Currency Transaction Tax

I was listen to Dispatches on CBC radio the other day and they were talking about an interesting idea to increase the coffers for assisting the third world. They were talking about a Currency Transact Tax.  You can read about it here.

More Later....
G

Why Can't I Get A Bailout?!

The Canadian and American governments are tripping over themselves to bailout the auto industry.  Well, there are some strings attached, but that is for another day.  My big question is why does the business world have a hate on for IT.  We are going to save jobs of people that can be replaced by machines.  While we are cut jobs that require actual high skilled intelligent people. 

I'm not blaming industry for shipping jobs to overseas. Sending jobs overseas is just a result of needing to satisfy shareholder value.  The companies using overseas staff, have not reduced head count, they have just employed less expensive staff.  There is a large number of highly qualified  and talented people in these countries, they deserve jobs, so let them work.

My issue now is that all the other companies first reaction to cut costs and "Right Size" is to reduce there overhead. OK, but is the overhead always IT??  We have to pay the executives who's greed, ineptness, or pick your favorite adjective, more than the entire IT department for a salary, and then he deserves a bonus for bankrupting or tanking his company!  Where is the executives accountability? Oh yeah it's in his desire to maintain his bonus. 

I don't disagree that IT sometimes brings on the wrath of business folks on because IT does do stupid stuff.  I also question the brain trust that retrains high school dropouts and people that don't like to use their brains into IT people.  There is also a number of stereotypes within the IT community that doesn't help our cause.  Ultimately we pay the price.

Since the mass hysteria called Y2K, more jobs have been lost in IT than people employed by the auto industry.  Ohh, and business hasn't forgiven us for Y2K, even though it was their fault.  In IT we get stuck with decisions that people that have no idea what the implications are.  They just want to receive the pat on the back from the boss, or receive their kickback or what ever external stimulus has influenced the decision. 
I want my bailout.  I can do a bad job, I'll try really hard if give me money.....

More Later.....
G

Tomorrow is Budget Day!

Parliament is back in session, and today was the throne speech.  The minority government looks like they are going to attempt to restart the economy with a deficit spending spree.  Tomorrow is the official budget speech, but the NDP have already stated with will vote against the budget, freakin' morons.  Liberals and the Bloc Quebecios are taking a wait and see attitude.  If the opposition vote against the budget, well, either we will end up with an election, or possibly, God forbid, a coallition government.

The next couple days will tell.


More Later...
G.

Nortel... Ship arriving too late to save a drowning company?

Nortel is still alive and kicking, sort of.  The former crown jewel of the Canadian Tech Sector, has never truly recovered from the .COM bust.  Today they are filing for "Bankruptcy Protection" in the various countries they are operating in.

They did have some great product, but who knows what will happen.....

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G

The True North Strong and Free... OR NOTt!

The soon to be ex-american president GW started beaking off today about US interests in the Arctic.  As the legendary Northwest Passage starts coming into existence, the US is now waking up to the northern oceans.  Russia has been making overtures for the last couple years because they have the largest chunk of the arctic, and they are going after the resources.  America is just confused.  They have one of the smallest slices of the arctic nations, but they have been less than respectful of any treaties they have negotiated with Canada.


As global warming's effects become noticeable, Canada is on the global forefront of climate change.  Many lives were lost exploring the Canadian Arctic for the Northwest passage.  Now that the polar ice caps are melting, we now for have, for part of the year, an ice free route through the arctic ocean.  This is major, because for part of the year, cargo from the orient to Europe has a shorter faster route.  When the arctic ocean stayed impassable, only the nuclear subs of Russia and the US could operate in the region.


Canada is waking up and exerting our authority in the north, but will it be enough .....


More Later....
G.

The Week In Review

While I'm trying to do something every day to every other day, I've been a little swamped as I'm getting ready for my vacation.  I'm going to a baptism/christening in San Luis Potosí, México. So I'm going to do a quick summary of my irks from the week and may come back to elaborate on the general themes when time permits.

Government Stupidity

The Prime Minister of Canada prorogued parliament.  Basically, because he tried to bully the opposition parties, they began to fight back by trying to form a coalition.  The coalition would have been able to over throw the government.  So the Prime Minister suspended parliament, rather than face a non-confidence vote, only 1 week into the post election session.

Recession

With the general economic conditions around the world, Canada's Central Bank finally said the "R" word, and dropped interest rates.  I will have to wait until later to cuss on this topic.

Weather

We went from 10°C above seasonal to 10°C below seasonal in 24 hours.  I don't mind -25°C weather but only after I've had a couple days at -10°C and a couple at -15°C.  Also, on the night of the moon perigee, we had overcast blowing crap as the weather fronts moved through. So I didn't get a chance to try the obligatory full moon pix and now have to wait for another ~16 years. I forgot about the perigee until I started scanning articles on New Scientist  web site.

When the weather was above seasonal, it was messy and slushy outside, so I wasn't super amused.  I want snow, but I want it to be -10°C with 30cm of snow, not +1°C with freezing rain, and then a melting mess. I guess I'm just never satisfied.

More Later....
G

PS: as I'm writing this post, it is -30°C with the effective temperature hovering around -38°C (-36°F), it should be -15°C (~5°F).