documents show.

Fonberg, and assistant deputy ministers Robert Dery, Michael Martin and Ken Sunquist were among the eight senior staffers who travelled to meet with Emerson between Feb. 19 and Feb. 23.

At the time, Emerson was weathering a political storm over his decision to join the Conservative cabinet as minister of international trade after having won election as a Liberal in Vancouver-Kingsway.

ADDING UP COST OF OFFICIALS' TRAVEL

Federal International Trade Minister David Emerson approved the travel of eight senior staff members to Vancouver to brief him on key files including:

- Robert Fonberg, deputy minister: Expenses, $3,506.08

- Robert Dery, acting assistant deputy minister and chief trade commissioner: Expenses, $3,172.04

- Michael Martin, assistant deputy minister: Expenses $3,381.58

- Ken Sunquist, assistant deputy minister: Expenses $3,862.53

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What Causes Inflation

Is it really inflation if wages don't rise? Economists used to peg inflation to workers wages, remember the nasty seventies with Wage and Price controls. Of course those are capitalist economists, or more correctly apologists. They now peg inflation to what really causes it; not wages but prices and the creation of profit.

Gas prices may stoke inflation, economists say


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Wisdom of the East

A comment from the Khaleej Times, which sounds like something I said here.

Oil prices and refineries
By Mohammed A. R. Galadari

So, it is not correct to say that oil prices go up because of shortage or war. The fact is that there is more production of oil today than was the case some 10 years ago. The production is going up, the consumption is going up, but refinery capacities are not increasing in a matching way.

More important is the fact that the industrialized world does not have enough refineries, even as they have access to oil. More shipments to the US, for example, alone will not help, as long as the country does not increase and upgrade its refining capacity. Increasing the refinery capacity is not easy, for the reason that it would have to be done in tandem with the environment standards set by the country. Pollution is a big issue for the developed world in particular, also the reason why those countries use mostly light crude in their refineries.

Dear readers, some are however tempted to see a coincidence between the oil price rise and the Bush presidency. If Bush won the elections with the backing and support of the Texas oil companies, it would also be that he created the necessary conditions for them to make extra gains during his presidency, is how the argument goes. Nothing can be ruled out in politics.

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Day of Reckoning

Dire IMF warning clouds gather over the US economy like buzzards in the Iraq desert. But is anyone in the Bush regime listening?

The US's enormous current account deficit, now worth almost 7 per cent of its GDP, will have to be unwound eventually: like anyone living beyond their means, it will have to have a day of reckoning. The IMF warned again last week that without co-ordinated action to bring the value of the dollar down smoothly, and boost growth in Europe and Asia to compensate for slower growth in the US, there is an increased chance that the imbalances unwind suddenly, leading to a devastating global downturn. Do we need an IMF? Yes, but not this one


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Old Boys Club

King Stephen the Harpocrite continues to fall down when it comes to walking the walkin over his cherished fetish; 'accountability'. Once again given a chance to appoint someone qualified, someone who has the required background, or is of high standing in regards to business ethics, he does the opposite. Sure the person for the job will work for $1 a year but a pal is a pal. And a plum political appointment is that a plum. PM picks supporter for watchdog job

Mr. Harper said in his speech: "Let me be clear: governments should be able to appoint people who support their agenda -- that is not the issue.

Sure it is especially if the position is; Public Appointments Chair, it sets the tone. But wait is is the best person for the job, as in David Emerson, or party loyalty?


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Zero Sum Gain

Ok here is an interesting fact. Ford is reporting a $1.2 billion dollar loss this year, larger than even GM, after making $1.2 billion last year in sales. So thats a zero sum gain, no loss no gain. Despite this failure in basic economics 101, Ford the boss continues to say he is going along with his winning formula. It's a result of following the "no guidance" formula of economics, which is like driving with no steering.

Ford financial downshift

One day after the also-ailing General Motors Corp. won investor and analyst approval in posting a $323 million first-quarter loss, the nation's second-largest automaker reported a $1.2 billion loss Friday.

The decline, Ford's biggest since 2001, compared with a $1.2 billion profit a year earlier. And it has analysts questioning the turnaround program the company announced in January.

"We believe implementation has been slow, and it could be some time before benefits are realized," Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy said.

Still, Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. plans to stick with the program, which includes closing 14 North American plants and cutting as many as 30,000 jobs by 2012. Ford expects to trim 13,000 of those this year.


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Profiting From Disaster

CN had a record number of corporate made disasters last year in Alberta and B.C. Which it still has not paid the communities affected by, nor has it paid the Alberta government for the clean up.

As result of its bottomline operations that led to those disasters, it has a record profit this quarter. Canadian National profit climbs 21%

Further it plans to continue expanding its computerized operations which led to the problems in the first place. CN plans to spend $1.5 billion to boost efficiency

But hey ever the good corporate citizen they intend on making a donation to a U.S. hospital. It's a tax write off. CN donates $1 Million to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center

But for the folks in Wabamum, Smithers etc., well they get buckus.



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Emerson's First Act

Here is how not to win friends and influence people. Feds change licence scheme at VanPort; Owner-ops not impressed

The federal government may not be extending a container truck licence regime which mandated set rates and fuel surcharges paid to owner-operators, but it has tabled legislation that institutes a separate licensing rule for carriers working the ports in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver.

Earlier this week David Emerson, federal Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway, said the Tory government would not approve an new order in council that would extend the interim licensing scheme which ended a bitter six-week strike last summer by 1,200 independent container haulers protesting rate-cutting, low wages, and the high cost of fuel.

Instead, new "Regulations Amending the Port Authorities Operations" published in the Canada Gazette Part 1 yesterday require the Vancouver Port Authority to administer licences to approved trucking companies entering the ports.

Note well this law was passed as an Order In Council, that is without debate in the house.

And as usual it is a typical Alberta regulation, it suggests but does not mandate, in fact it degerulates the market. The Harpocrite government will monitor the situation which of course means sitting on their hands till there is another strike.

In fact, the new government made it clear it wouldn’t be regulating rates – nor asking the VPA to do so -- but would closely monitor that contracts and bargaining agreements be honored.

This week, the Vancouver Container Truck Association and the Canadian Auto workers, which represent many of the owner-ops, threatened to launch another wildcat strike if the previous licence system wasn’t continued. There’s a good chance they may still in fact do so.

That’s what the Retail Council of Canada is warning members across the country. The RCC’s Kevin Evans told Canadian Press the changes don't do anything to stop another major labour disruption at the ports. The association estimates Canadian businesses lost an estimated $500 million during last year’s strike.

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Another Privatization Myth Busted

Ah the joys of privatization, more efficient and cost effective than the public sector say the neo-cons until reality walks up and slaps them in the face. Toll highway operator 407 International posts $11-million loss in Q1


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The Ugly Truth About Migration

Here are the real faces of the so called illegal aliens, the undocumented migrants coming North to the United States. A very different story than that of the jingoist hysteria raised by Lou Dobbs and his ilk as I have documented here before. This is a crisis of development and underdevelopment and until that is addressed then migration, legal and illegal will continue.

The Lost Children

Each year, an estimated 700,000 immigrants enter the United States illegally. Since 2000, nearly a million additional immigrants annually, on average, have arrived legally, or become legal residents. . . . In recent decades, the increase in divorce and family disintegration in Latin America has left many single mothers without the means to feed and raise their children." No one knows the exact number of mothers coming north without their children, but a University of Southern California study shows that 82 percent of nannies and one in four housecleaners are women with children left alone in their home countries. And now that these mothers have come north, their children are following. It is now common to find 15-year-old walkers caught in the border patrol nets. But this is a catch-and-release sport, and these fingerlings are tossed back into the bigger pond of Mexico to try their migration again.

Why is this allowed to happen? The undocumented worker can be hired for wages far lower than the American worker; moreover, their presence tends to depress the minimum wage. They lower production costs, they serve as union busters, they save money in terms of benefits, and they are a pliant and compliant workforce. The paradigm has shifted from under-the-table cash payments to formalized employment. Any border patrol agent can explain to you how money withheld from the undocumented worker's paycheck pours into state and federal coffers. For example, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal workers donate $6.4 billion annually to Social Security. But these illegal workers will never collect benefits from that program. On the other side of the tattered fence, the Mexican government appreciates the stunning $17 billion in remittance money -- money sent home from that maid who cleaned your house, that fast-food cook who salted your fries -- that arrives each year.

Why does the problem continue? Follow the money. Everybody wins -- except the abandoned children. Who can blame them for trying to save themselves the only way they've been shown? The U.S. government's slipshod attempts to bolster security at the borders have made the passage more deadly. In the madness of the harsher border, drug lords and gangsters rule the day. Any border patrol agent will tell you that criminal elements are on the rise -- as are violence and the terrible toll of deaths due to heat, cold, misadventure and homicide. The death train is running all night, and it makes stops in Tegucigalpa, Mexico City, Juarez, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.

Lure of the north: 'I had to come'

COST OF ILLEGALIMMIGRATION MAY BE LESS THAN MEETS THE EYE

US Arrests Hundreds in Illegal Immigration Crackdown


Illegal Immigrants Expanding Footprint






















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