Bast's Best

2009-11-21T15:38:00.002-07:00

A New Form of Library...

Yes, yes, I know - it's been awhile since my last post. There are some very good reasons for this, and perhaps one day, I will find the strength to blog about this time in my life. But not quite now.

But I have been doing some significant re-organization and re-integration of my life these days. Specifically, I have been recycling things, especially books. I am a bit of a packrat when it comes to books, which would be superb, except I rarely read the books I buy. Hence I do not feel I warrant the title of bibliophile.

So became quite excited when I discovered this new Internet project called LibriVox. This takes public domain literary works, and has volunteers read and record them. Thye are then posted in downloadable formats, like .mp3 or .zip files. Perfect - I can build my library, at least my classical library, online and squirrel it away on a hard rive. This should free up space in my life. And this should alleviate my guilt at not reading what I buy.

A quite elegant 21st century solution to my 20th century book affliction.

2009-09-28T23:00:00.003-06:00

And So it Begins....

The decline of Alberta's fortunes is irrevocably tied to natural gas. And the future of natural gas is not pretty.

Sun setting on Alberta’s natural gas empire, TD warns

Look out, Chicken Little. The sky really is falling.

2009-09-27T13:50:00.002-06:00

Can Someone Explain This to Me?

I may not be the sharpest tack in the box financially, but I am having a problem trying to reconcile these two figures.

It seems that Alberta's per capita gaming revenue is $871, the highest in the country. But when you look at the 2008 Annual Report of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, it states that the total gaming revenue in 2008 was $26 billion. So when you divide that number into the 3.3 million provincial inhabitants (not all of whom are old enough to gamble) that equates to $7,878 per person. Huh? What gives? This seems extremely odd.

Oh, and this fiscal year, 2009-2010, gaming revenue (net) will outpace oil and gas revenue (net) by some $500 million.

Sigh. We live in interesting times, in an interesting place. FUBAR.

2009-09-21T23:21:00.002-06:00

Cryyyiiiing Over Debt....(Apologies to Roy Orbison)

Mister Ed has gone and done it. A little over five years after King Ralph declared the Alberta debt to be history, Steady Eddy Stelmach has plunged the province back into debt.

Here's a portion of what Ralph said back in July of 2004:

"Never again will this government or the people of this province have to set aside another tax dollar on debt," Klein said. "Those days are over and they're over for good, as far as my government is concerned, and if need be we will put in place legislation to make sure that we never have a debt again," he added.

Lots of "never agains." Seems we're there again, and in a big way. Ed plans to issue $3.3 billion worth of provincial bonds to help fund infrastructure. That would be because Ralph let the infrastructure rot in his ego-driven frenzy to pay down the debt.

I sometimes wonder why I live in this province. SNAFU.

2009-09-14T15:58:00.002-06:00

Another Truth Found

In the midst of lies from the MSM and just about every government in the world saying that the recession is over, I offer up a little piece from the UK's Mail.

As a sidenote, I was viewing some new duplexes in Cochrane this past weekend - a little over 1400 sq ft developed (but seemed much less - they must have counting the garage...) for the low, low price of $500,000+. When I actually had the nerve to talk to the gentleman about ARM resets in the US (which, granted, he did bring up) and the fact that we in Alberta are not "special" and have not decoupled from the US economy, he immediately thought I worked in the financial services industry. No, I am just a citizen who takes an interest - in articles such as this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession.html

2009-09-07T22:35:00.001-06:00

Beyond the Pale

I have no words...

Wall Street Securitizing Death

2009-07-13T23:09:00.002-06:00

Say what? And where?

I may be fast on the road to becoming an old fogey, but just when did the basic rules of etiquette change so drastically regarding the "new technology"?

Case in point: I was minding my own business today in the mall and decided I should find a public loo to relieve myself. A woman about my age was following me (quite closely, actually) and talking animatedly on a cell phone. About a house renovation, if you must know (and apparently, the whole world must know.) I thought to myself as I opened the door to the washroom, "Surely she will excuse herself and hang up the phone now." But oh no. I entered into one stall, and she barrelled into the other, still talking to the poor person on the other end of the line. Surely, then, she will hang up now, I thought, as I unzipped and assumed the position. But, horror of horrors, this did not cross her mind. She proceeded to have her pee and continue gabbing. Sounds of toilet paper ripping and flushes ensued (and that was only me!). I then came out and did my hygiene duty - loud water sounds and paper towel-ripping sounds quite common to a washroom were made. I left without seeing her, much to my delight.

So my question to you, blog-dogs, is: was this a faux pas, or is this considered au courant (perhaps even cutting edge?) in the cell phone world now? Do people do this in the privacy of their own home with cordless phones too? Am a just an uber-prude? After all, if she were with another friend in person and went into a washroom, the conversation could still have continued, no? I think my discomfort came from the fact that the person on the other end of the phone had no choice in the matter - they were dragged along for the ride, no matter what. Could have been a man too. In which case she had no right to let him in on the secret workings of female bathrooms.

Sigh. The 21st century is wearing on me. I am truly tired of all the change. I need a kinder, simpler day, when people excused themselves to do private things with their privates.

Perhaps I shall sign up for that Franciscan retreat after all. No cell phones allowed.

2009-06-23T21:05:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-05-25T22:04:00.002-06:00

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.

2009-05-19T23:12:00.002-06:00

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...

2009-03-05T22:46:00.003-07:00

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.

2009-03-02T00:00:00.002-07:00

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!

2009-02-20T23:22:00.002-07:00

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.

2009-01-16T10:11:00.002-07:00

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.

2009-01-07T22:52:00.002-07:00

Are You Kidding Me?

I'll get back to politics in a tic - it all got too ghastly to deal with, especially when I was in Ottawa with 35 cm of snow, -20 degrees and transit strike.

But I have to really wonder what our fellow citizens and media are doing these days. Take a look at these headlines from the Calgary Herald:

Alberta rig count at lowest level since '93
Land sale prices hit 10-year low
TSX slips up on oil drop
Calgary home sales slide to lowest since '96

And then this gem:

Canadians not deflated about economic outlook

Huh? Unbelievable. Stay tuned folks - it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

2008-11-28T18:07:00.004-07:00

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend...

Woo-hoo! I feel gleeful. Ottawa is a-buzz with well-founded rumours that there is a coalition government in the works, and that it will take down Harper and his familiar, Flaherty, early next week. If so, the Governor-General will be faced with a decision on whether to call a new election (and spend another $300 million in taxpayer dollars) or allow the coalition to give governing a chance. I have friends in Calgary who are livid, simply livid, that this kind of non-democratic, crass politicking can go on.

OK, maybe it is crass politicking, but watch it when you say non-democratic. The new coalition of the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois would represent 54.4% of the Canadian popular vote in the 2008 election, compared to 37.7% for the Conservatives. I would say the majority of Canadians would be open to seeing if these guys and gals can make it work together.

The more interesting point may be, who will become Prime Minister? Stephane Dion, the Liberal leader, has said he will step down in May of 2009. The Bloc has said they want anybody but Stephane. And Ed Broadbent (NDP) and the wily old Jean Chretien (Lib) are in the background pulling the levers. Whoever it is, s/he's gotta be better than the incumbent.

Harper is palpably nervous. He has already backed down from a promise of cutting federal financing for political parties, hoping the Coalition was acting in a purely self-serving manner. No such luck - they apparently have the best interests of Canadians in mind.

This is Canadian poitical theatre at its best. And lucky me! I will be in Ottawa next week to celebrate, er, observe, the proceedings first-hand. I'll keep you posted from the nation's capital.

2008-11-13T22:51:00.003-07:00

The Enigmatic Mr Paulson

I've been doing some research on Hank Paulson lately and have come across some fascinating stuff. Seems the Treasury Secretary is a nature enthusiast, and is a keen herpetologist. Yes, the man loves snakes. Somewhat ironic, I thought, as many peg him to be one of them. He wanted to be a forest ranger when he was growing up, and when he did grow up, he kept all kinds of animals on the farm he had in Illinois. The menagerie included raccoons (that he let live in the house with the family) alligators, tarantulas, flying squirrels, and the more pedestrian pets too, dogs and cats.

But he loves snakes. And all manner of animals of prey. The article goes on to quote him: "I'm fascinated because they're at the top of the food chain." He goes on to posit a very interesting theory - that when those at the top of the food chain are healthy, the rest of the ecosystem is healthy too.

Clink! The penny has finally dropped. That is why he is doing what he is doing, namely bailing out his friends and enemies at the top of the food chain that is Enterprise America. If Wall Street eats, we all eat. But he is savvy enough to know he cannot actually say this out loud. Howls of indignation and outrage would result.

Strange though, as he is also a devout Christian Scientist and therefore believes that love trumps fear. So really, shouldn't he just offer us a big group hug and be done with it? But no, it seems in the real world, fear trumps love almost every time. One look at the markets lately will reinforce that.

And by the way, Mr Paulson, you can't live on love. Just ask the birds of prey you so respect about that one.

2008-11-05T22:57:00.004-07:00

An Historian's Night

There is no doubt about it. Barak Obama's decisive win last night in the US presidential race is one for the history books. And as much as I have tried to run away from history as a profession after spending the better part of my life training for it, I do like these kinds of historical moments. They are transfixing. And the Obama camp knew just how far to push the pomp and circumstance last night. He delivered a presidential speech; not that of a candidate. He was humble, yet inspiring; cautious, yet optimistic; folksy, yet conveying the aura of a leader. A difficult task, and, unfortunately, not the only one he will face in the next few months as he seeks to right the course of Good Ship America.

I have had only a few other days/nights/moments which I feel I can rate as historic. Of course, 9/11 was one. The feeling that the entire continent was numbed and huddled together in shock was one that I hope never to experience again. The Challenger disaster was another, although I must say I did not feel the same for poor Columbia. I do remember being distracted for some time when the first Gulf War began. I had just moved to the UK to do my PhD, and simply could not believe a war (other than the far, far away Falklands) could break out in my lifetime. I can barely remember Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon, although my parents allowed their five-year-old child to stay up for it. And to be honest I'm really not so sure to this day it actually even occurred. (Yes, I'm one of those people - the conspiranoiacs.)

I grew up with parents who lived through WWII in England. I always felt a certain envy as they had seen and lived real history.

Perhaps, as surreal as it seems the day after, just perhaps, I have too.

2008-10-24T10:22:00.003-06:00

Why I Am the Way I Am

I've been meaning to post - I really have - but, well, you know....

I came across this the other day, and it pretty much explains why:

The Procrastinator's Code of Conduct

I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.
I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.
I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.
I shall meet all of my deadlines, directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.
I truly believe all deadlines are unreasonable, regardless of the amount of time given.
I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.
If at first you don't succeed, there is always next year.
I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.
I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.

Truly words to live by. Oh, wait a minute - I already do....

2008-10-03T15:42:00.003-06:00

The Neo-Citran Solution

So Congress has finally gone and done it. An $850 billion rescue/bailout/emergency bill passed today to try and stabilize the credit markets. But like Neo-Citran to a cold, this simply masks the underlying problem. The US is suffering from a bad case of Affluenza, and this is unlikely to cure their illness.

What is the underlying problem? Americans (and Canadians for that matter) spend more than they earn on a regular basis. They want all the newest toys their buddies have, and they want it now. Delayed gratification is no longer a virtue. So they live on credit, and would whine horrendously if that supply was suddenly cut off. So by greasing the wheels of the credit market by injecting $700 billion into it, what are the Americans actually accompishing? Nada. Zilch. Nothing. They are simply allowing their present system to continue, so Main Street doesn't have to realize there is a problem.

Here are some tough home truths for you:

1) Sometimes you don't deserve to have it.
2) Sometimes others do, who have lived longer and worked harder than you.
3) Buying stuff does not equate to buying happiness.

Americans (and Canadians, I might add yet again) need to take a week or so off and rest their credit chops on the couch and get over their Affluenza, not be enabled by their own government to work through the symptoms and soldier on into new levels of debt regardless.

2008-09-23T19:59:00.004-06:00

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Screen...

That's one of my favourite lines from the Wizard of Oz, and boy, the past couple of weeks, it seems we have all taken a little trip to that far-away land.

So what's been happening? History, my friends, nothing short of history. The Affluenza pandemic is here.

It looks like the US has thrown in the towel on capitalism and is trying socialism on for size. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - socialized; Bear Stearns - socialized; AIG - socialized. And now Hank Paulson wants a blank cheque (or rather, a cheque written out to him) to socialize another $700,000,000,000 (that's what $700 billion actually looks like) of US assets, to be named later.

Paulson knows how to throw money around, make no mistake about it. When he was Chairman of Goldman Sachs, he made $38 million in 2004 alone. Nice. That was a 21% increase over his paltry 2003 salary. But he was a generous man and liked to share, so the average salary - I repeat, the average salary - at Goldman Sachs in 2004 was over $500,000. It was actually $521,000, but who really cares about the $21,000 when you're making that kind of dough. But they weren't really making it, were they? - it was all leveraged to the tune of about 30:1. So if you do the crude math that only I am capable of, it looks like the employees really made $17,366.67 on average. The rest was leverage "pretend" money. Problem is, they still received it as real money and they will still get to keep it.

Not that Goldman Sachs was alone. Wall Street banks paid out the following bonuses over the past eight years: 2000 - $19.5 billion; 2002 - $8.6 billion; 2003 - $15.8 billion; 2004 - $18.6 billion; 2005 - $21.5 billion; 2006 - $33.9 billion; 2007 - $33.2 billion. Hell, there's $151.1 billion right there!

If I were an American, I'd be ticked off as all get-out at the men (and they seem to be all men - haven't seen a woman as part of this mess yet) behind the screen....

2008-08-26T22:23:00.002-06:00

A Couple of Outrageous Examples...

It's not only the Calgary real estate market that is insane - Vancouver is pretty crazy too. A couple of quick examples...

A Calgary listing for $189,000, in an admittedly sub-prime (read: sketchy) area of the city. Land value only? Except that Calgary has no natural boundaries and just keeps expanding and expanding and expanding...

This one really had me scatching my head...I even checked MLS in Vancouver for accuracy. Seems that listing is no longer valid, but I did find this one listed for $1,149,000. Pure insanity. A 9-bedroom French chateau on 30 acres, or 2000 sq ft "Old timer" in Marpole, Vancouver West. Lest you think the French property is a hoax, check out a whole lot of similar chateaux here.

The inmates really are running the insane asylum.

2008-08-25T09:48:00.002-06:00

Calgary Enters Fall...Hang onto Yer Hats!

That title is meant to be a double entendre. Seasonally, we are entering fall, no doubt about it. There is a crispness in the air that was lacking just a week ago. But we're also entering another fall. Seems to me a real estate fall is just around the corner too. The signs are there for those who care to read the tea leaves. Jayman Builders is laying off 40 employees, and the Gateway Midtown condo project is being "suspended" while it's just a big hole in the ground. I've heard the term "right-sizing" not "down-sizing" being bandied about. Give me a break. Whatever you call it, those people who lost their jobs, lost their jobs!

Now, I've been a bear about the Calgary real estate market since it took off in a fit of irrational exhuberance in 2006-07. It had to come back down to earth. The fundamentals dictated that. Those fundamentals include if first-time buyers cannot enter the market, the entire market cramps up. Well, we've got bad cramps right now. But people are greedy and still believe they deserve their pot of gold for a 1940s, 1950s, 1960s fixer-upper.

For those who think Calgary is immune because "we have oil", think about this: the market was just as cramped up and just as bottlenecked when oil was at $140/barrel as it was when oil was $100/barrel. Fundamentals, people. How much money people can afford to pay for housing on a monthly basis - that's the only indicator that really, truly matters.

We need to get over ourselves. We're not special. We're not unique. This is happening all over the world. And we're not London, NYC or Paris. We're a small-ish prairie city striving hard to be more than we are.

Calgary needs a good dose of reality, and methinks it is just around the corner.

2008-08-11T23:40:00.002-06:00

It's August already? How did that happen?

OK. Best intentions and all that. I disappeared again. But in my defence, I have been very busy. One trip to Ottawa and one trip to Spain since my last post. And another upcoming trip to Ontario is on the horizon. Not to mention work - ah yes, WORK! Lots of it, and it's hard to get motivated to do it in the summer. And now the Olympics are on, which is one more huge distraction for Bast. Days of golf have occurred, as have dinners out with business associates scheming to take over the world one Commonwealth country at a time. Beware my friends in the UK and Australia - we may be coming to a virtual office near you in the future...

So I am back, and will hopefully live to post (more regularly) another day. But I've said that before and failed miserably. You really can't trust me, you know. But then again, what's trust got to do with it (with veiled apologies to Tina Turner)?

TTFN!

2008-05-30T00:38:00.002-06:00

How Nice!

I had really thought that people wouldn't notice my somewhat protracted absence from the blogosphere. How nice that two people welcomed me back today! It's good to be missed.

I promise to try and post more often. Er, except next week when I'm in Ottawa. But no, really, I will try. I think I got a little burned out from writing as I actually started getting paid to do it. A freelance writer at last! But it doesn't pay well. Funny how that happens. You finally start doing something you've wanted to do all your life, and it doesn't live up to your expectations. Happened with my PhD too.

Good thing I never got married...