Wednesday Night Salon # 944
April 5, 2000
INTRODUCTION
Note to the legions of
Harry Mayerovitch Artist fans - not only does Harry turn 90 on the 16th of April, but a restrospective exhibition of Harry's work
"Le Dessin - à la recherche du savoir/Drawing - A Way of Knowing" will be held on Wednesday April 12th at 6:00 p.m.will be held at Victoria Hall starting April 12th and a second one opens at the Maison de la culture on Côte des Neiges on May 14th.
GAMBOLING WITH THE GAMBLERS
The presence of
Spence Bozak of
[AGC] APPLIED GAMING SOLUTIONS, an Alberta-based company currently setting up a national on-line lottery for VietNam gave rise to a broad discussion on the issue of government-backed gambling. Guest brought by
Mike Judson
Many humans are addicted to gambling, betting on racing horses, sports games, slot machines, speculative stocks, or any activity where even a small probability exists for large returns. But powerful as the human addiction to gambling may be, it pales in comparison with the addiction of governments (state and provincial in North America, national elsewhere) to revenue. Jean Drapeau was the first in Canada to take advantage of the lottery craze by circumventing the lottery prohibition in force in those days, with what he described as a Voluntary Tax. The citizens paid their voluntary tax in droves in the hope of financial gain, causing no pain to the City of Montréal. Lotteries and Casinos are probably the least efficient tax in existence in terms of costs incurred per dollar retained, not including human cost, the loss of human productivity nor the financial costs in supporting gamblers’ losses or in caring for their families.
Morality is obviously not an issue. Governments also derive major benefits from government-owned alcohol distribution systems which entrain the same types of social costs as gambling. But governments do not invest in distilling equipment. They simply set standards - and prices. And, the consumer does receive a tangible product.
But people will gamble and without state intervention can become victims of the impossible odds of winning through overprinting of tickets included in the draw, through fixed slot machines or through other questionable or dishonest practices. There are basically two companies that run lotteries in North America. WITH THE HELP OF LOANS PROVIDED BY CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, they also set up and provide the equipment and expertise to provincial, state and national governments so that they can run on-line and live gambling facilities. The two companies involved enjoy a high rate of return, the governments involved are able to provide their citizens with new services without increasing the tax burden, Canada improves its balance of payments position and gamblers can bet their money in a system that is reasonably transparent and fairly run.
So, why not do the same with drugs? It seems so much easier to invest in an illegal activity than to try to put an end to it.
The argument that the profits from state-run lotteries enable governments to give needed services (hospitals, schools, etc.) was met with considerable scepticism. [please remember money must come from somewhere to pay the bills created our demands on Government ??]
JAPAN
Japanese Prime Minister
Keizo Obuchi is in a coma and some question arises as to what will happen next. Because the Obuchi government has not enjoyed great popularity recently, Wednesday Night Gurus believe that his successors will probably call an election in late May or early June, hoping that Japanese tendency to be respectful will translate into a re-election for his party and a continuation of the policies to restore the economy of Japan.
THE STOCK MARKET
Dr. Hans Black
|
The stock market tends to move in four year cycles. Except for some Internet stocks, we have not as yet reached the top of the cycle as happened in 1929 and 1968, so the recent blip has provided some opportunities for to-day. There may be one more cycle, with the market even higher than to-day, followed perhaps by the great abyss. In the opinion of one of our gurus, the long-term effect of the losses suffered in the past week by the day-traders will be a general retrenchment until prices fall to an irresitible buy level at which point they may well ride the price up again and excperience an even more devastating loss.
CINAR
The
CINAR story raises some interesting conjecture as to how some companies find themselves facing disaster. Initially,
CINAR may have done nothing wrong, there was provision - and Board approval- for the investment of funds until they were required. However, a number of other issues that have been brought to light (i.e. falsification of authorship in order to obtain grants) which cast grave doubt on the transparency of the company's management. There is a distinction between privately and publicly held companies, a distinction that is sometimes forgotten by owner/management when a private company goes public. Denial of past events appears to be the kiss of death, while open admission and correction as was the case with Laidlaw, is sometimes the path to salvation. CINAR will most likely survive as it has an excellent library of educational products with world-wide appeal, but most certainly the reputation of its founders is tarnished.
Media coverage is and will continue to be harsh as the company and its leaders were media darlings. There is bound to be more on this story in the coming weeks/months.
THE CANADIAN ALLIANCE
(or whatever it's called this week)
On the political scene, the question arises as to Preston Manning’s motivation in creating the Canadian Alliance. An interesting hypothesis is based on the hobbling of the Reform Party by its constitution which requires that it adopt as policy, resolutions passed by its members, a losing scenario for any party. [ it is all CRAP ?]
QUOTES OF THE EVENING
"(The) Reform (Party) wanted to lose, but wanted to lose the right way."
"Gambling is a tax but it is a lousy tax because it doesn’t do anything. It just moves money around."
David Nicholson |
Ron Meisels |
Ron Meisels, one of the longest tenured Wednesday Nighters, then took the opportunity to remind everyone that Wednesday-Night has now started on its 21st year. He underlined the tremendous amount of work and creativity involved in preparing the subjects and in making sure that pertinent topics stimulated the conversation throughout each evening. In conclusion, he thanked David and Diana for their remarkable tenacity in maintaining the tradition uninterrupted for all these years.
Diana Nicholson |
Notes by Herb Bercovitz Sculptor
Edited by Diana Thébaud Nicholson
Tuesday, March 28, 2000
Hi David & Diana,
Read how the internet will be the agent of tectonic shifts
in the global economy.
Just came across the massive (343-page) e-volve
report put out by Bear Stearns (www.bearstearns.com)
and recommend it highly for examples of how the e-conomy
is transforming everything else. If you're an info junkie like me,
here's a prime lode of your drug of choice.
Cheers,
Guy Stanley
Wed943oscar
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