What's the issue with consumerism

There are a lot of groups in society that rail against consumerism. I have a hard time clearly interpreting the semantics in the discourse, some view consumerism as an attack on the earth, others see as a frivolous pan-societal addiction – an instant gratification fest – and others see both these elements as reasons to speak out against it. I am inclined to agree with both these positions, they are valid concerns. What is invalid, however, is attaching these concerns to a market economy. A market economy does manage to sell some stupid junk, but please remember, it provides a larger portion of essentials. Please examine the most commoditized markets – FOOD – it comes to those is market economies in such abundance that we get too much. You can argue that the world food distribution system is faulty because there is a bottom billion, please also remember, that the bottom billion, for the most part, are outside the Anglo / Euro economic sphere. – our task is to have them join us in prosperity.

The Dollar Store dilemma; trinkets abound and even the poor can buy them in abundance – one piece of plastic after another is an affront to the environment and effects an ill in the development of children, whereby, children exist in a mountain of frivolous simulation absent focused activity. There is a triple whammy here, there is the initial true waste of resources, there is the distraction from learning and there is an inter-generational conditioning factor whereby, children accept the culture of pacification by distraction. So consumerism in this context is a concern, it is a cultural element made possible by the efficiency of the market system. The solution is to change the cultural element, as opposed to the annihilation of the market economy. This phenomenon is in no way a call to Trotskyism, it is rather a call to enlighten the affected to the ills of their ways and to show them the path to a fulfilled and whole existence.

The challenge that emerges out of the fight against consumerism is, that people are ofttimes raising the alarm to the ill, to channel attention to a political objective, rather than, to seek a solution within the context of contemporary society. They tend to point to consumerism as an inevitable extension of the market economy and offer it as a part of a complex of factors that doom humanity to ruin under the rubric of capitalism. I am here to say that consumerism is damaging and requires a concerted effort by civil society and government to educate and redirect, AND the market economy has delivered more prosperity to the populace than any other system in human history – so it should be maintained and enhanced rune under the rubric of capitalism.

More Thinking on the Subject

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Environmentalism Reconsidered Lessons From Canadian Cod
Environmentalism Reconsidered - Connecting Carbon to the Economy
Canadian Oil V World Oil
Environmentalism Redefined - Road to Prosperity
Environment Reconsidered - A Positive Strategy

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The Problem with Carbon Tax
Oil Sands Moratorium - wrong wrong wrong

 

Who aspires to ordinary?

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I’ve wanted to be a lot of things in my life, but ordinary, never – I take comfort in never having had anyone accuse me of being ordinary. The challenge with people who espouse about “ordinary” is that I think they see themselves as ordinary absent any clear definition of ordinary, except perhaps the juxtaposing to extra-ordinary. There are some who voice support for ordinary people; they want to build policy for “ordinary” people so government serves the ordinary, ordinarily. The challenge I have is that in all my time on earth I have never met an ordinary person, in the very middle of the societal bell curve, I have never encountered “ordinary” people – there I have found the extra-ordinary amongst the “ordinary”.

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I spent most of my life at the altar of exceptionalism, reading Winston Churchill speeches and the like, it was my first and only wife, that taught me about the extra-ordinary amongst the ordinary. When I was reading about Mr. Churchill, she would be talking about a neighbor. She had the capacity to admire the people who filled her everyday life, to see and appreciate a quality that a person possessed – save perhaps the person who left their socks on the floor one too many times. This is a lesson I got from one that considered herself from the ranks of the ordinary, it was a good one.

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The point here is that the only time there can be ordinary people is when you’re looking at a “herd” of people, the moment you take person out of the “herd” they become exceptional. Therein lays the evil in collectivism. Whenever you aggregate human existence, an ill-defined blob is born where an individual use to be, where there was once a thousand flowers to bloom, there is now no flower to be noticed. The tall poppy syndrome comes to play, it is necessary only because collectivism wants people to be the same, treated the same, having the same – no exceptional individuals. My wife’s lesson was that all people are exceptional; my observation is they get lost in a crowd. 

MORE ON CANADA'S CULTURE

Canada - Culture Matters NOW more than ever

Cultural Identity Series
CLICK ON WHAT INTERESTS YOU 

Where Canada's cultural fiber comes from

Defense of my Anglo - Scottish Heritage

Canada - the warrior spirit has a place here 

Central Canadian Academia Nambi Pambism 

There are limits to Anti-Americanism as a tool for Cultural Development 

Closing thoughts on Canadian Culture 
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Culture Starts at the Start
There are no ordinary people

So the Liberals are back - Please keep us on track

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Liberal governments can be good, they can do something other than tax and spend – the thing that is scaring me a little right now, this one has promised to spend, so taxing is sure to follow. Mr. Martin, with the reform party as cheer leaders fixed the Canadian fiscal picture. Mr. Martin spoke to us “hicks” in the west and forged relations with us. Mr. Martin did the Kelowna accord. Mr. Martin debt financed Canadian Steamship Company to the tune of $30 million and built a company of renown. Justin is a different cut of cloth than Paul Martin, I wonder if he will have the courage to draw on Mr. Martin’s experience.

The other concern I have is whether or not we are going to be exposed to another round of the central Canadian academics, some true liberals and some silk stocking socialist, attempting to engineer Canadian Society again. The last time they had their way we got, MASSIVE DEBT, pork barrel and more pork barrel, frivolous grant programs – all adding up to a fiscal train wreck and the advancement of a wishy washy ill-defined cultural soup that generated a single worthwhile cultural artifact – canoeing is good.

Cultural Identity Series 

Where Canada's cultural fiber comes from

Defense of my Anglo - Scottish Heritage
Canada - the warrior spirit has a place here

Central Canadian Academia Nambi Pambism

There are limits to Anti-Americanism as a tool for Cultural Development

Closing thoughts on Canadian Culture

The last thing that Canada needs and most importantly, the last thing Canadian children need, is a National Institution that takes them from the care of their fathers and mothers – Factory Daycare scares me, the last bastion of cultural diversity, the family is under attack by this proposal. We want to encourage family, we want parents’ love to guide childrearing as opposed to the stark white interior of a government daycare – the latest vehicle for building national group think – “give me a child for four years and I’ll give you a Bolshevik forever” says Mr. Lennon. The last thing I want is 1970 style “central Canada cultural imperatives” lodged in the minds of my grandchildren. The family needs support; parents should be lobbying for support, for more time with children, as opposed to less. Quebec spends about $9000 / year on a daycare seat, give that to the family – two children, $18,000 / year will let a father that is marginally employed choose to stay home – or give an extended family member the ability to care for children or facilitate a group of parents to work together to do childcare in a way that is agreeable to them – give the money to parents, say no to Factory Daycare.

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Childcare Series 

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/07/childcare-funds-yes-institutions-no.htmle.

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/09/say-no-to-factory-daycare.html

Will we see the end of the fear mongering that brought C 51 into being absent sufficient civilian oversight, I truly hope so. Mr. Trudeau promises to let facts talk, to be rational about risk and response – to let reason rule. I will support him eagerly in this endeavor, most eagerly if he reopens the gun registry debate again.

Let Reason Rule - Say NO to Fear Politics 

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/02/canadian-security-intelligence-service.html

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/08/gun-control-no-thanks.html

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2014/10/ottawa-shootings-rational-response.html

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2014/10/be-mindful-of-fear-canada-it-will.html

Perrier Trudeau, when faced with tyrants in the form of the FLQ jabbed at “weak kneed liberals” when they objected to the War Measures Act.. Mr. Trudeau Senior stood up to violence, he said NO, sent in the army and took control – that was leadership.  Already Justin is watering down our NATO commitments, failing to stay the course in Syria. Canada was a proud member of the United Nations and was instrumental in forwarding as an imperative the obligation to protect people subjected to oppressive government or circumstance – so now we’re going to leave children in harm’s way and direct resources toward housing the ones fortunate enough to get away – with many perishing in the attempt to escape – we must do better.

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There is one entity ensuring world stability at the moment, NATO, absent NATO as a hegemon, the world is in a pre WW1 circumstance, unstable and volatile. To take actions that make NATO look like a paper tiger, only serves to embolden the likes of Isis. Discontinuing Canadian military participation in the action in Syria, is irresponsible in the extreme and should be reconsidered.

Weak Kneed Foreign Policy 

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/07/demographics-evolving-perspective.html

So we are going to run up some debt, for what is the question. Money is cheap right now, so investing in assets with long term value makes sense. We do need infrastructure, so investing in infrastructure that facilitates economy is good – no to frivolous cultural extravaganzas please – build transportation, build out fiber optic, restructure, fix Canada’s crumbling urban centers and build out education. For those of us that lived through the 1970s and saw people getting $25,000 grants for the word “shit” black on white, well we’re once stung, now we are twice shy – please god deliver us from a repeat of that CRAP.

Fiscal Policy 

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/04/the-senate-solution-or-solution-for.html

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/04/blog-post.html

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/09/taxes-kiss-this-keep-it-simple-stupid.html

Perrier Trudeau never bought a quart of milk in his life, he was detached from economic reality and Canada paid the price. It took that detachment however, to give us the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – a most worthy document, with some 300 years of blood spilled in the enlightenment as equity. Save the absence of property rights, it is pure poetry. I can take some more of that, a document that makes Liberalism equal Freedom, the challenge is that somehow, the 1970 “liberal” government forfeited “Freedom” for a nannystateism. The legacy of 1970 “liberal” government’s “culture” and policy are still at play, it resulted in a decrease in choice and a namby pambism that gags me. I wonder if political pragmatism will prevent this type of boldness from Mr. Trudeau Jr. and push him so far over to youthful enthusiasm that our economy ends up in a heap, with so many hopes and dreams with it.  

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We need to access the full value of our resources, prudent use of the oilsands should be part and parcel of our way forward – we need pipelines to market. Will Mr. Trudeau have the fortitude to forge ahead or will our prosperity machine wither on the vine; the prosperity machine that will finance the transition to an eco-friendly economy. 

Oilsands & Pipe Lines

http://nthomson2.blogspot.ca/2015/06/oil-sands-moratorium-wrong-wrong-wrong.html

Granted, Mr. Harper managed to alienate the Maritime Provinces, this fact came through loud and clear this election. It rocked us all out west when Mr. Trudeau Jr. whispered National Energy Plan, the insensitivity Mr. Trudeau Sn. to the west and our way of living spurred the whole Western Concept movement, which morphed in to the Western Separatist movement. Then we’ve had Quebec threatening to go for decades now. The derision toward the west, exacerbated by pandering to Quebec and the rest of central Canada put our federation in peril – Mr. Martin built bridges as Prime Minister, so liberals can do it, the party has the bench strength for it, will this one put much effort into it. I’ve seen Mr. Trudeau Jr. cozy with “vote rich Ontario”, in spite of the fact Ms. Wynne has been running up debt funding operations, rather than investing – lets hope that Mr. Trudeau Jr. takes his fiscal lead from elsewhere. Mr. Trudeau’s recent invitation to the provinces for a powwow is encouraging; I hope he has the good sense to give Mr. Wall his ear.   

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I think there is hope for Mr. Trudeau Jr.’s liberals; there are some good people there. Maybe I’m too much a westerner, but when I hear the echoes 1970s central Canada’s academia’s arrogance bouncing of the walls of the recently dusted off press gallery, I am screaming blue murder – they can store that in a dark and in accessible place from my perspective – let culture emerge from the strong Canadian people, from the land and the actions we take on it to live each day – leave the social engineers at home Mr. Trudeau, we’ve all seen their handy work before.   

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ON CANADA'S CULTURE

Taxes - KISS THIS - Keep it simple stupid

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In watching and participating in the discourse around taxation in the election, I became guilty of a very dangerous frame of mind – like the blind man feeling the elephant’s parts and failing to assess the whole – I find myself making comments on the minutia, rather than looking at the whole. At its base, the Canadian tax system, beyond just collecting revenue for the government, is a societal manipulation program. That is to say, the government takes our money and then gives a very small portion of it back if we do what the government wants. We as a people should be permitted to be autonomous agents and when government through coercive means or pecuniary means alters choice, it is an encroachment on personal choice. At what point is government exercising excessive control over us?

On average Canadians pay 42% of their earning in TAXES to the government, that’s average, higher income earners, not the 1%, but people who work hard every day for their families pay more. 42%, plus permits, airport fees, environmental levies & then there is the ambient circumstance of massive government complexity in remitting and reporting income. I remember setting about the task of understanding the Canadian Tax Act, the act is 1200 pages long, I could hardly lift the book. In that book are; tax loopholes, corporate welfare, redistributionist policy. The tax system is a means by which the government attacks our choice as to who and what we want to support under threat of expropriation or incarceration.

I shudder to think what the administrative cost of compliance to the Canadian Income Tax  Act is by itself, then add administrative costs of remitting GST or the multitude of other taxes we pay – what people forget – taxes, in of themselves are a massive cost, but the collection and remittances in the context of such complex regulation eats up millions of person hours – in economics this is often referred as a “transaction cost”. Transaction Costs are like bank fees, they steal capital, they steal food from the mouths of babes, they steal the money for the symphony ticket – they are costs that neither purchase a good nor produce a good. They are necessary, but we must seek to limit them. Take a moment to consider in your life, the time it takes to do your taxes or the cost to have them done - and further your interface with government generally. 

We have the Canadian Revenue Agency, it employs in excess of 40,000 people, an army of people to collect taxes. At $60,000 total cost per person that is $2,400,000,000 of “transaction cost”, I punched that in my calculator – is that right – how much is that – it is a lot of help for families to be sure. These are all good people, smart people, capable people, honest people doing honest work - the real cost is wasted is human capital, this bank of highly capable people could be redirected to productive work – calculate the lost opportunity of their productive work, it is staggering. Worse, however, there is another larger army of people, also highly intelligent, highly motivated and capable, also wasting human and financial resources trying to avoid paying taxes – hours spent finding loopholes and more hours spent fighting it out in court. Think about it and you will begin to see the lunacy in it.

NOTE: I've had comments wondering what these people would do if a policy that government pursues renders their present position redundant, the government would be obligated see to their redeployment is some way. This is in no way a suggestion to abandon people, it is a suggestion to deploy funds better in the interests of people. 

http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/psm-fpfm/modernizing-modernisation/stats/ssa-pop-eng.asp

There is good news, however, this is all completely unnecessary. There is another way, a way that promotes compliance and reduces the transaction cost that is the Canadian tax system. No matter what the entity, no matter the place, when that entity generates an income to pays an amount. No tax loopholes, no tax incentives, no complexity. Entity X makes a $1, entity X pays an amount – just that simple. As soon as you do that, you save most of the $2,400,000,000 in wages and other governmental overhead. There are examples of jurisdictions with similar tax systems as Canada opting to collect a flat 10% tax on income, and their revenues increased – why, because of compliance increases. When income tax is low enough no one wants to take the risks associated with tax avoidance.

Simplifying the tax system makes our lives easier and better, this is true of all government systems. There is undue complexity in government, ASK YOURSELF WHY.  

More Thinking on the Subject

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Resource Dependence & Big Government

Funding Accountability Mechanisms

Government Scale and The Regulation of Government Size

Stephen Harper – Progressive - NOT

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What has raised the ire of the progressives in the way that Steven Harper has governed the country? What key concerns related to the progressive movement has he attacked – I mean really. There is a mountain of partisan rhetoric about the “the death of science”, or “the killing of the press” or “the gutting of the environmental review process”, but look around, is there science, is there press, is there environmental review – the answer in all three cases is of course YES and in spades.

Here is an important fact, the present Supreme Court is the most progressive in Canadian history, they read the charter and they are applying it; the majority of whom are appointed by Stephen Harper. So far it seems the only death that is apparent during Steven Harper’s tenure is “death” with dignity – an event I’m most grateful for. Did Mr. Harper do this, NO, but the product of some of his efforts in the Justice Selection process contributed; whether he agrees with it or not has no relevance.

When I peruse the progressive agenda and Mr. Harper’s record, the progressive agenda is intact, unscathed, forwarded in fact. The reason is in no way anchored in Mr. Harper’s affection for the progressive agenda, it is anchored in his ability to be practical and respond to political reality.  The political reality is the progressive agenda’s proverbial horse is out of the barn and there is no closing the door in Canada ever – we are a progressive nation FULL STOP. So now I posit to you, with the progressive agenda ensconced what is there to worry about.

There is plenty to worry about, the key element for Canada is an element the government has only a small influence over, the economy. Mr. Harper’s tenure as PM came at the end of the largest economic expansion in human history and, as expansions do, it ended in a contraction – a contraction of massive scale, unprecedented ever; even by the great depression. The causes of the 2007-08 collapse are many and complex, it suffice to say however, there was only one thing left to do for the Harper Government, react. React they did in a very effective way, granted they had the support of a strong petro sector - yet,  under the late Mr. Flaherty's lead this government responded appropriately to maximal effect. Canada weathered the worst downturn in a long time, better than most of it’s cohort.

Has the Harper’s government been a little over zealous in some areas of intelligence, to a degree I would grant you – Yes. Has Mr. Harper’s early experience as PM with the press and managing a few train wrecks molded the inclination to control strongly his government’s interface with the press – Yes. Has Mr. Harper responded to bureaucrats who got political with their mandate with some heavy handed action, YES – would I have done the same thing – probably, would have Mr. Chretien, certainly.

The point is, the key things that Canadians hold dear are, for the most part, unchallenged and or enhanced by Mr. Harper. The real determining factor for the near and middle term is the management of the economy, Mr. Harper is an economist. He has shown himself to be both tactical and strategic in his efforts on the foreign front; trade agreements have expanded greatly under his tenure. Government accountability still has a ways to go, but Mr. Harper has brought some advances. It is important to note, what he has done in his own interests, he can do for Canada’s interests.