statism watch

Why not just build a few pyramids, as John Maynard Keynes suggested, while you’re at it? Or invest in a parade of white elephants? Hell, perhaps a spot of gladiatorial combat would do us all good and get our minds off the fact we’re being robbed blind to throw a party for ‘International VIPs’ here. Hook us up, IOC.

CBC News
February 11, 2009

On the day to mark the one-year countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics, organizers said the sporting event will represent not only an inspiration for all but also a much-needed stimulus package for the host.

John Furlong, president of the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee, known as VANOC, said Wednesday the next 365 days will be full of opportunities as well as challenges.

“Our view is that we will this year invest VANOC’s money, $1.3 billion, into this community. Our partners will match that easily, and then there will be all of the visitors’ spending that comes with that,” said Furlong, who was in Whistler, B.C., for the countdown celebrations.

“The Olympic Games, not only are they going to be an enormously inspired event for the community and the country, but they are in effect going to be a much-needed stimulus package in this area.”

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This must be some interesting new application of the word ‘good’ that this journal has been previously unaware of. The Olympics come increasingly to seem like little more than an excuse to militarize the cultures of their host cities. ‘Host’, as in host and parasite. Here’s an idea – legalize hemp and put the gangs mentioned below out of business. That advice is free. And the policy might just earn some tax revenue for the lower mainland, rather than sucking it dry.

Rod Mickleburgh, The Globe and Mail
February 11, 2009

WHISTLER, B.C. — Olympic security is good for a country, International Olympic president Jacques Rogge said Wednesday.

As controversy mounts over the pending billion-dollar security budget for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Mr. Rogge contended that security put in place for the 17-day sporting event leaves a positive legacy in terms of better security expertise and hardware.

“That will serve the country … for decades to come.”

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Stimulus? What a crock. Has everyone forgotten Frederic Bastiat? His fallacy of the broken window effectively outed this sort of thing as nonsense a century and a half ago. Apparently they don’t teach this sort of thing in macroeconomics anymore. Or perhaps they do, and the cozy clique that run the US financial system just hope you’ve forgotten.

Daniel Nasaw, The Guardian
February 11, 2009

The two houses of Congress must now vote on the compromise bill, which may reach President Obama’s desk within days

US congressional leaders today agreed to a $789bn (£548.3bn) fiscal stimulus package aimed at creating millions of jobs, staving off further economic misery and initiating a broad programme of green energy development and infrastructure renewal sought by President Barack Obama.

In a statement, Obama thanked legislators of both parties for the “hard-fought compromise” on the plan that “will provide immediate tax relief to families and businesses, while investing in priorities like healthcare, education, energy, and infrastructure that will grow our economy once more”.

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CBC News
February 11, 2009

A Vancouver airport employee who offered to help translate for Robert Dziekanski has testified that his help was turned down by airport employees less than an hour before the Polish immigrant died.

Dziekanski’s heart stopped after four RCMP officers used a Taser to subdue him after he caused a disturbance at the Vancouver airport in 2007.

Karol Vrba told the Braidwood Inquiry into Dziekanski’s death, currently underway in Vancouver, that he was in the airport’s operation centre when a call came in about a man who only appeared to speak Russian, causing a disturbance.

Vrba, who speaks Russian, Czech, Slovak and Polish, testified on Monday that he offered to help but was told instead to check on airplanes parked at the board gates overnight, so the airport could collect fees from them.

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So of course the economists come out calling for nationalization… and the planned state rises, as Hayek saw only too well. As Newsweek’s business cover story of February 7 opined, ‘We Are All Socialists Now’

Canadian Press
February 11, 2009

World stock markets dropped Wednesday, following a steep sell-off on Wall Street, as investors reacted with skepticism to the U.S. government’s latest plan to rescue the ailing financial industry with as much as $2 trillion US in funding.

Markets retreated throughout Asia, further hurt by new figures showing China’s exports plunged 17.5 per cent in January — the sharpest drop in more than a decade. European shares opened down as Credit Suisse reported a massive quarterly loss far worse than expectations.

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Flashback: CCTV doesn’t keep us safe

CBC News
February 11, 2009

Shoppers and pedestrians in downtown Sydney may one day find themselves under surveillance.

The police commission of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality has agreed in principle to closed-circuit TV surveillance (CCTV) of Charlotte Street in an attempt to deter crime.

The idea was proposed by the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce, which wants to curb vandalism, theft and fighting.

“I think there’s a responsibility there on the part of the entire business community and the community as a whole to look at the idea of just trying to create a heightened level of security,” said Mike MacSween, the chamber’s executive director.

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