The Economy != A Zero-Sum Game September 27, 2007
Posted by Ian in cars.add a comment
There is a report making the rounds on how the GM deal is a black day for the Canadian auto industry:
One of the key pillars supporting Canada’s long-standing competitive advantage in the auto industry began crumbling Wednesday, less than a week after another one collapsed.
General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers reached a deal that shifts the burden of retiree health-care costs for U.S. workers to the union. The agreement dramatically reduces GM’s burdensome cost structure and once it’s followed by Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. , will reduce the health-care advantage Canada has used for more than a generation to help lure automotive investment to this country.
It comes just days after the Canadian and U.S. dollar reached parity, vaporizing a competitive advantage that buttressed billions of dollars in investment in the automotive heartland of Southern Ontario.
Oh no! the world is ending… except that it isn’t. GM has been in Oshawa/Windsor/Southern Ontario for a long time and invested a lot of money they’re not just going to pull up shop and leave regardless of comparative advantages.
The fact of the matter is that if this deal helps General Motors survive and if GM can be bothered to build cars people actually want to drive there is every likelihood that there will be more investment across the board in GM’s operations (to say nothing of the fact that currency fluctuations occur all the time). These reports are nothing but alarmist sensationalism…
Man I am definitely buying the shirt now! September 26, 2007
Posted by Ian in policy.3 comments
Canada has filed a WTO complaint against Belgium and the Netherlands over their bans of seal products. The story is here.
Personally, I don’t understand the problem with the seal hunt. It’s not like seals are endangered. Even more foolish is the fact that Belgium will allow products made from seals clubbed by Inuits… now if a Newfoundlander clubs the seal instead… look out…
Oh and in case anyone is wondering the shirts I was referring in the title can be seen here. There used to be an equally funny one that read in big print “I (heart) baby seals” and underneath in smaller print “with dressing and gravy”
Can both sides lose… Please? September 24, 2007
Posted by Ian in cars.add a comment
Word today that GM in the States is now on strike. I don’t really feel sorry for either side in this one. The workers have gotten their way since WWII and now the GM doesn’t have the danegeld to pay them off. Of course, the UAW isn’t entirely to blame, they are just doing what they are supposed to do, it is up to management to occasionally say no and then have the stones to keep saying no. For some reason though GM’s management hasn’t been able to do this for a long time.
To make matters worse, management these days at GM isn’t exactly helping their own cause. Their story these days is that the General is uncompetitive because their labour costs are so high (which is probably right), and thus the union must make concessions on wages, jobs, health care – the lot really. The problem with this picture is that the brass at GM aren’t taking a pay cut to set an example – its a little difficult to convince the union faithful that things are bad when there is no sacrifices being made at the top. Quite frankly, I don’t have a problem with management making the big bucks – most of them probably deserve it – but in the current climate the optics would look better if management were saying “we’ll take a pay cut if you give us what we want – we’ll share your sacrifices.” Instead this battle is going to play out in the press as a battle of greedy management (who have managed to bankrupt a once great company) against the poor workers who just want some job security.
So why do I want both sides to lose? The UAW is like an anchor dragging the big 3 to the bottom, but management is right there with them unwilling to take a temporary profit hit and say no when they could and unable to say no now.
I have to admit it’s getting better… (and so should you) September 18, 2007
Posted by Ian in misc..add a comment
Little tidbits of good news have come out of the cellar of despair media recently.
First from today’s National Post:
In 2006, for the first time in recorded history, the annual global tally of children who died before their fifth birthday was less than 10 million. Obviously, 9.7 million child deaths — the reported figure–is 9.7 million agonizing personal tragedies too many. But consider that as recently as 1990, the figure was 13 million — even though the world’s population was then 20% smaller than it is today. In recent decades, literally tens of millions of children who otherwise would have died have been saved by modern technology, more enlightened public health practices and improved access to medical treatment.
…
The UNICEF report should be required reading for all those who believe globalization is enriching wealthy nations at the expense of the developing world. In Latin America, which in recent decades has made a stunning transformation from protectionist, strongman-led autocracy to (generally) free-market democracy, child mortality has fallen by a factor of six since 1960. In the tiger economies of Asia, it’s fallen by a factor of four. Far from representing forms of north-on-south “exploitation,” free trade, capitalism and Western technologies have given the spark of life to millions of Third World children otherwise destined for early graves.
Second, comes this revelation:
For the first time in human history, more people are laboring in service trades than in food production, according to data gathered by the International Labor Organization (ILO), an agency affiliated with the United Nations.
As recently as 1996, agriculture accounted for 42 percent of world employment, with another 21 percent of workers in goods-producing industries and 37 percent in services. By last year, the ILO says in a report released over the weekend, 42 percent were in services, 37 percent in agriculture, and 22 percent in industry.
The world is getting better and that makes me happy…
5 Things I think I think September 16, 2007
Posted by Ian in misc..add a comment
Yes I am ripping off Peter King (for those of you who are football fans).
1. I think the NFL is going to be confusing this year. After watching most of two weeks of NFL football I would like to know: Was Cleveland asleep last week or is Cinncinati’s defence that bad?
1a. Is Pittsburgh really that good? I hope so but steamrolling over Cleveland, who might either be brillant or awful, and the Bills who are a bunch of walking wounded with a stud running back, is not really inspiring.
2. I think that TV right now sucks. It seems that there is nothing good on TV these days – maybe I’m just old and stogy but I don’t find any of the comedies funny and reality TV lost its (quite limited) appeal to me about 7 years ago. On the bright side PBS is reairing Ken Burns’ Civil War which is quite possibly the best documentary I’ve ever seen (Burns says that it took him 6 years to make the documentary which for those keeping tabs at home is a year longer than the actual conflict).
3. I think that Queen’s is playing some pretty good football right now. The Gaels are off to a 3-0 start after coming back to beat McMaster on Saturday in Kingston. The exciting thing is that the offence is almost balanced (for the first time since I’ve been watching). The especially good thing about the 3-0 start was that all the wins were over decent teams.
4. I think the best part of my job is the people watching opportunities at the desk. From the people watching file this week: girl wearing some cranberry tights that made her look.. ummm, how to put this delicately…. really bad – even if the tights didn’t look too small (which they did) there was still the god awful colour.. I mean honestly, cranberry?? That was so 15 years ago. On a related note the girl with the neon blue tights and matching leg warmers should be commended for so accurately capturing the 1980’s… [curmudgeon]now go get some real clothes[/curmudgeon]
5. I think rutabaga (or swede for our neighbours to the East in the UK) is a highly underrated vegetable. We made mashed rutabaga and carrot as a side for dinner tonight and it was quite tasty… and very low on the weight watchers point scale which is good for fatso’s like me!
This kind of thing really ticks me off! September 11, 2007
Posted by Ian in libraries.3 comments
This morning one of the library peeps, bless her soul, sent around something old from the American Library Association.
The article is titled 10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library and it goes through the usual rigamoroll about how the internet has no quality controls, how e-books are no substitute for “real” books etc. Now the article is several years old but some of these arguements are still being used. Here is the most insulting bit:
Quality Control Doesn’t Exist
Yes, we need the Internet, but in addition to all the scientific, medical, and historical information (when accurate), there is also a cesspool of waste. When young people aren’t getting their sex education off XXX-rated sites, they’re learning politics from the Freeman Web page, or race relations from Klan sites. There is no quality control on the Web, and there isn’t likely to be any. Unlike libraries where vanity press publications are rarely, if ever, collected, vanity is often what drives the Internet. Any fool can put up anything on the Web, and, to my accounting, all have.
What this is essentially saying is that people are not smart enough to figure out what’s best for them or in this case the “right” information – as if there is such a thing – and we the omniscient librarians have all the answers (because the printed word is somehow more reliable??) Quality is a relative thing. There are many people who would never publish anything in print but who can provide valuable insight on any number of subjects. Moreover, it is interesting to see the thoughts non-”experts” and my fellow human beings. This reminds me of a talk at library school by this guy on blogs and other participative technologies. One of the old curmudgeons asked what the appeal of the blogosphere was – why would anyone want to waste their time reading the unedited thoughts of the person on the street.. it was a truly shoulder sagging moment.
As an aside – this style of defence of the library and librarianship always bothers me. Instead of focusing on the value added services that we can provide we focus on what’s wrong with the other system. All those cries of the internet is no substitute for the library are going to be for nought. The internet is innovating, while libraries are stagnating – we need to focus on our problems and get our own house in order before we start pointing out the faults of others…
It’s been a while September 11, 2007
Posted by Ian in misc..add a comment
My god it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. So here are few quick hit thoughts:
1) tights and leg warmers weren’t a good idea in the 80/90’s why does anyone think that 20 years has changed that?
2) University of Michigan football team is rubbish. The upset of the century is not the upset of the century Michigan just isn’t very good… at least not on defence.
3) Queen’s university football – surprisingly good (they beat Western does anything else really matter?)
4) Tenative deal between our union and MUN – which is good. No details yet though…
5) September in the library – really busy! I was on the reference desk the first day back and got 35 questions in an hour… but only one of them didn’t involve me saying “go to the computer support desk” or “the washroom is down the hall on your right” or “go see circulation”…
