Wednesday Night Salon #1287 November 1, 2006 Page 2
Introduction
How very appropriate that the night after the Hallowe'en debacle aptly described by Rex Murphy as "A Conservative government bent on making 'We kept our promises' the theme song of its next wild dance with the voters executes a perfect back flip on income trusts and sets off a chain of cardiac arrests on Bay Street", Hans Black should proudly introduce his new associate, Yves Séguin, former Québec Minister of Finance in the Charest cabinet Charest cabinet and Premier Robert Bourassa's Minister of Revenue. Today, he is a professor at UQAM and a columnist at Le Journal de Montréal (chroniques/budgetseguin )
Income Trusts
It was a bold experiment, in retrospect, bound to fail as it had in Australia, but income trusts were a unique (currently existing only in Morocco and phased out here), popular instrument. For the government, it had been intended to be at least, revenue neutral as net revenue was not taxed at the corporate level, but more fully taxed at the presumably higher personal level. When implemented, plans frequently take on a life of their own and in this case the ever-increasing interest in Income Trusts by foreign investors (some $45 billion) yielded to the federal government, a mere fifteen percent in withholding tax and zero from pension funds holding income trust units. In addition to the real estate and mature exploration companies for whom the Income trusts were originally designed, large corporations adopted the model and exacerbated the problem. The inevitable tax changes have occurred or will be phased out over four years, undoubtedly with the hope on the part of the Conservative government that unit holders will have gotten over the pain by the next election.
[Editor's note: for those who are somewhat confused by all the fuss, the CBC Website has an excellent summary of the issues at: WN on trusts]
Ethical dilemma
Has Man created God in his own image? Who inscribed the stones bearing the Ten Commandments? What are benchmarks by which ethical behaviour is judged? Are we sliding down the slippery slope of opportunistic, convenient ethical codes? Is morality judged by thought or deed? Does life begin at conception or birth? What is the next step to harvesting organs from moribund patients who are not yet brain dead? [see: americamagazine.org/
A good case can be made for harvesting stem cells from unclaimed foetuses, but is it ethically justifiable to kill a living human entity (the foetus) to prolong the life of another? In the light of progress made in medical science, it appears to be, but one should ask what the next step in the progression might be. Some people are adopting frozen foetuses. Is this a more ethical approach than adopting an existing starving child from a poor African country whose prospect for living a reasonable lifestyle is minimal if not adopted?
Political dilemma
Why have politicians become so unpopular? At one time, politicians like Pierre Trudeau, Réné Lévesque, , Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Winston Churchill were very well regarded, even by people who did not support them. Today politicians rank at the bottom of the respect ladder, along with heads of unions. However, there are those who cling to the hope that whenever someone with leadership and vision like Barack Obama appears, hope and trust are rekindled.
One hypothesis is that the motivation of individuals to pursue a political career is not always what it should be. Too often, they are attracted by the large increase in salary [and generous pension plans] over their previous incomes [Note: in the last Quebec election, some 75% of the candidates had never earned anywhere near the compensation of an MLA. This is quite typical throughout Canada and probably many other democracies]. On the other hand, how does one attract powerful, successful people to political life is the compensation is minimal? Other candidates may be attracted by the standing in their local community, and/or opportunity to meet and work with well-known personalities.
Finally, the rapid rate at which politicians are discredited in public opinion prompts them tOWN to please the public while avoiding the hard decisions that a vision often entails.
Television enables the public to grasp uneasiness in an elected official when he is perceived to be quoting the party line or withholding the total truth [or is simply not comfortable with the medium]. As the system hasn’t changed since pre-television days, compromises must be made and party solidarity maintained. However, the imposition of party (administration) solidarity is muzzling any dissident – or even independent - politicians; there is no dialogue. The inevitable outcome is that politicians often demonstrate uneasiness in presenting party policy close-up on national television, especially when national policy clashes with local values.
It is also true, when examining the popularity of local politicians, that those who have been able to escape the disdain of the population and have remained popular despite their often unpopular decisions have been those who have avoided promising local or regional goodies in their election campaigns. Furthermore, generally those who endure the longest are those who say nothing and never step out of line.
At the highest level, candidates are groomed relentlessly and when they arrive in power they then become the center of a machine that manufactures the message according to the latest polls. The chasm between the elected official and the electorate is growing wider and wider.
Perhaps the time has come for a new confederation including a partnership between federal, provincial and municipal leaders. In 1867, it was reasonable for most legislative powers to go to a strong federal entity, but Canada has grown and changed in almost two and a half centuries, regional differences have become more evident and the ability to govern has matured. There are many examples of successful, albeit complex, federations such as those found in Australia and Germany.
Emerging markets
Emerging markets still provide great opportunity for investment Emerging market economies are outpacing developed countries in the global economic recovery and may continue to do so for some time. Investors need to think globally." forbes.com
In 2000, China was one of only two logical areas, but this has changed. There has been a substantial shift in the credit rating of these countries. In 2004 emerging market yields were about 9.2% versus 8.6% for junk bonds in the States. Today the ratio is reversed with emerging market yields at 7.5% versus 8.2% for junk bonds in the U.S. Emerging-Market Bonds Rise as U.S. Jobs Report Shows Growth
The growth of emerging countries is about twice that of industrialized nations.
With the Liberal Party leadership race on our mind, we sometimes try to predict the outcome of the concurrent mid-term elections in our neighbour to the south, where despite the evidence of a great deal of disaffection with the current Republican Congress this may possibly dissipate when the votes are cast, or expressed by refraining from voting. Will the Republicans' ability to raise campaign funds overcome the public's disenchantment with the Party, whether over the war in Iraq, or over morality issues like the Foley case? The days/months ahead will
certainly be of interest to all.
Bears versus CPR
Did we live in more gentle times or does our memory filter out the past? At one time, railway locomotives crossed the prairies with cow catchers attached to protect and save cattle that might have wandered onto the tracks. Today, trains carrying grain moving through western Canada spill grain along the tracks. This attracts bears, many of whom are killed,. The cost of repair to the trains is roughly equivalent to the annual tourist revenue in the national parks through which they run. In any event, it is the bears who pay the highest price. cbc
Global growth continues strong. Outlook for the markets is positive, but the tightening of interest rates will ultimately affect the stock market and the economy, with a gradual movement of share prices. The global economy is not headed for a recession, but there are risks. The U.S. economy is very dependent on central bank money as opposed to economy money. Bush’s policies may very well be undermining the stability of the U.S. economy. The most serious criticism of President Bush is his attempt to fight a war while simultaneously cutting taxes. If wars are not financed by taxes they tend to lead to inflation. Ascending Asia will ultimately put pressure on the U.S. dollar to fall. Another problem is China as any crisis there such as a crisis in the banking system, risks causing the Chinese boom to fall. A depression in North America is unlikely but a very long recession is possible. With rising interest rates, the real estate market in serious danger of collapse.
Note
Wednesday-Night creates charts and follows stocks, including timely related financial news items, in which Wednesday Nighters are interested and in order to demonstrate a service that could eventually be developed and marketed. Wednesday Nighters are invited to participate and help to test the service. see Wednesday-Night.com Flip charts
QUOTES of the EVENING from recent Wednesday Nights
The government has a $12 billion surplus and they want to raise taxes!!!
We have too few teachers and too many bureaucrats
It's like creating a small business – You are given $300,000 to organize the riding office, hire staff …
“Ethics is values and not morality, leading to ethical behaviour. I think we have a greater moral obligation to saving existing lives, in Africa, for instance and let embryos save existing lives.”
“If you go into politics to do the right thing, it is a battle of principle. You have to compromise.”
“Politics today is like marketing … Look at Harper’s last campaign.”
“… governments are designed to present a monologue.”
“Ninety to ninety-five percent of politicians believe that they have to massage the truth because of the amazing skill of the media to get at the truth ... There is no trust when people say one thing before the election and change their mind six months later.”
“Popular politicians are those who tell it like it is, more so than those who promise goodies.”
“On television, you can’t possibly lie. You have to believe in what you are doing. The party system was okay until T.V.”
“The bureaucrats rule, set the agenda.”
“We mistrust the bureaucracy (but) they are (often) a lot smarter than the Minister.”
“Even if people are disenchanted with politicians, all it takes is one good guy to make people to believe again.”
“…not red states, not blue states .. mostly purple.”
Let's not forget that the best speech given at the 1968 Liberal Convention was delivered by
Monday Oct 2, 2006 Hungary's Nixon
They're off! Hungary's eight million-plus registered voters are at the polls. The elections are municipal; the implications national. In the country that in the 1980s used to be described as "the happiest barrack" of the Soviet camp, voters are deciding whether or not to punish their government of ex-communists for lying.
J.J. Greene [www.agr.gc.ca/bios/]
Voice radio was invented by Reginald Fessenden a Quebecker from Knowlton
Monday 06 November 2006 Now a team of researchers in Britain and the US has come up with a revolutionary new aircraft design that could make a dramatic contribution to curbing climate change.
The SAX-40, which has been developed by the Cambridge-MIT Institute, is a radically different shape of aircraft.
Officially, it is what is known as a "blended wing". It has a tailless wedge-shaped body with two bat-wings.
Menu to mitworld.mit.edu/ on-demand videos of significant public events at MIT. in RealPlayer
Ex Thomas L. Friedman. While you were Seeping The World IS Flat Video length is 1:15:04.
Andy Nulman 
BBC
; "DTN Chair by Robert J. Galbraith")
; "click for Diana Nicholson OWN")
 "Louise des Trois Maisons")
; "click Jacques Clément OWN")
 "click for Diana T. Nicholson")
; "click for Herb Bercovitz OWN")
Stephen S. Poloz
Wed1286 report 
Wed1288
Bloomberg
get player
