On the French Labour Law Protests

I didn't intend to write on this topic, but then I've been reading some books that made me think that France is an excellent example of what is wrong with the modern democratic (republican or parliamentary) system. Canada and other western countries can learn a lot from France, because France is doing things the wrong way.

First of all, I find it fascinating that France ended up where it has. During the 19th century, France produced some of the best economic and political thinkers. The problem is, they chose to follow the bad ones (like the Comte de Saint-Simon).

During the 19th century, Frederic Bastiat and Alexis de Tocqueville wrote on democracy and freedom, and how both were important to the well being of a nation and it's people. By the end of the 19th century, there were two basic economic theories: The laissez-faire free markets describe by Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776, and Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto of 1848. In 1944, Freidrich Hayek described (in The Road to Serfdom) that socialism differed little from the ideas of Marx and Engels. Reading Hayek today, one sees that while the socialism he feared (government control and operation of industry) was taking hold of Britain at the end of the Second World War didn't last long, the socialism of government regulation that has supplanted it has had exactly the same effect. This is pointed out very clearly in Milton Friedman's 1994 preface to Hayek's master work.

So back to France. Hayek pointed out clearly in The Road to Serfdom that the National Socialism of the Third Reich differed little from the state-run enterprises of Soviet Russia. France observed this first hand during the German occupation from 1940-44. But they failed to learn from it.

France is one of the most over-regulated places on earth. The French government and it's labour laws (and other industry-killing policies) are the primary reason why unemployment in France is so high, particularly amongst young workers and immigrants. Bastiat and de Tocqueville warned against government intervention, and Hayek did an excellent job describing how government regulation can reduce the standard of living of a nation's residents.

What France needs is a President and Prime Minister who have the wherewithal to apply the positive economic policies of Hayek (as Thatcher did for the UK in the 1980s). Get the government out of areas where the government can do no good.

Water causes global warming

I'm no fan of the Kyoto accord, but I won't deny that it appears the world is warming up. The evidence of glacial ice melting and arctic sea ice retreating is fairly obvious.

What is not obvious is what is causing this and whether it is normal or not. The climate has changed before, sometimes radically (ie. ice ages), and it will change again due to some cosmic reason.

The question at play in the current political world is Kyoto. Kyoto calls for reductions of greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide. This is based on the work of the UN IPCC which published reports for years.

This article points out a key piece of information that appears to have been ignored by the IPCC and the researchers. And it sounds like it could be very important, and even more fundamental to the world economy that burning fossil fuels.

If human-induced increases to water evaporation, from irrigation, industrial use or even household humidifiers is a primary cause of global warming, what exactly are we supposed to do about it? Stop farming? Stop using steam for industrial processes? Stop using lakes, rivers and oceans as heat sinks for cooling our industries? Egads - this is worse than stopping the use of fossil fuels...

More Bad Government in Calgary

Calgary's city council, led by Dave Bronconnier, in the past week has done a few things that will lead to increased government spending, increased bureaucracy, and limited benefit to Calgarians.

Cat Bylaw - The city is going to register all cats, like they do dogs. They are going to charge cat owners $15 per cat per year to register the animals. First of all, I can't imagine they can build and administer such a database for that small sum. Second, what public good will come of this? Alderman Craig Burrows claims it "...will reduce the number of cats that have to be destroyed.". Perhaps he could explain to me that logic. I for one do not plan on paying this ridiculous fee.

Extending the C-Train - why would we want to spend tens of millions of dollars extending the C-Train transit system to the very edges of the city? Who exactly is getting on there - the people who live in outlying communities and don't pay city taxes? Considering that at rush hour it is nigh impossible to get on a train anyway, why aren't they upgrading the system and buying more train cars so the trains can run closer together and more often? That would alleviate problems on the far more than making the lines longer. Also - they publish a plan talking about two more train lines, but they have no budget for them and predict they might get built by 2025. Ooh, I can't wait!

Demanding the province stop collecting education property tax - this one is even sillier. Bronco wants the provincial government to give up $1.2 Billion in education property taxes (thus forcing the government to find it from other revenues). The reason? Bronco wants it. Since education property tax is about half of the total property tax Calgarians pay, Bronco wants to massively increase the funds collected by the city. What for? So we can spend more on stuff. Perhaps Bronco should try cutting spending in areas where there is clearly too much government. Like why do I have to pay $260 for a building permit to finish my basement?? So they know to raise my property value assessment and raise my taxes, that's why!!!!

I also think that this one would make it justifiable for the province to do away with the local school boards... Of course, if we privatized the schools that would be a very good thing.

Annexation of 150 square kilometres of surrounding countryside - Calgary is already one of the largest cities in North America by area. There is significant expansion space around the city for additional construction. This could be conserved by zoning for more multi-family dwellings (condos, apartment buildings). This would also save on how many roads need to be built. I think the real reason they want this land is so that all the wealthy acreage owners have to pay city property taxes... It's just another tax grab.

How is it that Calgary votes Conservative in federal and provincial elections but puts a bunch of tax and spenders in to rnu the city.

The Worst Airport in the World?

OK,

I have returned from a vacation overseas and I would like to comment on my experience at Pearson International Airport...

I've travelled a fair bit, and can say that I was once again less that impressed by the quality of service provided by the GTAA. Considering their landing fees and other costs imposed on travellers are the highest in the world it is extremely disappointing.

• The taxes and fees added to my ticket by the airlines for YYZ exceed those of the other three airports on the trip combined. And those other airports weren't minor places...
• The layout of the terminals is poor compared to other airports around the world. the new Terminal 1 is an improvement but still has problems.
• Once in the aircraft, why are we in a queue for three hours for deicing and takeoff? I've been through half a dozen other major airports during similar conditions and the delays are not that bad. FRA, LHR, CDG, DEN, ORD. Even smaller airports like YYC and YUL don't have such a terrible time when the weather goes bad.
• Lack of sufficient washroom facilities, particularly in busy areas such the secure Customs areas. The washrooms shouldn't be queued up like it's intermission at Maple Leaf Gardens when four or more planeloads of people are coming off long international flights.
  

The only good thing I can say about YYZ is that the prices in the airport aren't as ridiculous as some airports (3.50 € for a 0.5 litre Coke is unbelievable).