FW: Welcome to the Future!
Title: FW: Welcome to the Future! Fuel prices jolt drivers Ontario studies price freeze as industry claims 'price war' over Pauline Tam The Ottawa Citizen; With files from The Canadian Press Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen / In the past year, gasoline at this west-end service station has cost as little as 45 cents a litre. The gasoline industry is blaming an increase in world oil prices, high demand from motorists and the abrupt end of a local price war for a sudden increase that has pushed the cost of a litre of gas in Eastern Ontario to its highest levels in two years. Motorists were shocked yesterday to find that many of the region's gas stations had raised their prices to a high of 60.9 cents a litre -- an overnight jump of almost seven cents, or 14.2 per cent. Thomas: This was in today's Citizen newspaper - shades of the future aka Jay Hanson. Citizen: The last time local gas prices broke the 60-cent barrier was in September 1997, when consumers paid a high of 60.7 cents a litre. It's the second time in the past four weeks that the region's gas prices have made such a dramatic leap. It's pure greed on the part of the oil companies, says Bernard Ruzeen, spokesman for the Ottawa-based consumer group called the Citizen Coalition for Fair Pricing at the Pumps. It's predatory pricing that has nothing to do with the international price of oil. Thomas: The average citizen, who has not had the benefit of our insider information continues to believe that this is just a profit grab by oil companies, rather than the first tendrils of the winds of change that is going to restructure globalization, transportation and life as we know it and believe it is our solemn right to continue to exist with. Citizen: The price increases once again led to calls by consumer groups for the federal government to investigate gas-pricing practices. Jim Innes, a spokesman for the federal Competition Bureau, said the government watchdog will continue to monitor price increases, but the office is powerless without any clear evidence of illegal price-fixing. Thomas: In terms of price fixing, I agree, the government is probably powerless. However in terms of honesty, an honest set of statements regarding world stocks is overdue, now is the time to start telling the citizens of Canada, that the party is over in regards to cheap fuel prices and that from now or very shortly, we can all expect energy to become more expensive, scarce and valuable. Of course, they won't do it because they are afraid it will cause panic - which it will. Citizen: However, a spokesman for Ontario's consumer ministry said it might consider a gasoline price freeze. Jim Cowan said the government is reviewing its options, which could include new consumer-protection laws. Mr. Cowan said the province has always maintained that gas prices are a federal issue but that the federal government has failed to act to stop the gouging. Thomas: With regret, I cannot find a posting, I'm sure I saved which stated that the real cost of a gallon of gasoline was $15, when all the subsidies, tax breaks and special regulatory exemptions were added into the price of crude oil. This was in the US, but the same is probably true for Canada. So, rather than the Government protecting us from price gouging, the government through slight of accounting has deliberatly kept the price of fuel below a true market value. Citizen: Before the latest increase, prices were in the 57-cent range; less than a month ago, they averaged 49.9 cents a litre. A random survey of Ottawa-area stations yesterday showed prices ranged between 60.5 cents and 60.9 cents a litre. In Greater Toronto, prices rose as high as 64.9 cents a litre yesterday. And in the U.S., gas prices reached the highest retail levels since November 1997. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, gasoline prices have risen 29 per cent since February, when the country recorded the lowest average price since government surveys began in 1994. Spencer Knipping, an oil and gas analyst with the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology, said Canadian gasoline prices generally fall in line with those in the U.S. because of free trade. Brendan Hawley, spokesman for the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, said the latest increases come amid a shrinking supply of oil worldwide leading to steady increases for the price of crude. Thomas: So, here it is officially! amid a shrinking supply of oil worldwide, but did the article pick up on it - nope, I'm surprised it even got included. Co-incidentally, the following little gem was in my morning Graffis postings: WE NEED YOUR HELP to stop new oil exploration in the Arctic! The coming weeks, the Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise is touring the Arctic ice edge between Siberia and Alaska to investigate the effect of climate change on the ice and on marine mammals, such as walrus and sea lion populations. The tour is part of our campaign to stop new oil
FW put it in perspective (fwd)
X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 16:01:59 -0400 Carl Iddings [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Fwd: Fw: "Booming" US Economy (Fwd)] Facts About The "Booming" U.S. Economy In the 1970s, the top 1 percent of households had about 20 percent of the national wealth. This was widely considered excessive. Today, the number is over 40 percent and climbing. Thirty years ago, about 10 percent of American households were broke, with a net worth of zero or less. fifteen years ago, the number was about 15 percent. Today the number is almost 20 percent. Adjusting for inflation, blue-collar workers are making less than they did a quarter-century ago. The U.S. savings rate is now negative 0.5 percent, the lowest level since the early Depression. Most Americans have a lower net worth than they did 15 years ago, when the greatest stock market rally in history began. the bottom two-fifths of households have lost about 80 percent of their average net worth. The middle fifth has lost about 11 percent. The richest 1 percent of America owns more wealth than the entire bottom 95 percent combined, and the inequality is increasing. Twenty years ago, a typical big-time corporate CEO was paid about 40 times what an average worker received. CEOs today are paid almost 420 times as much. As CEO of Genreal Electric, Jack Welch has eliminated 128,000 jobs. But GE stock has appreciated about 40-fold, even adjusting for inflation. So Jack Welch is paid $83.6 million. Meanwhile, after what economists will soon call the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, 20 percent of all American children now grow up in poverty. And Money magazine can write "Everyone's Getting Rich!" in giant letters across the cover... (This is snipped from an article by Bob Harris in the new issue of Extra!, the quarterly magazine published by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. [ http://www.fair.org ] The figures come from the economic watchdog group United for a Fair Economy, whose reports can be found online: http://www.stw.org __ __ +
FW: Re: Cdn brain drain
(tidying up the formatting a bit) Michael Gurstein [EMAIL PROTECTED] quoted: From: Jim Peers [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skilled talent leaving Canada, Swiss study finds High taxes blamed: Canada ranks 36th for ability to retain well-educated people Robert Fife Ottawa Bureau Chief National Post [...] Of 47 countries featured in the 1999 yearbook, Canada ranks 36th and Sweden 43rd in their ability to retain well-educated people. [...] initiative. Out of 47 countries, Canada is 35th for low tax rates, while the U.S. is ranked at seven. Hong Kong is the star performer in keeping taxes low. [...] competitiveness. When overall competitiveness is factored, Canada ranks 10th, behind Germany, Denmark, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Singapore and the U.S. [...] When it comes to quality of life, the yearbook placed Canada at three behind Switzerland and Austria, while the U.S. was ranked at 16. The United Nations recently ranked Canada as the best place in the world to live for the sixth straight year. Anyone like to speculate about the correspondences between tax rates and quality of life? What do you want to bet there's a lovely reverse correlation? -PV
FW: Re: Welcome to the Future
"Thomas Lunde" [EMAIL PROTECTED] quoted: Fuel prices jolt drivers Ontario studies price freeze as industry claims 'price war' over Pauline Tam The Ottawa Citizen; With files from The Canadian Press Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen / In the past year, gasoline at this west-end service station has cost as little as 45 cents a litre. [...] Motorists were shocked yesterday to find that many of the region's gas stations had raised their prices to a high of 60.9 cents a litre -- an overnight jump of almost seven cents, or 14.2 per cent. These guys are so excitable, it's a good thing they don't live on the west coast. Out here, gas prices climbed steadily through the '90s to nearly 70 cents, which includes a Vancouver transit levy. Then Arco opened a new expanded refinery just across the border to process Alaskan oil, and found it wasn't able to ship product at a rate sufficient to keep its refinery operating in its high volume efficient range. So it opened a string of retail outlets across southwest BC, and started a price war which brought prices down to as low as 36 cents, drving some stations out of business. Basically it used BC as a release valve for its excess product. Now, local prices will yoyo between 40 and 65 cents depending on how much product Arco is able to move south of the border. It's gotten so nuts that a bunch of locals have cobbled together a website which reports up to the minute data on which gas stations in greater Vancouver have the cheapest gas price, and they accept information from the public via email, phone and fax. (It's at gaswars.intouch.ca for anyone who wants to look). I suppose that opens a whole can of worms about the use of networked information to enhance the race to the bottom. It is of course the local station personnel who take the hit when the gas wars move prices into the red. The oil companies and the various gov'ts are all guaranteed their cut. -Pete Vincent
Re: FW: Welcome to the Future! (gas prices)
On Wed, 21 Jul 1999, Thomas Lunde wrote: With regret, I cannot find a posting, I'm sure I saved which stated that the real cost of a gallon of gasoline was $15, when all the subsidies, tax breaks and special regulatory exemptions were added into the price of crude oil. The International Center for Technology Assessment has recently released a study entitled "The Real Price of Gasoline." It can be downloaded in PDF format from http://www.icta.org/projects/trans/index.htm Depending on how you crunch the numbers, the real cost of gasoline is between US$5.60 and $15.14 per US gallon (3.785 liters). think back to 1973 and the anger and the gas lineups. Only this time it won't be temporary. In fact, a vehicle without fuel is a pretty clumsy boat anchor and we don't even have horses to make Bennet buggies anymore. But we have bicycles -- aren't they vehicles too? (And for the longer distances, we have trains..) [Granted, for some N.Americans, this may sound like Marie Antoinette ;-))] Welcome to the Bicycle Age! :-D Chris _ Start bicycling -- burn fat, not oil.
Re: Cdn brain drain confirmed - in National Article - Jul 21 (fwd)
I believe the Association of Canadian Universities (or whatever the proper title is) did a study recently which indicated that the notion of a brain drain is greatly overblown, and is in fact largely a ploy by business to support calls for tax cuts. While I'm not to sure of my ground here because all I know of the study is from an interview on the radio, I do recall that one of the main findings is that, in most fields, there is an approximate balance between professionals migrating from Canada to the US and professionals migrating to Canada from elsewhere. I don't know if the studys draws any conclusion on whether those who are coming in are as good as the ones who are leaving. The fact that "The Swiss report, [is] based on a survey of 4,160 leading business executives" makes me just a little suspicious of the possibility of self-serving motives. Ed Weick Subject: Cdn brain drain confirmed - in National Article - Jul 21 Skilled talent leaving Canada, Swiss study finds High taxes blamed: Canada ranks 36th for ability to retain well-educated people Robert Fife Ottawa Bureau Chief National Post OTTAWA - A severe brain drain caused by high income taxes is affecting Canada's ability to compete with rival economies, says the latest entrant to the debate about whether the country's most talented people are flooding south to the United States. The World Competitiveness Yearbook, compiled by Swiss business school IMD, says that Canada is ranked 10th in the world for competitiveness but is facing an exodus of talent. Among rich countries, Canada and Sweden, which have high income taxes, are facing the biggest problem with skilled professionals leaving, says the widely respected competitiveness report. Of 47 countries featured in the 1999 yearbook, Canada ranks 36th and Sweden 43rd in their ability to retain well-educated people. The report calls into question the rhetoric of Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, and claims by the Canadian Association of University Teachers that the brain drain is a myth perpetuated by business interests. Even some Liberal cabinet ministers are conceding that Canada is h*morrhaging talent south of the border. In Toronto yesterday, Allan Rock, the Health Minister, unveiled a $147-million program to discourage top Canadian medical researchers from moving to the U.S., where American researchers receive an average of $260,000 for their projects compared to $70,000 in Canada. The Swiss report, based on a survey of 4,160 leading business executives, tries to rank countries competitiveness according to 288 criteria, including taxes, education, gross domestic product, science and technology and overall productivity. The United States is the leader in world competitiveness, which the report attributes to American breakthroughs in new technologies, deregulation policies and low corporate and personal income taxes. The report supports a recent study by Standard Poor DRI, which warned that rising income levels in the U.S. could tempt more Canadians south of the border. The income gap between the U.S. and Canada is now an average of $7,000 and growing. Nonetheless, Jean Chretien, the prime minister, has insisted that reports of skilled professionals emigrating to the U.S. are exaggerated by right-wingers lobbying for tax cuts. However, the IMD report gives Canada a poor score for high personal income taxes that it suggests discourages individual work initiative. Out of 47 countries, Canada is 35th for low tax rates, while the U.S. is ranked at seven. Hong Kong is the star performer in keeping taxes low. Scott Brison, the Conservative Party finance critic, said the Swiss report should serve as a wake-up call for the prime minister to take seriously demands from groups, such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, to slash personal and corporate income taxes. Last week, the chamber urged the government to cut taxes
Re: War, Confucious and the CBD
Robert, My library book on Keynsian economics says basically the same thing. If your economy is in trouble start a war. (I can hear the apologist's keyboards rattle, "Marx wasn't an economist and Keynes didn't mean it.") One of the things that no one would consider (because it doesn't fit, into the "exploiters as progressives" mode), would be to return to the greatest use of Iron in the 19th century. Turn those swords and old automobiles into piano frames! We have such "ideas" about giving (or not) money away to that 40% or so of the population, that will not have the regular (exploitation and pollute) jobs, that we would rather argue about the meaning of drudge work than to come up with work that delights the eye, caresses the ear and makes the idea of tearing an eye from the socket or an arm from the shoulder acceptable only in a play. Better crime in the street from abused populations or war to lower that population and offer puberty rites than to have a play and self reflection on that brutality. Better to have a burial then have Wilfred Owen rise at the end of his poems and take a bow. Yes Brad, these are sacrifices that are like the ones you deplore. But the real sacrifice would have been to have this poet home writing about culture in the way he wrote about war. He could have written the 20th century version of Blake's economic observations: "Where are thy father mother? say? They are both gone up to the church to pray. Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winters snow: They clothed me in the clothes of death. And taught me to sing the notes of woe. And because I am happy, dance sing. They think they have done me no injury" And are gone to praise God and his Priest King Who make a heaven of our misery." == Brutality is not legislated away or solved by repression in children. It should be played out on the stage, not the stage of life, but the stage where people, both professional and amateur, can act the great lessons of life and explore the meanings of the composers and poets, the great ideals of their history, their present and their dreams. Since no one seemed to like my last post on this, I will let it go. I have much to do but I find this all very discouraging and more than a little cowardly on the part of those who are at present doing the "naming of the valuables" in society. So I go into lurking with a little Chinese wisdom from a dialogue with that great futurist Confucius: If it happens that one entrusts you with the government, what would you do first? "I would begin with correct definitions!" But that is far afield, Why should the Government bother? "When the names are not correct, then the language does not fit. When the language does not fit, then the actions will not be complete. When the actions are not complete, then civility does not blossom. When civility does not blossom, then authority falters. And when authority falters then the people do not know were to put their hands and feet. Therefore the wise scholar gives names such that language becomes possible, And uses language in such a way that wise action becomes possible. " == "Giving meaning to words is a creative act leading to manifestations in the real world" Winfried Dressler == A public leader needs to be 1. ...in possession of the cultural inheritance. and needs to be qualified to 2. ...participate in the contemporary world. 3. ...contribute to the civilization of the future. John Warfield === As for Michael's Brain Drain, (CBD) America is currently filled with Canadian Culture and performing artists bringing millions of dollars back into the economy of Toronto in particular and Canada generally.It has worked for America's balance of trade payments, I suspect that a smaller country and a smaller population will benefit even more. However Canada has decided to go on the same "profit as the only value" binge that is currently infecting America's heart and brain. So the Canada Council, that jewel of North America, is probably on the way out, in which case you had better be prepared to compete with the giant to your south in the entertainment market place. Remember what happened to that wonderful Canadian "share the profits between projects" producer Garth Drabinsky. He met American "profit is the only value" shareholders and they crashed his empire. It isn't pretty. There are a lot more of your people working in Nova Scotia and around your country in the culture industries than ours are here, primarily because of what was an enlighted attitude on the part of the Canadian people. Where America gives less than a dollar per person to subsidize the arts, the last time I looked, Canada gave several dollars per person and Hollywood and the
Re: Humour: IMPORTANT VIRUS ALERT!!!!!!!! (it's ok, it is funny) (fwd)
Eva Durant wrote: A virus called WORK is on the loose... If you receive any sort of work at all, whether via e-mail, internet, or simply handed to you by a colleague... DO NOT OPEN IT! The work virus has been circulating around our building for months and those who have been tempted to open it or even look at it have found that their social life is deleted and the brain ceases to function properly. [snip] I have a friend who is either a computer genius or close to it. He also has a *deep* commitment to doing the work right. He often has difficulty coping with the incompetence of the people around him -- not so much that of the people below him, but the people above him who prevent him from fixing the situation. He would often say (in a somewhat pointed tone of voice:): Time for a work break! He also often observed that, for him, there was no difference between working on a computer program and working on a gourmet meal (enjoying a gourmet meal or enjoying programming). I once told his manager that he (the manager) should be grateful for the opportunity he (the manager) had been given to learn from this person, the likes of whom the manager was unlikely ever again to encounter again in his (the manager's ) life (manager did not respond with pleasure to my attempt to be helpful to him (the manager)). Is this correct Latin: "Laborare orare sit" (*May* one's working and one's most important personal living be one-and-the-same!). \brad mccormick -- Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] 914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua, NY 10514-3403 USA --- ![%THINK;[XML]] Visit my website: http://www.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
Re: FW: Welcome to the Future! (gas prices)
Christoph Reuss wrote: On Wed, 21 Jul 1999, Thomas Lunde wrote: With regret, I cannot find a posting, I'm sure I saved which stated that the real cost of a gallon of gasoline was $15, when all the subsidies, tax breaks and special regulatory exemptions were added into the price of crude oil. The International Center for Technology Assessment has recently released a study entitled "The Real Price of Gasoline." It can be downloaded in PDF format from http://www.icta.org/projects/trans/index.htm Depending on how you crunch the numbers, the real cost of gasoline is between US$5.60 and $15.14 per US gallon (3.785 liters). think back to 1973 and the anger and the gas lineups. Only this time it won't be temporary. In fact, a vehicle without fuel is a pretty clumsy boat anchor and we don't even have horses to make Bennet buggies anymore. [snip] As far as I am concerned there has been no computer revolution, and certainly no Internet revolution, so long as almost everybody has to drive (or take Metro North) a loong distance, wasting lots of energy and lots of precious *life time*) COMMUTING. Question: Why can't we all work from home (except for EMT personnel, etc.)? Answer: Because bosses like to see "asses and elbows". Why not recall some words from Joseph Weizenbaum: The computer, by enabling old bureaucratic forms to live on after the quantity of data to be processed exceeded the handling capacity of clerks, HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL FORCES FOR SOCIAL REACTION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (_Computer Power and Human Reason..._, W.H. Freeman, 1976). \brad mccormick -- Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] 914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua, NY 10514-3403 USA --- ![%THINK;[XML]] Visit my website: http://www.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
Re: Humour: IMPORTANT VIRUS ALERT!!!!!!!! (it's ok, it is funny) (fwd)
Brad wrote: I have a friend who is either a computer genius or close to it. ... He would often say (in a somewhat pointed tone of voice:): Time for a work break! Do you know why those big computers are called "workstation" ? A trainstation is where the train stops. A workstation is ... ;-) Chris
Re: Cdn brain drain confirmed - in National Article - Jul 21 (fwd)
Ed Weick said about the brain drain issue: The fact that "The Swiss report, [is] based on a survey of 4,160 leading business executives" makes me just a little suspicious of the possibility of self-serving motives. Yeh. I'd like to see a breakdown by occupation. I wonder how the figures look if you omit "managers" and lawyers from the list. Also, the reference to losing our "best and brightest" is interesting. It's tautological that the people who move south because of wage and tax incentives are chiefly motivated by personal financial advantage. Are the people for whom personal financial advantage is a first priority the "best and brightest"? Hmm... Of course, if there's a quasi-religious dogma that the definition of "best and brightest" is "those most dedicated to personal gain". BTW, Responding to Tom Lunde, Robert Rosenstein said, 4. The ultmate example of this way of thinking is perhaps expressed in a book (expose?) published in 1967 by Leonard Lewin. It is entitled, "Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desireablility of Peace". Report from Iron Mountain was knocking about the net for years on conspiracy groups. I have an ASCII copy here somewhere. Isn't it's "commissioned report" status fictional? Somthing like Jonathon Swift's piece about the solution to the Irish famine? Hair-raising reading, nevertheless. - Mike -- Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] URL: http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/mspencer/home.html ---
