• His decision regarding the budget is being made behind close doors. He is strategizing with other Liberals, and himself does not have a strong position or opinion on whether or not the budget is good for Canadians.
• He is not including Canadians in his decision process, just Liberal party VIPs.
• He never replies to my Twitter messages.

Anyway, we’ll wait and see what he thinks of the budget in the next few minutes and find out where the country will be going. I don’t see how an election can be justified in these economic times, but on the other hand, I can’t see that being the coalition’s fault. It’s all in the hands of the Governor General.

The Consequences of the Budget
It seems like the NDP and the Bloc want to leave the decision of future of the government in the hands of the Liberals. For the NDP it’s a question of trust, they don’t trust the Tories. The Bloc, well, I’m not quite sure what is their position.

It’s All in the Hands of Michael Ignatieff
To be honest I’m not really sure if this guy is still capable of talking, I haven’t heard an interview with him in over six months, but maybe that’s just because I’m watching less TV. If anything, this budget will be his first test, and we’ll learn about what kind of prime minister he could become.

Still no stimulus to provide one Nintendo Wii for every Canadian family.

Who is going to pay the bill?

What is not clear in the announcement is who will be paying the bill.  Will it be taxpayers, the cell phone companies, or the subscriber through increased 911 fees?  Subscribers for years have been paying for 911 fees which usually go towards helping the company’s bottom line, rather than going towards anything that supports a 911 system.

Give every Canadian family a Nintendo Wii.

If you don’t think our plan will work, please watch this video.

Americans Will Save 5% of Their Income

Europeans on average save 9% of their income.  In the 80s americans saved 9% of their income, but that has steadily declined to 0.5% in 2005.  Whenever something bad happens in the world, we always hear our politicians (well, american politicians at least) say, “spend, spend, spend!”  It seems like we’re being sent mix messages when it comes to saving.  The wise voice of an old Grandpa tells us to save, it’s the only way to move up in the world.  And then there’s this other voice saying, “spend, do your duty to save our economy,” which seems to make only a certain few richer.

Saving Means Less Consumption, Less Consumption Means Better Environment

There’s no doubt that consumption is causing us to consume more of our planets resources than it can handle.  As well, consumption is the end product of all the chemicals that gets released into the atmosphere.  Less consumption, less bad stuff going into the air.

Does it bother you that an identity of a “consumer” has been forced upon you?  I find this label almost kind of de-humanizing, where I become a person who just uses stuff.

The Media Says We Should Be Scared

The media says we should be scared, but it’s this fear that I’m starting to question.  I think that through a recessions, we will still have food on our table, you will have a place to sleep, and the Internet probably won’t crash.

It seems that Santa was very busy on Christmas Eve.  But what’s more impressive is not Santa’s speed, but the reach of NORAD’s Radar System.

Am I not the only person to realize that NORAD has global radar coverage of every country on the planet?

All the talk about senate reform, and changing things is probably a good idea.  But to me, it seems like a lot of nice talk.  I believe this because senators have done little in the past to engage canadians.  I will only believe that these new senators, in particular Mike Duffy, Pamala Wallin, Nancy Raine are taking senate reform seriously if they actually try to communicate with Canadians.  If on the other hand, they end of being just like their counterparts and hide in their offices and site on the red seats, then I don’t really believe they’re taking any of this seriously.

 

When it comes to locating calls, Canada is dangerously behind the times. Despite the proliferation of GPS-equipped cellphones, the ability to locate callers using GPS does not exist here.

To make matters worse, much of the technology needed to solve the problem is manufactured here, then exported to the United States where it is purchased by the major wireless carriers. Gatineau-based SolaCom Inc., a company that designs such equipment, has contracts in eight U.S. states.

 

What’s really bad is how the wireless providers do not want to pay for the upgrades to make GPS based 911 calls work.  The wireless providers claim there is no profit in paying for such a system, even though they charge us system access fees, and even a 911 access fee.  The article makes this observation:

An internal Industry Canada document indicates the government was advised that the money is “retained as additional revenue” by the wireless companies.

Can the government please force the wireless providers to pay to have this system implemented with the 911 access fees they already collected?  Or can the government at least collect these fees from the wireless providers who are doing nothing with them?

The United States government forced wireless providers to implement a GPS based 911 system, and now they have such a system that has saved lives.

When asked to explain what  a negative interest rate means to the economy, Julio Fantigo from the Federal Reserve offered this explanation:

With the current economy in such a bad state, we at the Federal Reserve felt that we should do more to help the economy.  It is our responsibility to do everything in our power to get Americans to spend more, more, and even more.  So essentially we will be paying people to borrow money.

The solution to all short sighted problems, is more short sightedness.

It makes you think long and hard about how the media analyzes information.