gdp's Comments

NewsReal Blog : Top Six Violent Acts Committed by Unions

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 13:50:34 +0000

Unfortunately, during the 1980s most of labor unions forgot who they represented. They abandoned their traditional oppositionalism to management due to the fact that their fates and the fates of the people from the management were interlinked: if the plant closed, union members would lose their jobs. With schemes like “quality circles” and the “team concept,” in which workers labored side-by-side with bosses, unions increased efficiency at the expense of the people they were supposed to represent. Unions took seats on the boards of companies they were supposed to be pressuring for higher wages and benefits . The results of this mingle with corporate executives were highly predictable: givebacks and concessions to companies so they can pay their executives more and more. In 2009, for example, the United Auto Workers agreed to freeze their salaries to help save the big three Detroit automakers. They also slashed employee benefits, including healthcare. Did the Big Three use those savings to invest in new plants? Not really. They continued to outsource jobs overseas. Meanwhile, as UAW members got laid off and struggled through pay freezes, Ford gave president and CEO Alan Mulally a raise in his annual salary, to $17.9 million. GM forked over $9 million to CEO Daniel Akerson. Despite having no apparent God-like superpowers—at this pay scale the dude ought to be able to shoot flames out of his mouth—Chysler-Fiat felt it appropriate to pay $7.7 million to its CEO, Sergio Marchionne.

Global Dashboard : Peak Emissions Now - the US position

Thu, 2 Jun 2011 14:07:34 +0000

Hard to believe, indeed, that US and Europe views the issue of the stopping the increase in greenhouse gas emissions as a priority. But the figures are certainly encouragin: US carbon dioxide has certainly decreased in the last 3 years, now I don´t have the figures, but I see that in 2009 it´s 9%. Money from taxes could be used for people to invest in these kinds of researches about gas emissions and for building more fuel-efficient cars or hybrid cars: http://www.financialcrisisforum.org/forum/Taxes/W... . In some UE countries, the road tax system is designed to comply with EU emissions legislation. One is taxed on the cars emissions and the fuel he uses. There are, of course, also voices who disagree with these tax, saying that the governments stopped using the money raised on road maintenance a very long time ago and thats why many roads are crumbling to bits. But maybe the future of our children worths that price.

Breitbart.tv : Rev. Wallis Reveals How Redistribution of Wealth Was Written Into DNC Platform & Obama's Budget

Wed, 18 May 2011 12:10:14 +0000

Can't real honest Americans see that their money is being re-distributed all the time anyway???? http://www.financialcrisisblog.org/forum/Investin... Would you rather have it spent on making your town/city better, or would you prefer that your money be given to already-rich people such as the CEOs of banks, oil companies and mercenary armies? I'd prefer the former

Global Dashboard : Scarcity, security and institutional reform

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:35:49 +0000

It's true, governments, organizations, companies and people must become more conscious that they have to cooperate, setting their rights and responsibilities and having in mind the resources' scarcity.

Global Dashboard : Is the UN still relevant?

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 09:20:25 +0000

UN is over 60 years old and it no longer works as effectively as once did. Some countries have become more important (India), some have become less significant (France). The organization, once can state, doesn'tt reflect the needs of today’s world. There are too many organizations within the UN, each with different budgets, different status, governance, and mandates. There is competition among agencies, old business practices, and unclear missions. The UN cannot successfully deliver results with these issues.

Breitbart.tv : UPDATED VIDEO: More Left-wing Violence at Peaceful Tea Party Protests

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:35:10 +0000

Well, they are at work....You aren't....

Global Dashboard : Time to Stop Betting the House: a response to the FSA

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:07:07 +0000

Unfortunately enough, the young people were indeed the ones who lost the most in the housing market and, indeed, there was an unfortunate redistribution of wealth.

Global Dashboard : The Long Crisis Seminar

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:53:34 +0000

I think that indeed, governments must act together, exploring potential frameworks that manage risk.

Macleans.ca : We can’t do much about the Bloc

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:26:34 +0000

The main problem is Quebecers, who like the Greeks, are now heavily in debt, willing to go away from the "Quebec model" of huge bureaucracy and unions eating the lion's share of budgets.

MoneySense : Four deals in a pricey market

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 22:46:10 +0000

Calculating P/E ratios is straightforward. If a company's stock sells for $10 with $5 earnings per common share, the P/E ratio is 2. There's a hitch, though: Not everyone uses the same definition of earnings. "It's profits, but it's not so easy to define profits," says Robert J. Shiller, an economics professor at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and the author of Irrational Exuberance (Princeton University Press, 2000). "Accountants have been debating that for 100 years."

Atlas Sound Money Project : We Are Not All Keynesians Now

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 10:12:58 +0000

The capitalist economy doesn't contain a self-correcting or homeostatic mechanism that makes it return to a healthy equilibrium over the course of the business cycle. Rather, as the Great Depression seemed to demonstrate, a deficiency in effective demand could result in equilibrium at an intolerably high level of unemployment. Government policy to bolster aggregate demand, especially fiscal action (spending and taxing) to increase either consumption or the particularly volatile element of investment, can be used to drive an underperforming economy to full employment. Because of the so-called "multiplier effect" such action can have an ultimate economic impact several times larger than the magnitude of the government's initial corrective intervention. Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/keynesian#ixzz1GTOI3...

Big Journalism : Is Patriotism Dangerous? Publicly Funded NPR Wants You To Think So

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 22:47:47 +0000

I would say nationalism that can be similar to racism is dangerous. Nationalism is blind patriotism that rejects people who don't belong or are not of your country.

Macleans.ca : I’m with the ‘intolerant’ Quebecers

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 12:05:02 +0000

Niqab is not Islamic. Covering of the face by women is nowhere mentioned in Qur'an, and the opinions of Islamic legal scholars on it are not unanimous. The Hanafi school of Islamic law, which is most widespread among Muslims, specifically rules out face covering, on the basis of women's needs while dealing normally with men, in commerce and elsewhere. In traditional Islam, men are called on to act modestly, and women are not ordered to disfigure and subordinate themselves by masking their features. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said that women making the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca should not cover their faces or wear gloves, although in their typically perverse manner, Saudi Wahhabi clerics now seek to impose it upon them even then. Millions of Muslim women around the world do not wear so-called Islamic dress, but have retained local customary garments, which do not distort their form or personality. Many have adopted the same fashions as Western or Far-Eastern women. Women in Hejaz, the Western Arabian region in which the holy cities of Mecca and Medina are located, did not, in the past, cover their faces, and increasingly protest against the imposition of this practice. The radicals who promote niqab try to pretend that a woman becomes a "better Muslim" by covering her face. This concept is no more Islamic than niqab itself. In traditional Islam, division of Muslims between the good and the bad, aside from those who have committed terrorist or criminal acts, will be decided by God, not by men or women. According to established Islamic guidance, Muslims who migrate to non-Muslim societies are required to accept and obey the laws and customs of the countries to which they move. Attempts to introduce niqab into Western countries represent an obvious violation of this principle.

Macleans.ca : Not available in Canada

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:51:22 +0000

An oral drug for multiple sclerosis has been approved for some MS patients in Canada. Previously, drug treatment options for MS patients in this country were limited to medications taken regularly by injection or infusion. Gilenya, also called fingolimod, is a capsule taken once a day for people with the relapsing-remitting form of MS. These patients have relapses that continue to worsen in severity, disability level, or who are unable to tolerate injections.

MoneySense : Canada's Best Places to Live podcast

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:33:27 +0000

Victoria is growing more and more expensive for the average Canadian. Ottawa is still standing strong in job opportunities job opportunities, low crime rate and steady population growth, the nation's capital pushed its way back to the top.

20s Money : The Widening Gap Between Rich & Poor

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:15:09 +0000

The word "technology" has a pleasant sound to it, especially for scientists. It seems to promise infinite benefits for mankind. It is true that technology has contributed significantly to the economic development of the world. But we must always remember that it has a dark side. The development of new technology always expands the gap between rich and poor.

Macleans.ca : Dep't of (intentional?) mispronunciation

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:21:48 +0000

I think the guy is charismatic, but he could, indeed, learn to spell people's name right....

Global Dashboard : The future of globalisation? We could tell you, but we'd have to kill you

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:39:26 +0000

The current global financial crisis is perhaps indicative of the fact that globalization of finance took place prematurely and excessively, relative to the globalization of regulation of financial sector: http://www.financialcrisisnet.org/forum/Business-...

MoneySense : Does Rebalancing Boost Returns?

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:09:58 +0000

I agree, portfolio rebalancing is an important part of sticking to your game plan. You should look at your portfolio at least quarterly in terms of rebalancing and more frequently if you have had a significant gain or loss in any asset class.

Global Dashboard : Multilateralism for an Age of Scarcity

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:47:40 +0000

Commentators and analysts have periodically predicted a Malthusian nightmarewrongly. Remember the Club of Rome and its terrible forecast about the limits to growth published during the 1970s oil and food crisis? How about the 1980 bet between population pessimist Paul Ehrlich, the brilliant biologist, and the eternal optimist we mentioned earlier, Julian Simon. Ehrlich picked five metals on Sept. 29, 1980 that he thought would rise in price, figuring that a Malthusian squeeze would send natural-resource prices soaring.