While Social Security in the United States is projected to be in deficit by 2010, Canada’s is projected to be solvent until 2075. The difference? Canada fixed its system in 1997 with a combination of higher premiums and lower benefits.
In November 2009, I first heard about the Ontario “Provincial Benefit.”
The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) states: “The Provincial Benefit ensures reliability by providing adequate generating capacity for Ontario. It accounts for differences between the spot market price and the rates paid to regulated and contracted generators. As a result, its value may be positive or negative, depending on the fluctuation of prices in the spot market.“
In other words, if Ontario pays more to your electricity supplier than the market price, you pay the difference, otherwise, you receive a credit.
Here are the average annual provincial benefits I calculated from 2005-2010 to date, in cents per kilowatt-hour, from the IESO’s monthly numbers:
2005 -0.6175
2006 0.229167
2007 0.438333
2008 0.530833
2009 2.9075
2010 2.97
It’s no accident that I didn’t hear about it until 2009. That’s the year the “benefit” exploded in cost to around half of the price of the first 1000 kWh of electricity. It’s been Orwellian since its inception, with the potential to be a charge, not a benefit, and has since been a charge every year since 2006.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, electricity, hydro, IESO, kWh, Ontario, Orwellian, Provincial Benefit | Leave a Comment »
Someone on the forums at somethingawful.com included this site as one of their best news sources, and categorized it as liberal/progressive, along with the top 1% rated crooksandliars.com.
Perhaps it’s because he read these articles:
“CIGI’09: Towards a Global New Deal (Without the Average Person),” or
“The Voice of the Working Man,” or
“Voters in 14 out of 15 states with a higher than average number of households making $200K+ voted for the presidential candidate who promised to raise their taxes!”
But I wonder if the author knew that 4 of my articles have been posted on Alex Jones’ Infowars.com and Prisonplanet.com, or if he/she read any of these articles:
“The first step in health care reform: recognizing that health care is not a right,” or
“President Bill Clinton in 1996: “The era of big government is [NOT!] over — 13 years later,” or
“Why the Federal Reserve central bank of the United States is illegal”
Still sound liberal/progressive to you? FauxCapitalist.com: beyond definition!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alex Jones, fauxcapitalist.com, Infowars.com, PrisonPlanet.com, crooksandliars.com, somethingawful.com, forums, liberal, progressive | 1 Comment »
I saw this article by David Olive of the Toronto Star today that highlights Warren Buffett’s inconsistencies between his investment approach in principle, and in practice.
Some highlights are:
- He said not to buy banks, because of their ability to doctor their numbers so much, as we saw with the financial meltdown of 2007-2009 and beyond, yet is a major investor in several banks.
- He said not to make acquisitions with undervalued company stock, yet did exactly that with his company’s largest ever acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, for $26.4 billion.
- He called financial derivatives “weapons of financial mass destruction,” yet invested in them heavily and subjected shareholders to $4.6 billion in associated losses in 2008.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banks, Berkshire Hathaway, BNSF, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, financial derivatives, financial meltdown, inconsistencies, undervalued stock, Warren Buffett, weapons of financial mass destruction | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a my comment on an article about Apple CEO Steve Jobs saying that Google’s “don’t be evil” slogan was rubbish:
Most slogans aren’t serious. Like Ford’s “Quality is Job One,” despite making the faulty Pinto, and deciding it was cheapter to settle lawsuits than recall it. Or Microsoft’s, “Where Do You Want to Go Today?”, which is a rhetorical question, since they give you whatever they want to, since they have a monopoly.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged corporate slogans, Ford, Ford Pinto, Google, Google's motto don't be evil, Microsoft, monopoly, phony, quality is job one, Steve Jobs | Leave a Comment »
On Wednesday, January 20, 2010, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was on the Charlie Rose show, and gave some candid assessments, most notably, about the current state of the U.S. First, some background:
CHARLIE ROSE: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is here. He`s chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company, the Saudi investment firm with billions invested across the globe. “Forbes” ranks him as one of the world`s 25 wealthiest people. “Time” magazine once dubbed him the “Arabian Warren Buffett.”
His firm has major stakes in banks, real estate, hotels, and media companies. His largest investment is in Citigroup, the embattled bank where he is the largest shareholder.
Then, he made the following candid statements about the U.S.:
CHARLIE ROSE: And what do you think of America and our future?
ALWALEED BIN TALAL: I like to summarize, but if you want I can elaborate. America is down, not out.
CHARLIE ROSE: But that`s not good.
ALWALEED BIN TALAL: I know, but you`re down now.
CHARLIE ROSE: Down in what way?
ALWALEED BIN TALAL: There was a book written about the Islamic world ”What Went Wrong.” I think right now you could write a book about the United States what went wrong politically, economically, financially, you know, the crisis that you`re in right now. You`re a mess. You are in a mess in the United States. I have to be honest with you, because I love the United States. I admire the United States.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged banks, United States, Charlie Rose, America, Financial crisis, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi prince, billionaire, What Went Wrong, Islamic world, politically, economically, financially, crisis, hotels, media companies, real estate, Time magazine, Forbes magazine, Kingdom Holding Company, January 20 2010, 2010, economic crisis | Leave a Comment »
In 1996, the Progressive Conservative government of Ontario scrapped rent controls for new tenants.
According to the Bank of Canada’s Inflation Calculator, core inflation from 2007 to 2009 was 2.95%.
As an example, one apartment I know of went from $850 a month in rent to $935, after only two years — an increase of 10%. The controlled rent increase over that same period was 3.2%.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2007, 2009, apartment, Bank of Canada, Bank of Canada's Inflation Calculator, core inflation, inflation, rent, rent control, rent increases | Leave a Comment »
FauxCapitalist.com reviewed by “The Commentator”
January 25, 2010 by fauxcapitalist
I came across the following recent review of this site, on “The Commentator’s” blog at friendlymisanthropist.blogspot.com. Here’s an excerpt:
Faux Me! Blog of the Day
Who: Mysterious and minimalist. What: Plain good content.
Perfect.
I want to be his friend. Or hers. Or it.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blog of the day, fauxcapitalist.com, friendlymisanthropist.blogspot.com, review, The Commentator | 1 Comment »