Transit Is For Suckers
If there’s one lesson Canadians can learn from the latest Stats Can study into public transit, it’s that losers take the bus. A whopping 82% of commuters know that the…
Economics
Harper Issues Edict: Hang Pic of Queen By the End of the Week…And Photo in Need of Caption
Well, the regressive hits just keep on coming from Stevie Harper, don’t they? What is foremost on Stevie’s mind today is something earth shattering in his world–every Canadian Foreign mission…
How Global Investors Make Money Out of Hunger
Speculating with Lives, by Horand Knaup, Michaela Schiessl and Anne Seith, Spiegel Online "In recent years, the financial markets have discovered the huge opportunities presented by agricultural commodities. The consequences…
Change You Can See
Being the change you want to see in the world — it’s not just a clever slogan, it’s the only direct way someone can change their circumstances. Here are some…
Lemme Get This Straight…
Mayor Boss Hogg and his brother sidekick Donut Dougy say that cuts are necessary to things like school crossing guards, school lunch programs to impoverished children, dental programs for children,…
Bike Sharing in Canada
This Summer I had the pleasure of using bike sharing in Ottawa. Had I know how easy it was, I’d have used it in Toronto too, and possibly Montreal while…
Green Energy Proposals Part I: An Overview
With a variety of different green energy proposals floating around, it is worth recalling what the various schemes are and what their advantages and disadvantages are. In Part I, I…
Feeding Our Cars
Corn: feeding our cars rather than our species.
Angry Voters
Jeff suggests a new app for the iPhone. I’d call it iVote, or Angry Voters. I used to be a hard-liner against e-voting, but now I’m starting to wonder if…
If you don’t stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them.
An open letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence; The Canadian military says an error at the Department of National Defence resulted in tens of millions of…
I Hate Tipping
Tipping is terrible. It’s too complicated, and it’s an excuse for employers to underpay people who work in service jobs like waiting and housekeeping. Employers have learned that people are…
The Great Shopping Shift
I end each day quietly lamenting how I haven’t yet succeeded in completely reforming the global economy. Certainly, it’s a tall order. I search for economic and environmental sustainability. I…
Conservatives: Doing Pork-barrel by the Book
An election issue that was overlooked by the electorate was the G8 spending by Tony Clement, a minister in Harper’s cabinet. Tony is very active on Twitter, he’s practically the…
Bank of America Gets Foreclosed
This is the feel-good story of the year. A couple, and a rookie lawyer, kick BoA in the ‘holdings’. If it doesn’t play, you want The Daily Show with Jon…
Ask General Kang: Can you explain how international finances work?
You must have me confused with an economist. Perhaps it is because I have not been allowed to answer any questions on The Skwib for some time (due to an…
Smart Meters? Not so fast!
Bill Tieleman posted on his blog this morning about his objections to the SmartMeter Program that BC Hydro is attempting to foist upon us. BC Hydro claims the completely safe…
Nuclear Insurance Fraud
Have you wondered why so many people oppose nuclear power generation when there are so many ads claiming there’s a “nuclear Renaissance” and that it’s “green” or “sustainable” and free…