Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Old 80-20 Rule
In fundraising, it's well known that 80% of your donations come from only 20% of your donors. Focus your efforts on those 20%, and you'll do just fine.
Seems HarperLand has it's own version of this rule. The Building Canada Fund is a great example. This is the $8.8 Billion fund that provides infrastructure funding to Canadian communities. And when you look at the numbers, it's quite revealing. A full 80% (ok, 79.41% for you picky folks) of the funding has so far been allocated to Con ridings. That leaves only 20% for ridings of all other political persuasions. And to boot, only 6.4% of the funding announced ($1.6 Billion so far) has actually flowed out the door.
This makes AdScam look like a swipe at petty cash at a mere $250 million.
And yet no one in the MSM seems interested. At all. Blatant partisan politics at work in one of the biggest funding programs to hit Canada in decades, and nobody's watching, or even interested.
Par for the course, really.
In fundraising, it's well known that 80% of your donations come from only 20% of your donors. Focus your efforts on those 20%, and you'll do just fine.
Seems HarperLand has it's own version of this rule. The Building Canada Fund is a great example. This is the $8.8 Billion fund that provides infrastructure funding to Canadian communities. And when you look at the numbers, it's quite revealing. A full 80% (ok, 79.41% for you picky folks) of the funding has so far been allocated to Con ridings. That leaves only 20% for ridings of all other political persuasions. And to boot, only 6.4% of the funding announced ($1.6 Billion so far) has actually flowed out the door.
This makes AdScam look like a swipe at petty cash at a mere $250 million.
And yet no one in the MSM seems interested. At all. Blatant partisan politics at work in one of the biggest funding programs to hit Canada in decades, and nobody's watching, or even interested.
Par for the course, really.
Labels: Conservative, infrastructure funding
Monday, May 25, 2009
Economic Stimulus - Idea #1
So I've been thinking about this whole stimulus thing from a policy perspective and I think I've come up with a winner that is guaranteed to inject billions into economies around the world. What is this sure-fire winning idea? Simple.
Airlines will no longer allow any checked baggage whatsoever for outbound passengers. You can, however, bring back as much as you like on your return trip home.
There you have it. Clean, simple and guaranteed to work.
I have no idea why I am not working as a key adviser for a world leader. Clearly, they need me.
So I've been thinking about this whole stimulus thing from a policy perspective and I think I've come up with a winner that is guaranteed to inject billions into economies around the world. What is this sure-fire winning idea? Simple.
Airlines will no longer allow any checked baggage whatsoever for outbound passengers. You can, however, bring back as much as you like on your return trip home.
There you have it. Clean, simple and guaranteed to work.
I have no idea why I am not working as a key adviser for a world leader. Clearly, they need me.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Best 42 Cents I've Spent in Awhile....
I have been following the public misery of Brian Mulroney and his increasingly comical attempts to defend his actions at the Oliphant enquiry with great glee. Now, I am no Mulroney fan - I met him when I was quite young, but took the measure of the man very quickly. Vain, arrogant, condescending, and sleezy were all words that came to my teenage mind then, and I haven't changed my opinion of the man over the following 30-odd years.
So I am thinking that this Oliphant enquiry, with its $14 million price tag, is very good value for money. Broken down per capita, that's 42 cents per Canadian, and I have to say for sheer enterntainment value alone, it's worth every cent. Hell, I'd even pay some of my fellow Canadians' share (and deliver it in a paper bag, at a hotel, over coffee.) Oh, how the mighty have so deliciously fallen! Again, my propensity towards schadenfrauden abounds here.
CPAC, methinks, miscalculated on this one. The Oliphant enquiry almost deserves to pay-per-view...oh, wait a minute - it already is...
I have been following the public misery of Brian Mulroney and his increasingly comical attempts to defend his actions at the Oliphant enquiry with great glee. Now, I am no Mulroney fan - I met him when I was quite young, but took the measure of the man very quickly. Vain, arrogant, condescending, and sleezy were all words that came to my teenage mind then, and I haven't changed my opinion of the man over the following 30-odd years.
So I am thinking that this Oliphant enquiry, with its $14 million price tag, is very good value for money. Broken down per capita, that's 42 cents per Canadian, and I have to say for sheer enterntainment value alone, it's worth every cent. Hell, I'd even pay some of my fellow Canadians' share (and deliver it in a paper bag, at a hotel, over coffee.) Oh, how the mighty have so deliciously fallen! Again, my propensity towards schadenfrauden abounds here.
CPAC, methinks, miscalculated on this one. The Oliphant enquiry almost deserves to pay-per-view...oh, wait a minute - it already is...
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Good Hunting
For those in the know, that is a BG (Battlestar Galactica) expression. Just after the CAG briefing each morning, it is the last thing said to the pilots as they disperse. But it could just as easily be a TSX expression these days, or a Dow Jones expression. The Dismal PM, Stephen Harper, was a bit, ahem, premature in his calling of a bottom for the stock market back in the fall. He issued advice for Canadians to buy stocks as he thought they were on sale then. Obama was closer to the truth - with indices falling to mid-1990 levels, one thing is for certain: stocks are now on sale. And I love a good sale.
But it does seem a bit too much like fiddling while Rome is burning. This is a disruptive recession, or it should be. GM will fail, along with many others (please, God, let it be Starbucks next!) and people will have to re-evaluate what it is to be successful. The old ways of doing business will give way to the new ways. And to be quite honest, these new ways have not yet emerged. So what to buy? Good question.
The goldbugs are clear in their message; and my own adviser is pretty old school when she says to buy oil and gas. I also could use a home, but reality has yet to set in in Calgary and real estate prices are still, well, stupid. So perhaps I just wait, trapped by my own inertia. But I have sneaking feeling I may be missing out on something big. Kind of like knowing there's a big lottery going on and not having a ticket - I am still sitting on the sidelines.
Good thing I don't equate my own happiness to my net worth. Then I really would be in trouble.
For those in the know, that is a BG (Battlestar Galactica) expression. Just after the CAG briefing each morning, it is the last thing said to the pilots as they disperse. But it could just as easily be a TSX expression these days, or a Dow Jones expression. The Dismal PM, Stephen Harper, was a bit, ahem, premature in his calling of a bottom for the stock market back in the fall. He issued advice for Canadians to buy stocks as he thought they were on sale then. Obama was closer to the truth - with indices falling to mid-1990 levels, one thing is for certain: stocks are now on sale. And I love a good sale.
But it does seem a bit too much like fiddling while Rome is burning. This is a disruptive recession, or it should be. GM will fail, along with many others (please, God, let it be Starbucks next!) and people will have to re-evaluate what it is to be successful. The old ways of doing business will give way to the new ways. And to be quite honest, these new ways have not yet emerged. So what to buy? Good question.
The goldbugs are clear in their message; and my own adviser is pretty old school when she says to buy oil and gas. I also could use a home, but reality has yet to set in in Calgary and real estate prices are still, well, stupid. So perhaps I just wait, trapped by my own inertia. But I have sneaking feeling I may be missing out on something big. Kind of like knowing there's a big lottery going on and not having a ticket - I am still sitting on the sidelines.
Good thing I don't equate my own happiness to my net worth. Then I really would be in trouble.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Throwing Good Money After Bad...
Well, here we go again. Looks like another mega-auto bail-out is on the way, as GM and Chrysler (owned by a private equity concern, BTW, so we can't even see their books to know they need the money) blow through another few billion a month, and the begging bowls come out yet again. When will it end? Will it end? Or will we keep propping up these companies, because they are TBTF (Too Big To Fail)?
Has anyone bothered doing the math on the first bailout? The feds and ON Gov't gave $3.29 billion. There are 150,000 people directly employed by the sector in Canada. Now, again this is crude math, but that's close to $22,000 per person! For only a few months!
I've got a better idea. Give the money (or at least some of it) to non-profits to help retrain these folks, or to help them start their own businesses. Or even hire them directly for that matter! If they can't put together cars for a living, can they use those skills to do something else? Anything else? There must be some transferable skills in there somewhere! Could they be, oh, I don't know, mechanics??? Or are we full up of mechanics in Canada?
Seems the Swedes have got the right thinking in place. When GM tried the same sly-dog trick on them and said that Saab would go under if there was no Swedish bail-out, the Minister stated clearly that their government was not in the business of propping up failing businesses. Unemployment insurance, daycare, healthcare, absolutely they will be there for their citizens, but not corporate welfare. Now that's keeping your eye on the ball and not letting mission creep direct your economy.
Although...I really have to wonder...if it was Ikea who came knocking...Nahhhhh!
Well, here we go again. Looks like another mega-auto bail-out is on the way, as GM and Chrysler (owned by a private equity concern, BTW, so we can't even see their books to know they need the money) blow through another few billion a month, and the begging bowls come out yet again. When will it end? Will it end? Or will we keep propping up these companies, because they are TBTF (Too Big To Fail)?
Has anyone bothered doing the math on the first bailout? The feds and ON Gov't gave $3.29 billion. There are 150,000 people directly employed by the sector in Canada. Now, again this is crude math, but that's close to $22,000 per person! For only a few months!
I've got a better idea. Give the money (or at least some of it) to non-profits to help retrain these folks, or to help them start their own businesses. Or even hire them directly for that matter! If they can't put together cars for a living, can they use those skills to do something else? Anything else? There must be some transferable skills in there somewhere! Could they be, oh, I don't know, mechanics??? Or are we full up of mechanics in Canada?
Seems the Swedes have got the right thinking in place. When GM tried the same sly-dog trick on them and said that Saab would go under if there was no Swedish bail-out, the Minister stated clearly that their government was not in the business of propping up failing businesses. Unemployment insurance, daycare, healthcare, absolutely they will be there for their citizens, but not corporate welfare. Now that's keeping your eye on the ball and not letting mission creep direct your economy.
Although...I really have to wonder...if it was Ikea who came knocking...Nahhhhh!
Friday, February 20, 2009
New Bumper Sticker
1980s Bust Alberta
"Please God, give Alberta another oil boom and we promise not to piss it away this time."
2009 Bust Alberta
"Please God, don't give Alberta another oil boom, because they will piss it away next time."
Witness the mighty provincial Progressive Conservative government - in power for 38 continuous years, and they have learned absolutely squat.
- Alberta passed a (meaningless) no-deficit law during the Klein oligarchy
- therefore, deficits are illegal in Alberta
- now they are running a $1 billion deficit
- convenient loophole: the deficit legislation does not apply when non-renewable resource revenue comes in lower than expected
- what about if renewable resource revenue comes in lower? O yeah, never mind...
I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried....really hard.
1980s Bust Alberta
"Please God, give Alberta another oil boom and we promise not to piss it away this time."
2009 Bust Alberta
"Please God, don't give Alberta another oil boom, because they will piss it away next time."
Witness the mighty provincial Progressive Conservative government - in power for 38 continuous years, and they have learned absolutely squat.
- Alberta passed a (meaningless) no-deficit law during the Klein oligarchy
- therefore, deficits are illegal in Alberta
- now they are running a $1 billion deficit
- convenient loophole: the deficit legislation does not apply when non-renewable resource revenue comes in lower than expected
- what about if renewable resource revenue comes in lower? O yeah, never mind...
I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried....really hard.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thank you, Rick Mercer!
For eloquently saying what I have been feeling about the coalition movement for the past month or so....
Rick's Rant - Parliament and the Need to be Informed
We all need to know certain, basic facts about our own governmental system. Who's to blame? The education system? Parents? Let's just stop playing the blame game, take responsibility, and inform ourselves. Sheesh, I bet we could all learn a few things from a 5th Grade civics class....if there still is such a thing.
For eloquently saying what I have been feeling about the coalition movement for the past month or so....
Rick's Rant - Parliament and the Need to be Informed
We all need to know certain, basic facts about our own governmental system. Who's to blame? The education system? Parents? Let's just stop playing the blame game, take responsibility, and inform ourselves. Sheesh, I bet we could all learn a few things from a 5th Grade civics class....if there still is such a thing.
