statism watch

So that’s what McGuinty’s government is up to. Ten bucks says this idea is Goldman-Sachs’. The notion of a piecemeal selloff of public assets is good in theory, a way to climb down from state ownership of market sectors that have little to nothing to do with the protection of citizen rights. But in the current context, there are problems of application that arise. How much of a return will taxpayers realize on their cumulative investments? And in a market that has little to do with free and unrestricted trade between individuals, and everything to do with prefigured benefits for institutional investors what will be the end result? Will there be a new centralized ownership of these resources, and what might be the consequences to Ontario’s (energy) sovereignty – energy, in a centralized market, has already been realized as a strategic asset. And finally, will there be any control over levels of ownership in these assets in order to ease the transition to a privatized energy economy? (Yes, reading further into the details). But perhaps, ironically, rather than this fascistic or P3 – public/private partnership or ‘corporativist’ – model, a breaking of these nationalized trusts into separate departments and a sale of those interests to private partners (for a fair price) might be the best way to encourage true market innovation in an echo of the era of trust-breaking from the past century.

Flashback: Ontario in no rush to sell Crown assets, minister says | Ontario Premiere McGuinty heralds Samsung ‘green energy’ deal | Ont. deficit could linger for years: McGuinty | Ontario eyes sale of crown corporations | HST bill passes, 13% tax starts July 1 | Poll: HST equals Hated Sales Tax | Flaherty eyes sale of Canadian government assets | Cities Debate Giving Away Public Infrastructure to Bankers

Robert Benzie, The Toronto Star
March 6, 2010

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan hinted at the proposed sale.

The Ontario government is looking at creating a publicly held $60 billion “super corporation” of assets such as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and Hydro One and then selling a minority share to private investors, sources told the Star.

Insiders say that is an option under active consideration as part of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s ambitious five-year plan called Open Ontario, which will be spelled out in Monday’s Speech from the Throne.

While government sources insist nothing is set in stone, McGuinty is aggressively seeking ways to maximize the value of the province’s considerable holdings and at the same time jolt the economy.

A “super corporation” of the 610-store LCBO booze monopoly, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. gambling empire, and blue-chip utilities Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One, could be worth between $50 billion and $60 billion.

Unlike the failed scheme by the previous Progressive Conservative government to sell Hydro One in 2002, the Liberals would not have an outright sale of Crown holdings.

Nor would any deal be structured like the Tories’ controversial 1999 liquidation of Highway 407 for $3.1 billion, which has led to soaring tolls for drivers.

“You would put all the assets inside a shell and then issue shares on that shell. That way there’s still an element of public ownership,” a Liberal insider said Friday.

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It is, as a separate article in the Globe and Mail points out, an open question as to whether the Federal government will actually take such a step since there have been no consultations on the matter.

Flashback: B.C. Nisga’a First Nation approves private property rights | BC Native tribe will petition Ottawa to remove its Indian status | Court upholds aboriginal fishing rights on Vancouver Island | BC chiefs kill flawed aboriginal rights law | Akwesasne chief pushes for Mohawk sovereignty | Title law would undermine native rights, lawyers say | BC Court Tells Ottawa to Amend Status Rules for Natives | Quebec First Nations declare sovereignty, opposition to provincial development plans | OPP threatened natives to end blockade | Alberta natives protest oil exploration on their land | Native leaders vow to fight mining law in Ontario | Mohawk protesters set up blockade in eastern Ont. town

Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press
February 28, 2010

The fatal shooting of Dudley George in 1995 prompted the Ipperwash inquiry.

More than 14 years after native protester Dudley George was killed by police during a confrontation over disputed land, Ontario is poised to take the final legislative step in relinquishing control of Ipperwash Provincial Park, The Canadian Press has learned.

Natural Resources Minister Linda Jeffrey will introduce a motion Monday that, if approved, will remove the land from the list of provincial parks and convert it to Crown land.

That paves the way for the 40-hectare park along the shores of Lake Huron to be transferred to the federal government, which has the power to add it to the existing reserve or create a new one, said Jeffrey’s spokesman Bradley Hammond.

“It paves the way to transfer the land to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation,” he said.

“The hope is that it’ll bring some important social and economic benefits to the First Nation there and to the local non-aboriginal communities around Ipperwash.”

Dudley’s brother, Sam George, who died last year after successfully pushing for a public inquiry into his brother death, would have welcomed the move, said Murray Klippenstein, a longtime lawyer for the George family.

“I think Sam would say, ‘Thank you’ to the people of Ontario for this step,” Klippenstein said.

“It’s progress to restoring a sacred written land promise between our peoples from a long time ago. I think he would say, ‘This is what honourable relationships between First Nations and other Ontarians are made of.’”

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Flashback: Fisherman, 78, faces eviction to make room for container terminal | Beijing families forcibly relocated for Olympics

CBC News
February 24, 2010

The former residents of a bulldozed black community and their descendants have received an official apology from the mayor of Halifax.

Peter Kelly apologized Wednesday for the loss of Africville, the black community that stood along the Bedford Basin for more than a century before it was razed to make room for a bridge in the 1960s.

“I’m here today on behalf of Halifax regional council to deliver a formal apology to all those whose lives have been altered by the loss of Africville in the 1960s,” Kelly said at a ceremony held at the YMCA in north-end Halifax.

“We realize words cannot undo what has been done. But we are profoundly sorry and apologize to each and every one of you. The repercussions of what happened to Africville linger to this day. They haunt us in the form of lost opportunities for the young people who never were nurtured in the rich traditions, culture and heritage of Africville.”

The apology was backed up a total of nearly $5 million from three levels of government for the black community — $3 million from the city, $1.5 million from the province and $250,000 from the federal government.

One hectare of land is also included in the agreement, along with a commitment to rebuild the Seaview United Baptist Church on the site. It will be used as an historical interpretative centre. Seaview Park will be renamed Africville, but it will still be owned by HRM.

And a special department at city hall will be created to deal with issues that affect African Nova Scotians.

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Nice research. See? We need to keep the Post around for stuff like this, their crossword, and Terry Corcoran’s columns. Buy one on occasion. (You can always tear out the Barbara Kay to wrap fish in.)

Flashback: Obama hails stimulus plan, warns of layoffs | Stimulating our way into debt crises | The Federal Reserve as Giant Counterfeiter | IMF warns against retreat from stimulus spending | No new stimulus, economy ’stabilized’: Harper | Can’t say if federal stimulus is working: watchdog | Liberals call stimulus numbers ‘fiction’ | Flaherty, USA say no to global financial tax, yes to continued ’stimulus’ at G20 | G20 to pledge continued ’stimulus’, examine international reserve fund | Aspiring government economists must reveal views on stimulus plan | The Keynesian quagmire | Carney says G20 must stay the course on stimulus | G20 agrees to continue economic stimulus measures; Geithner shops international reserve accord | Former NY governor Spitzer: Federal Reserve is ‘a Ponzi scheme, an inside job’ | Budget officer ‘can’t tell’ if stimulus plan working | G8 leaders see no early end to stimulus | Flaherty looks for way to end stimulus | Harper lays out stimulus spending in progress report | Economist Warns Fed Will Bring About Zimbabwe Style Hyperinflation | Stimulus needed now, Bank of Canada says | Obama signs stimulus bill | Congressman warns unread ’stimulus’ bill will prolong agony | US Congress reaches deal on economic stimulus package | Pass stimulus or watch out, Obama warns | $12B for infrastructure forms key pillar of stimulus package | Brace for a big, ‘comprehensive’ budget: Harper | Transport Minister Baird calls for dramatic action on stimulus package | Obama calls for ‘dramatic action’ on stimulus package | The ugly spectre of ‘new Keynesianism’ and the self-appointed Guardians | Maybe we should look at Zimbabwe before trying to print our way out of a money crisis | Britain to introduce massive stimulus package | Deficits ‘essential,’ Harper says | A New World Financial Order: It Better Work This Time | Flaherty lauds Keynesian global ‘economic stimulus’ strategies | Who are the Architects of Economic Collapse? | The Bush gang’s parting gift: a final, frantic looting of public wealth | Wanted: a new financial order | World needs new Bretton Woods, says Brown | Why Paulson’s Plan is a Fraud | Congressman Ron Paul: Bailout Will Destroy Dollar, World Economy | Congressman Ron Paul Schools Fed Chairman Bernanke on the Bailout Plan

David Akin, The National Post
February 23, 2010

Since they were re-elected in October, 2008, the federal Conservatives have rolled out 3,229 press releases from government departments, agencies, and Crown corporations which announce funding commitments of various sizes for various regions. We maintain a database of information contained in those releases and here’s the latest tallies from that database. A chart summarizing the number of releases by the province in which the spending was announced and the total dollars committed in those releases is at the left. Here’s some of the trends:

• Nearly one in three of those spending announcements is made by ministers who were in the province of Quebec when they made the announcement. A total of 966 press releases carry a placeline in that province. The funding commitments outlined in those releases total $13.3 billion, most of which, but not all, will be spent in the province.
• Just 11 of those releases carry a placeline in Nunavut where spending commitments worth a total of $108 million have been rolled out. That’s the fewest number of releases by province or territory.

• Combined, the 3,229 releases tout spending commitments of $75 billion. Some of that is new money, some is old money, some is re-announced money. But in every case, the government is issuing a a release to call attention to and, one assumes, win political credit for spending money.

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The Guardian actually reports that “The summit on Thursday is shaping up as a piece of political manoeuvring by the Democrats rather than a genuine attempt by Obama to secure bipartisan support for health reform.” Republicans have been challenged to post their own suggestions, and the administration, says The Guardian, is counting on them not doing this in the three day time frame before the meeting this Thursday in order to paint them as obstructionist. Tricky, tricky.

Flashback: Barack Obama healthcare bill passes vital US Senate vote | House of Representatives passes Obama healthcare legislation | Obama tries to save health-care overhaul on primetime broadcast | Canadian defends anti-medicare ad | ABC Turns Programming Over To Government to Promote State Healthcare Agenda

CBC News
February 22, 2010

U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled a new compromise health-care plan that attempts to bridge the differences between the stalled House and Senate bills.

The proposal, posted on the White House website on Monday, would not include a publicly run insurance plan, but would allow the government to cap health insurance premiums “if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified.”

It would also require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage and bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more.

The proposal claims it will insure more than 31 million Americans who cannot afford health insurance and reduce the U.S. deficit over the next 10 years by $100 billion.

The plan would also scale back a Senate-proposed tax on high-cost health insurance plans objected to by House Democrats and labour unions, but will include a Medicare payroll tax increase on upper-income earners.

The plan would also eliminate what has become known as the “Cornhusker Kickback” — a controversial deal that would have exempted the state of Nebraska of having to pay its share of Medicaid expansion.

Instead, the federal government will provide additional financing to all states for the expansion of Medicaid.

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Flashback: Blackwater guards linked to secret CIA raids | Blackwater’s Erik Prince: Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy | Taliban: Blackwater to blame for Pakistan attacks | Report: Blackwater approved plan to pay off Iraqi officials | Taliban Chief Blames Blackwater, ISI for Peshawar Blast | Ex-employees claim Blackwater pimped out young Iraqi girls | Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Implicated in Murder | Obama’s Blackwater? Chicago Mercenary Firm Gets Millions for Private “Security” in Israel and Iraq | Blackwater, mired in Iraq controversy, changes its name to ‘Xe’ | Official: Blackwater contract for Iraq not renewed | Blackwater Guards facing Charges in Case of 17 Dead Iraqi Citizens | Madsen: CIA collusion with “Al Qaeda” financiers and attack planners | Blackwater-linked firm to train Canadian troops | Canadian troops continue gearing up, to receive US counter-insurgency training | Blackwater Worldwide, Wal-Mart of modern war

Ewan MacAskill, The Guardian
February 11, 2010

Private security firm accused of charging US government for payments to prostitute

Of course, this isn’t really ‘a tax on banks’, though the phrase is good PR, and it’s certainly not a tax on the largest global central banks. The banks that will take the hit (and thus be forced to consolidate upwards even further) will be small regional banks and they will past those costs along to their customers – you.

Flashback: Global Bank Insurance Levy Wins Support over Transaction Tax at Davos | Harper urges G20 to follow economic accords | Bankers unite against Barack Obama and Gordon Brown in call for world regulation | IMF warns against retreat from stimulus spending | Banks find gaping loophole in Obama financial reforms | Obama talking tough with banks | EU urged to adopt bank supertax | Obama ponders bank transaction levy to recoup bailout shortfalls | Explosive Leaked Emails Expose Treasury Secretary Geithner’s Deception in ‘Backdoor Bailout’ | Final Copenhagen Text Includes Global Transaction Tax | EU calls for tax on bank transactions | UK: Brown takes campaign for Tobin tax to Commonwealth | UK: Brown proposes global fund to kick-start Copenhagen climate change process | Flaherty, USA say no to global financial tax, yes to continued ’stimulus’ at G20 | Bernanke continues pressing for sweeping new powers for Fed | IMF chief wants global bank tax | G20 nations meet as protests flare on issue of international banking regulation | IMF approves $13bn gold sale to boost lending fund | China Set to Buy $50 Billion in IMF Notes | China calls anew for super-sovereign currency | No one talking about dumping dollar: China minister | China explores buying $50bn in IMF bonds | Chinese economists deem huge holding of US bonds “risky” as Geithner visits | A Bigger, Bolder Role Is Imagined For the IMF | UK PM reveals G20 plan to boost IMF by $1 trillion, hails new world order (again) | UN & IMF Back Agenda For Global Financial Dictatorship | IMF poised to print billions of dollars in ‘global quantitative easing’ | Gordon Brown seeks sweeping reforms to give IMF global ’surveillance role’ | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Globalists Exploit Financial Meltdown In Move Towards One World Currency | World needs new Bretton Woods, says Brown | IMF prescribes state regulation of ‘global financial order’ | Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda | Banks face “new world order,” consolidation: report

The Daily Mail
February 11, 2010

The world’s economic powers appear to be moving closer to a global bank tax in response to last year’s crisis, Gordon Brown suggested today.

The Prime Minister has been a strong advocate of some form of co-ordinated levy on the banks, which could bring in tens of billions of pounds a year from the financial services sector worldwide to help stabilise the global economy and contribute towards development.

He is understood to be hoping that the IMF will throw its weight behind a global levy at its April meeting in Washington, and that a deal can be concluded at the G20 summit in Canada in June.

In an interview with the Financial Times today, the PM indicated that he believes opinion has shifted in favour of co-ordinated action as a result of US President Barack Obama’s move last month to impose a 90 billion-dollar levy on Wall Street banks.

‘I’m interested in the way support is building up for international action,’ Mr Brown told the FT.

‘People are now prepared to consider the best mechanism by which a levy could be raised.’

At the G7 meeting of finance ministers in St Andrews last November, Mr Brown floated proposals for a form of ‘Tobin tax’ on financial transactions to create ‘a better economic and social contract between financial institutions and the public based on trust and a just distribution of risks and rewards’.

The US swiftly indicated it was not ready to countenance a day-to-day financial transaction tax, but British sources insisted that this did not mean that a levy of some sort could not be agreed.

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Your money, well spent on convincing you to enjoy giving away your money. (Someone go look up the ad agency responsible for this campaign, squeeze a little, and corruption will likely come oozing out of that deal too). You’re paying to be propagandized and it’s all perfectly legal.

Flashback: Ont. deficit could linger for years: McGuinty | HST bill passes, 13% tax starts July 1 | Poll: HST equals Hated Sales Tax | Tories, Liberals, Bloc approve HST for Ontario and B.C. | Anti-HST protest at Ontario legislature spills onto Toronto streets | More HST debate fallout after Ontario Legislature sit-in | Liberals to support HST bill | Tory HST protest halts Ontario question period | Federal HST tax bill to be introduced, plays politics with law | Ontario Tories walk out to protest lack of hearings on HST | Contentious HST bill introduced in Ontario | Food under $4 to be HST-free, Ontario says | McGuinty says HST doubters exist in Liberal ranks | If passed, HST locked in through 2012 | New HST tax is fair, McGuinty says | Thousands rally against coming HST tax in BC | Flaherty offers taxpayer-funded bribe to adopt HST tax, holdout provinces demur | BC, like Ontario, moves to harmonize taxes | Ontario Liberals pressing to hide new ‘harmonized’ tax in prices | Ontario to merge GST, PST in ‘harmonized’ tax hike | EU approves free-trade talks with Canada | Canada expects EU free-trade talks soon: Stockwell Day | Harper, Sarkozy vow to work toward Canada-EU deal | CD Howe Institute backs Canada-EU deal, deep integration | Towards a new world order: Canada-EU trade proposal rivals scope of NAFTA

The Canadian Press
February 8, 2010

Ontario’s controversial move to harmonize sales taxes will be part of a new $1.6-million government ad campaign that’s poised to hit newsstands on Thursday.

The print ads, which highlight an income tax cut that took effect Jan. 1, will invite readers to “take a closer look at Ontario’s new tax package” by visiting a government website.

More than 400,000 people have visited the website, which will help residents figure out how the tax changes will affect them and their businesses, Revenue Minister John Wilkinson said Monday in announcing the campaign.

“This is the largest tax reform in over 40 years,” he said during a Liberal caucus retreat in downtown Ottawa.

“So it’s really important for people to make sure that there’s a source of information that they can go to get the facts.”

There is “misinformation out there” about harmonizing the eight per cent provincial sales tax with the five per cent federal GST next July, Wilkinson added.

Ontario’s opposition parties are bitterly opposed to the HST, saying it will hurt people who are already struggling during the economic downturn.

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It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this lawsuit. A pharmaceutical company may own the physical remedy it produces for an ailment. To say they ‘own’ a gene they’ve discovered is philosophically and morally (ob)noxious.

Flashback: Judge OKs Challenge to Human-Gene Patents | Sick babies denied treatment in DNA row

Brandon Keim, Wired.com
February 4, 2010

Federal court hearings continued Tuesday on a lawsuit that could transform biotechnology in the United States by eliminating gene patents.

The case hinges around the claims of Utah-based Myriad Genetics on BRCA1 and BRCA2, a pair of genes closely linked to breast and ovarian cancer. Myriad “owns” the genes, and says its patents make it possible to profit on diagnostic tests. The company argues that if you remove the patents, the tests — indeed, commercial biotechnology as we know it — will vanish.

A coalition of civil rights, research and women’s health groups is fighting the patents. They argue that Myriad’s claims stifle innovation by discouraging researchers from looking at the genes, which are still not fully understood, and say Myriad’s monopoly limits women’s health choices. More broadly, the claims set a precedent for other gene patents, which now cover about one-fifth of the human genome.

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“A graphic from McAfee suggests that [carbon] permits were raided via a network of corrupt brokers and intermediaries via a scheme akin to VAT carousel fraud.”

Flashback: The next big scam: Fraud endemic to carbon market

John Leyden, TheRegister.co.uk
February 4, 2010

Complex fraud lies behind emissions permissions attack

Phishing fraudsters have extended their net beyond harvesting e-banking credentials via a scam that resulted in the theft of 250,000 carbon permits worth over €3m.

The outbreak of fraud resulted in the suspension of trading in several EU registries on 2 February. The crooks are thought to have created fake emission registries, promoted via spam emails, before using identity details submitted on these sites to trade rights to blow-off greenhouse gases on the legitimate sites.

Six unnamed German firms were among the victims of the scam, a new form of corporate identity theft. Illegal transactions have also happened in the Czech Republic. German police have begun investigating the fraud. The EU Commission may also become involved, the BBC reports.

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