From Corruption all the Way to Minsky and the Canadian Liberal Renewal

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Allen Dick
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From Corruption all the Way to Minsky and the Canadian Liberal Renewal

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I already accept as truth that ANYONE paid with taxpayer dollars is corrupt to some degree, and the level of their corruption is proportional to the amount of power they have. I'm deeply suspicious of people who are paid with taxpayer money.
Well, why stop with people paid by taxpayer money?

It is human nature to fit into whatever society, family, social group, gang you find yourself in and drink the Kool Aid. Government service is no different.

A lot depends on the people surrounding you how you act, and a lot depends on your own internal make-up how influenced you are, but everyone, including apparently moral persons, is influenced to some degree.

Few can live outside society and living in any society demands some degree of conformity. That conformity can take many varied forms and the degree can vary widely, too. When we look around it is amazing what people will do to fit in. Just look at the hats.

By very strict definitions, everyone, without exception, is corrupt to some extent. I think that, knowing and accepting that we are better positioned to deal with the real world. I don't know how useful or enjoyable dwelling on that knowledge is, though. Doing so can make one bitter and untrusting.

That said, it is all unicorns and rainbows and ponies for everyone up here in the Great White North, as we behold with amazement our newly hatched PM and his balanced and representative cabinet.

Suddenly many Canadians feel as if we suddenly woke up a from bad dreams and a ten-year coma to find ourselves awake and alive again in the Canada we used to know and love.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
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Countryboy
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From Corruption all the Way to Minsky and the Canadian Liberal Renewal

Unread post by Countryboy »

Well, why stop with people paid by taxpayer money?
I didn't say that I automatically trust anyone not paid with taxpayer dollars. But I may give them a little more of a benefit of the doubt. With people paid with taxpayer dollars, there is no doubt.

I do believe that Pareto's Law applies, ie. the 80/20 rule.

About 80% of people are for the most part pretty decent folks, and 20% can be more easily led astray. And if you apply the 80/20 rule again, 20% of the 20% will be your more dangerous sociopaths and psychopaths. That's 4% of the general population. They are naturally drawn to positions of power and authority.

It seems like those 4% end up in lives of crime. The only real difference between the government workers and the ones who end up in prison are the clothes they wear.
Few can live outside society and living in any society demands some degree of conformity. That conformity can take many varied forms and the degree can vary widely, too. When we look around it is amazing what people will do to fit in. Just look at the hats.
I'd say the 80/20 rule applies here. 80% of the people want someone to tell them what to do (betas) and 20% want to tell them what to do (alphas).

However, there are always a few outliers who don't want anyone telling them what to do, but they don't want to control others either. This is the ideology that founded America.

This is a fascinating article.
https://libertaer.wordpress.com/2010/06 ... eta-gamma/
Suddenly many Canadians feel as if we suddenly woke up a from bad dreams and a ten-year coma to find ourselves awake and alive again in the Canada we used to know and love.
There was a heck of an economic oil boom during that bad dream, in which the loonie actually was worth slightly more than the US dollar.

The loonie is currently trading at 1.33 to 1 USD, and I recently heard that 63,500 oil workers in Alberta have lost their jobs and the real estate market in Calgary is already starting to fall apart.

Is that the Canada everyone knows and loves? A government too broke to give you what you want, and too broke to meddle in your everyday lives?

I've heard rumors that Canada is already discussing QE to try to help the economy. How long before it is a toonie to 1 USD?
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Allen Dick
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From Corruption all the Way to Minsky and the Canadian Liberal Renewal

Unread post by Allen Dick »

Let's agree to disagree on your estimate of people. For one thing we don't appear to share basic assumptions about 'right and wrong'. (Yes, I have listened to the philosophical and religious arguments).

To me things are not black and white or even black, white and grey. We also choose different words and narratives to describe and understand the same phenomena.
The loonie is currently trading at 1.33 to 1 USD, and I recently heard that 63,500 oil workers in Alberta have lost their jobs. Is that the Canada everyone knows and loves? A government too broke to give you what you want, and too broke to meddle in your everyday lives? I've heard rumors that Canada is already discussing QE to try to help the economy. How long before it is a toonie to 1 USD?
I'm always surprised that people take me literally when i am horsing around. Should I have inserted smilies to show I was being ironic? :shock:

Nobody knows the future, and economics are what they are, but I actually do feel a whole lot better without a fanatic at the helm -- and with a new government that looks a whole lot more like the Canadian population than a room full of cynical and like-thinking old white guys and a few token women.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
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Countryboy
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From Corruption all the Way to Minsky and the Canadian Liberal Renewal

Unread post by Countryboy »

For one thing we don't appear to share basic assumptions about 'right and wrong'.
My view of right and wrong - peaceful, voluntary, and honest is right. Hostile/aggressive, involuntary, and dishonest is bad.
I'm always surprised that people take me literally when i am horsing around. Should I have inserted smilies to show I was being ironic?
I'm an INTJ personality - we don't have a sense of humor. And it doesn't help that I was heavily influenced by the Amish/Mennonite culture as a young boy - they teach 'literal truth'.

But I did suspect a tinge of sarcasm in your post.
but I actually do feel a whole lot better without a fanatic at the helm
Out of the frying pan, and into the fire. Just because you got rid of one fanatic does not mean they were not replaced by another fanatic.
Nobody knows the future, and economics are what they are,
Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. (They often argue that things were un-knowable and unavoidable too.)

I believe the quote Rick Rule has used before is, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

The Austrian school of economics does a lot better job explaining economic cycles and foretelling the future than people give it credit for.

It's honestly not that difficult to accurately forecast what will happen in the future economically - the difficult part is saying when it will happen.
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Allen Dick
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From Corruption all the Way to Minsky and the Canadian Liberal Renewal

Unread post by Allen Dick »

My view of right and wrong - peaceful, voluntary, and honest is right. Hostile/aggressive, involuntary, and dishonest is bad.
The devil is in the details. Volumes have been written and rewritten over the centuries and millennia trying to nail down these words and ideas. Common understandings are simplistic and when asked for an explanation people say, "Everone knows what I mean". In my experience, when people say this, nobody understands.
The Austrian school of economics does a lot better job explaining economic cycles and foretelling the future than people give it credit for.
I tend to agree with that, but the cycles existed long before Minsky, with remedies going back to jubilees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical) and before. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?s ... ersion=WEB
"Jubilee deals largely with land, property, and property rights. According to Leviticus, slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven". See Leviticus 25:8-13
It's honestly not that difficult to accurately forecast what will happen in the future economically - the difficult part is saying when it will happen.
Or what it will look like or feel like. Being preoccupied with such matters is largely a waste of today, especially for an old man with a finite number of todays in the queue.

As I recall, things looked equally bleak and unpromising in my youth.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
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Re: From Corruption all the Way to Minsky and the Canadian Liberal Renewal

Unread post by Allen Dick »

I've heard rumors that Canada is already discussing QE to try to help the economy. How long before it is a toonie to 1 USD?
I would not laugh if I were a US beekeeper. The last round of high US dollar just about killed US beekeeping while the Canadian beekeepers were wondering what the fuss was.

The CAD is doing just about he same as ever vs. the Euro.
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from= ... R&view=10Y
and Japan
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from= ... Y&view=10Y
and Mexico
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from= ... N&view=10Y
and Australia
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from= ... D&view=10Y

The US is bailing like crazy trying to keep the dollar down, but can't and ohoh!, here is an interesting observation from GaveKal. Deja vue all over again?
The more things change...A stock market led by a shrinking number of outrageously high PE stocks. Margin debt rolling over from an unprecedented peak. A formerly thermo-nuclear IPO market notably cooling. Stocks selling for one of the loftiest price-to-sales ratios ever. Real estate values in Seattle and Silicon Valley at silly-high levels. The US dollar rocketing, especially against emerging market currencies. Credit spreads expanding dramatically. A lengthy economic expansion appearing increasingly winded. Oil prices trading well below production costs. Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) under severe pressure. This all sounds a lot like current conditions, right?
The answer is yes, but it's not the period that has been circling back to my mind like an expertly-thrown boomerang. Rather, I'm referring to early 2000, when the biggest stock bubble in history was about ready to meet its maker.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
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