Tag: Stuff and Money Stuff

Good Long Term Thinking

As opposed to the sports of long term planning that will restore the quality of the environment to 2017 standards by 2086, this is interesting to see out of the UK if only as it is indicative of how properly done there is no need to fear the boogieman of a social security gap in the future:

Governments are often accused of thinking short term. But a pensions reform Bill, included in the Queen’s Speech, is one of the most consciously long term bits of planning seen for some time. Looking ahead to 2050, its main aim is to provide a higher level of state pension for many more people over the coming decades. The big idea is that the link between the basic state pension and earnings will be restored some time after 2012 and the state pension age will be raised to 68 by 2046.

It has been a long time since there has been much of a boo said about Canada’s retirement funding stability which leads me to the idea that the funding is actually stable as was promised in the early 90s when the bad old ways were turned around by those wizards the Liberal Party of Canada, who will still never get my vote as far as I can see so don’t even bother.

Oh No! Not Torynomics!

I had hope that we had seen the last of the habitual bad math but this report does little to give comfort:

Ottawa itself could lose as much as $218-million in annual hotel tax revenue alone, he said…”Talk about shooting yourself in the foot,” Mr. Pollard said. The value of international tour groups and conventions in hotels was $1.28-billion last year, he said. Canada’s convention business as a whole is worth more than $2-billion a year, another industry official said. The government cancelled the Goods and Services Tax rebate program late last month. It said the move would save $78.8-million and that less than 3 per cent of foreign visitors applied for the rebates anyway. But Mr. Pollard believes the government didn’t include conferences and group travel in its calculations because convention planners get the GST rebates up front, not after the fact.

These number may not pan out as the actuals – do they ever – but as the looming bubble burst approaches doing things to make bits of the economy less competitive is an odd approach for a traditionally pro-business party. The whole tax policy thing is odd when you think about it: increasing income tax, the big-talk do-little GST shift, the uncertainty about moving around tax credits between levels of government, the beer and popcorn money tht makes my kids pay for your kids and now this.

It raises the more interesting and non-partisan question of “why is tax hard?” One likely reason is that it is used as a mechanism for other social and economic policy. It is a tool. If the policy is not well scoped out, perhaps difficulties will show in the tax side of the matter. But what policy goal is achieved by adding $78.8-million to the cost of international business and travel into Canada?

My Nova Scotia Home

I am quite proud to say I grew up in Nova Scotia as often it seems like it lives in another world where you can do things that just make sense:

Borrowing from a similar project started at the University of Toronto several years ago, the N.S. government wants its 10,000 employees to leave their desks at lunch — to eat, exercise, run errands, even power nap — in hopes of making people more productive in the afternoons. To drive the point home, the N.S. Public Service Commission sent out postcards proclaiming, “Take back the lunch break” with orders to “relax, refocus, refresh, re-energize.”

There Is A Club For Everything

Some days you just don’t know what to write. There is nothing decent to steal off of other bloggers, the news is the same or worse and its a rainy cold evening that feels so much like the fall that it could be Newfoundland in July. Then think of the seach you have never searched before in 15 years of surfing and there it is – you’ve come across the Vintage Snowmobile Club of America and your faith in mankind is restored.

I don’t know why I think this is neato…

1974 Mercury Sno Twister for sale (Serial Number 16 of 1000). It is in pieces, but I can assure you everything is there. I recently bought a NOS track, MANY NOS engine parts (Gaskets, seals, rings, a jug, and good condition used heads for it). The seat, hood, and bellypan are there, and in ok shape. There is much more so ask questions if you would like. Make Offer

…but I think it speaks to the same need to determine what Shakespeare looked like or what the big bang was really like. These are variations on a theme and the theme is developing idle pointless skills and knowledge. I’m not even handy at all and have no shed but the idea of buying something on the basis of “I can assure you everything is there” is intriguing to me.

I have a pal who has said that if I see a boat for a hundred dollars I am to buy it. I think he has about seven now. Because he has told everyone that. We all have it. We all want to sit in a shed in a slightly smelly old armchair that is actually quite comfortable if you know just where to park yourself as the sun comes through the door nicely and, besides, you know where the rum is. Its called young old crazy guy syndrome. We all have it but these guys really have it – the Old Lawnmower Club on England. Look upon their knowledge and gaze in wonder. I even caught myself thinking that lawn mowing history is actually a little interesting – and wondering who would want a nine-inch wide mower? – but now knowing that “Shanks Britisher” is not only the last words of gratitude a Nazi escapee would have uttered to his collaborator pal as he rowed out to the U-boat on that moonless night.

Moving Stuff

With the move to long-term contractual indebtedness, there has been a small wave of thing acquisition that canot go unmentioned, and not just the junior gin-soaked popinjay training kit. These are things that have worked and I recommend:

  • My Dolly: I was not aware that what I know as a dolly in Canada is a hand truck in the States. But there is no doubt aoub t the fact that the move was made on a Model PJD2223A Harper Nylon Dual Hand Truck (Jr). This thing was sixty bucks or so at the Home Depot and at any given time has move two rolled up futons, or a six foot tall computer desk or umpteen boxes of books. With a removable handle (bright yellow in my version) it flips from a two-wheel box jockey to a four-wheel table on wheels. It has saves both back and patience.
  • Bankers Boxes: In the good old days, you went to the NSLC and picked up wine boxes and rum boxes and moved your stuff in those. [Don’t try it with the PEILLC, however, as apparently those boxes are valuable assets that only a fool would think of wanting for free, thus earning you the locally classic yet over-used dirty look abaft.] Now, I am a man and I go and buy bankers boxes when I move. Not the big ones, either. The smaller letter sized one will do. Because they are all the same size and very sturdy you can stack a whack of them on your Harper Nylon Dual Hand Truck (Jr). And because you bought the small ones you can remove them without fear of hoisting an inadvertantly 400 lb one that wrenches the back. Slow and steady wins the race. And they also provide sensible storage for the stuff that does not see daylight.
  • The Scott Classic: Who the hell needs a Briggs and Stratton in the sub-urbs. The lawn I now own takes 15 minutes to mow. So I own a green Scotts Classic mower with a fancy green paint job and bright orange wheels. I puff about as much with a push gasoline mower but without the blue fog of exhaust. Cheaper to buy, cheaper to run and a brief nod to exercise before the self-inflicted prize of a cold drink.

Three smart sensible things. I am not usually like this. One thing I have not bought yet are contaps or tapcons to drill into the brick and secure the angled flag pole bracket for the front of the house. Houses ought to have flag poles. Especially when you have a 3×5 Louisiana with the pelicans on it.

Make Your Own Cause

In an effort to advance the cause of supporting supporting, has anyone thought of Ribbon 2.0 where everyone makes up the content of their own magnetic cause ribbons making for a cacophony of causes and claims confusing the drivers of America? Maybe if there were more rounded edges the link to the new 2.0 world would be clearer. The other day I listened to an NPR hour on “the long tail” which I still have no clue about as it seems to be only a way to take existing circumstances, repackaging them as new and making sure someone gets a guruiffic revenue stream from the merchandise. Maybe personalized magnetic cause ribbons will help in my understanding.

Do We Work Too Hard?

An interesting article in this morning’s Toronto Star on Canada’s combination of relative low productivity and low levels of time off compared to Europe:

Sweden’s very high productivity levels — it boasts the highest ratio of industrial robots in the world — allow the society to value leisure time, Schonning said. Based on total economic output, adjusted by population and purchasing power, Canada’s gross domestic product is very similar to that of many European countries, and below some. The Irish, for example, work 6 per cent fewer hours, on average, yet the economic output per person beats ours by 14 per cent. Most Canadian provinces require employers to provide only two weeks of vacation per year.

While we know that Europe is a fraud, a liar and evil and stuff…they sure do make good wages, get sweet vacations and drive nice cars. Maybe we have it all wrong.