A collection of governance observations and policy solutions.
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Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Transportation & Housing Affordability – Odd bedfellows
There are a number of factors affecting housing affordability in the lower mainland. Certainly, speculation is playing a part, and foreign speculation is a large part as well. There are other factors at play. The geophysical realities of the lower mainland, especially Vancouver proper constrain the supply of land. The unwillingness for government to bring more Crownland into play constrains the supply of land. The ALR has constrained the supply of land. Affordability for housing is affected by either a decrease in demand or an increase in supply. Seeking solutions related to increasing supply can be pursued absent any dramatic intrusion on market functionality, which it must be said, has served us quite well.
The solution lies in managing the development of the region in a manner that disperses the population in a healthy way and gives access to a larger land base. So as I like to do, let us begin with the end in mind. I read a book when I was 17 years old called Small is Beautiful, my take away from that book is, that when it comes to community, small is beautiful. Small communities give people a place to live where everyone knows your name. As Schumacher said, in a community of 300 people, if you take someone’s shirt they’ll see you wearing it. Conversely, it is also true, that if you have something happening in your life, someone will know. The modern urban-scape tends to generate a multitude of ills that slices, dices and isolates members of the population in a number of ways. The built environment matters and everything I’ve learned about the built environment indicates it is healthiest to design human contact into the built environment.
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CLICK HERE FOR - LIBERAL LEADERSHIP 7 POINT PLAN
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The first solution is to take a larger area and make it closer in time and in a manner that makes economic and environmental sense. This would be accomplished by building a rapid transit line from Vancouver to Hope, a rapid transit facility in the nature of Japan’s bullet trains – speeds up to 220 mph – Hope in under an hour. Primary terminals placed along the route will feed and be fed existing infrastructure. Cost for the project would come in at about 6 or 7 Billion. The government would open up the use of low-cost Crownland for the development of a number of communities that fit the overall regional plan or that permit modern and adjunctive development to the existing communities. Cost recovery would come from fairs, a regional tax levied on new development and the sale of Crownland.
This is more than a housing affordability proposal, this is a region-wide development proposal that fixes a number of things, one of which is housing affordability. It would also put us on a track that, over time, would build healthier communities and have people living in a way that permits connectedness and security without having a “bobby on every corner”. It would bring people out of a geophysically constrained area, to a place where land is abundant and provisions a quasi-rural living experience. I would be very happy to leave my car in Hope and ride the bullet train into downtown Vancouver as a visitor from the interior, as would many people who commute every day from outlying areas near Vancouver.
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CLICK HERE FOR - LIBERAL LEADERSHIP 7 POINT PLAN
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We have played long enough at attempting to make a patchwork of transportation solutions work, we have played long enough at finding a solution for the full gambit of housing options in the province’s busiest and most populated region. While we have “cheap” money these sorts of infrastructure programs make sense, it is an investment in British Columbia’s future that will pay dividends in quality of life, air quality and an overall prosperous region.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Fiscal Policy - Three Critical Elements
Fiscal Policy
Proposition
Whereas we are managing the province for today and tomorrow Balanced Budgets are necessary for the long-term health of the government.
Whereas we have resource wealth that represents a massive collective asset, and we are liquating said asset with every tree cut, every mineral extracted it behoves us to convert this asset to assets and avoid spending the proceeds from their sale on operations.
Solution
To satisfy this requirement we must trend toward clear delineation of resource revenue and ensure it is earmarked for capital acquisitions and new asset development – AND - effect a trend toward clear delineation of “operational revenue” and it being earmarked for “operational spending”.
Whereas, prosperity builds prosperity, in BC we should seek to move the provincial growth to the top performing region in the G20 by aggressive use of region-specific stimulative policies that seed entrepreneurialism, provide a regional advantage and build the economy from the ground up.
Whereas in British Columbia, like many western economies, we are ageing and with an ageing population comes economic stagnation and to counter this trend we must initiate a stimulative policy that is executed at minimum cost to the government.
Whereas, the move of many into retirement has people seeking a safe place for their retirement funds and this is causing a massive amount of latent capital to sit in RRSPs generating very little good for capital’s holders and failing to find its way to the people that really need capital, entrepreneurs. Given this reality, it is necessary to engage in a form of quantitative easing that benefits in a significant way the retirees, builds out business opportunity and represents a limited cost to the government.
Region Specific Stimulative Policy
I propose the development of three bonds, BC Forestry Bonds, BC Municipal Bonds and BC Venture Capital Bonds.
The BC Forestry Bonds will be based on returns to the government gained through more aggressive forest management. There is a basket of silviculture practices that effect a 5% to 7% annual return by hastening the forest cycle to viable fibre. The proposal is to augment this return to sufficient degree that the bond offering competes effectively from the perspective of return and security. Cost recoveries come from the volume gained AND spin-off from forest improvement activity.
BC Municipal Bonds will provide a platform whereby, municipalities can at their own initiative, issue bonds to attain capital for infrastructure improvement. The Provincial government’s role here will be to supply the platform and to secure and augment returns to sufficient degree to permit the bonds to be completive in the investment space. Cost recovery is garnered to a degree through an immediate spinoff from increased economic activity and medium and long-term improvements to vital infrastructure.
BC Venture Capital Bonds will be a means by which people can issue bonds to raise capital for business start-ups. The Provincial government’s role here will be to supply the platform and to secure and augment returns to sufficient degree to permit the bonds to be completive in the investment space. Cost recovery in the short term comes from increased economic activity and regional advantage (an in-migration of capital) and in the medium and long term an innovation-based economy with a larger tax base.
Proposition
Whereas we are managing the province for today and tomorrow Balanced Budgets are necessary for the long-term health of the government.
Whereas we have resource wealth that represents a massive collective asset, and we are liquating said asset with every tree cut, every mineral extracted it behoves us to convert this asset to assets and avoid spending the proceeds from their sale on operations.
Solution
To satisfy this requirement we must trend toward clear delineation of resource revenue and ensure it is earmarked for capital acquisitions and new asset development – AND - effect a trend toward clear delineation of “operational revenue” and it being earmarked for “operational spending”.
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CLICK HERE FOR - LIBERAL LEADERSHIP 7 POINT PLAN
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Whereas, prosperity builds prosperity, in BC we should seek to move the provincial growth to the top performing region in the G20 by aggressive use of region-specific stimulative policies that seed entrepreneurialism, provide a regional advantage and build the economy from the ground up.
Whereas in British Columbia, like many western economies, we are ageing and with an ageing population comes economic stagnation and to counter this trend we must initiate a stimulative policy that is executed at minimum cost to the government.
Whereas, the move of many into retirement has people seeking a safe place for their retirement funds and this is causing a massive amount of latent capital to sit in RRSPs generating very little good for capital’s holders and failing to find its way to the people that really need capital, entrepreneurs. Given this reality, it is necessary to engage in a form of quantitative easing that benefits in a significant way the retirees, builds out business opportunity and represents a limited cost to the government.
Region Specific Stimulative Policy
I propose the development of three bonds, BC Forestry Bonds, BC Municipal Bonds and BC Venture Capital Bonds.
The BC Forestry Bonds will be based on returns to the government gained through more aggressive forest management. There is a basket of silviculture practices that effect a 5% to 7% annual return by hastening the forest cycle to viable fibre. The proposal is to augment this return to sufficient degree that the bond offering competes effectively from the perspective of return and security. Cost recoveries come from the volume gained AND spin-off from forest improvement activity.
BC Municipal Bonds will provide a platform whereby, municipalities can at their own initiative, issue bonds to attain capital for infrastructure improvement. The Provincial government’s role here will be to supply the platform and to secure and augment returns to sufficient degree to permit the bonds to be completive in the investment space. Cost recovery is garnered to a degree through an immediate spinoff from increased economic activity and medium and long-term improvements to vital infrastructure.
BC Venture Capital Bonds will be a means by which people can issue bonds to raise capital for business start-ups. The Provincial government’s role here will be to supply the platform and to secure and augment returns to sufficient degree to permit the bonds to be completive in the investment space. Cost recovery in the short term comes from increased economic activity and regional advantage (an in-migration of capital) and in the medium and long term an innovation-based economy with a larger tax base.
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CLICK HERE FOR - LIBERAL LEADERSHIP 7 POINT PLAN
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Please notify me if you have suggestions or direction - thank you.
I have had some challenges with computer security, please notify me if you see anything untoward - thank you.
I have had some challenges with computer security, please notify me if you see anything untoward - thank you.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Institutional Reform - better structures, better performance, happier people.
It is the case that many of our institutions have lost the ability to adjust to the realities of the modern world as they have evolved into existence, in some cases they have evolved over hundreds of years – we need organizations that are DESIGNED to deal with the reality that we exist in, an environment where technologies morph daily. Institutions need to be adroit and have the absorptive capacity to utilize the mass of new technologies available now and technologies that are on the horizon. The majority of our government institutions are just too big and the institutional inertia they are experiencing is preventing them from responding to demands; efforts will be directed toward their long-term financial sustainability, more adroit response to change, greater focus in their mandate, a drive to increase absorptive capacity, and better and more productive working environments for the people employed. Reforms will be effected by reducing the mass of large institutions, reconfiguring their organizational structures and introducing more opportunity for heuristics to come into play in the development of government organization. Stagnation is always a bad thing in an organization, there needs to be disruption to effect progress and improvement in the functionality of government organizations; this is especially true given the dynamics of the modern operational environment.
The key communication to make at the outset of institutional reform is to express clearly that reform is directed at better services and or more services at the same cost and or as starting the trend toward a smaller organization if warranted. For reform to find acceptance it is critical that the people who have dedicated their lives to serving the government are given full consideration, that is to say, they all need assurance that their situation will improve or be unharmed. The spirit here is to bring efficiency to the government to better serve the province and to manage costs, this is in no way an attempt at a callus reduction in the civil service. In fact, it may be necessary to consider as part of the cost of gaining greater efficiency over time to pay out people affected – at the point reform is implemented the costing would be done and pay-outs would be costed into the whole program – so rather than a cost they are an investment on an improved future circumstance.
For any given endeavour there is an optimum size of the organization. In the 1970s, the Midwest US 1400 acre family farm was considered the most efficient economic unit in the US. It was efficient because everyone involved was utilised completely and they had a complete vertical understanding of the organisation. In the early 1920s, Henry Ford built a completely integrated manufacturing plant, every aspect of the automobile was made in that plant. It was discovered over time that while it seemed a good idea, the complexity and variety of processes made the model very inefficient. This model was abandoned and the new models were developed which eventually lead to a highly integrated but segmented supply gain – so there are a series of plants doing specialized work that feed various assembly lines.
As an example, the general hospital is similar in structure to the obsolete model that Henry Ford abandoned – it attempts to perform the full gambit of medical care under one roof. It is worthy to contemplate if the general hospital makes sense or not. They seem to exist the world over, but very few services have evolved in this way elsewhere in the economy at large. This is the critique we can begin to level at the existing structures in government. What is better, however, is to design solutions from scratch drawing on past experience and taking advantage of new technologies and exercising the new quality human capital. We may find, as has been the case in nearly every other area of the economy, that fragmenting the general hospital into various service types would bring efficiency – perhaps a knee replacement clinic – or more dispersed emergency services – or emergency services integrated with frontline care. One thing that is clear, there are structures in government that use to exist in the private sector, that have been eliminated under the rigours of market forces.
The requirement for institutional reform is clear, the challenge is that people often incur fear at the prospect and understandably so, their livelihoods are at stake in many cases. That is why the most important aspect of change policy is to extend security to all affected actors; this generates an atmosphere that gains people's help in change rather than their resistance. There must be a commitment to compassion in change.
The key communication to make at the outset of institutional reform is to express clearly that reform is directed at better services and or more services at the same cost and or as starting the trend toward a smaller organization if warranted. For reform to find acceptance it is critical that the people who have dedicated their lives to serving the government are given full consideration, that is to say, they all need assurance that their situation will improve or be unharmed. The spirit here is to bring efficiency to the government to better serve the province and to manage costs, this is in no way an attempt at a callus reduction in the civil service. In fact, it may be necessary to consider as part of the cost of gaining greater efficiency over time to pay out people affected – at the point reform is implemented the costing would be done and pay-outs would be costed into the whole program – so rather than a cost they are an investment on an improved future circumstance.
For any given endeavour there is an optimum size of the organization. In the 1970s, the Midwest US 1400 acre family farm was considered the most efficient economic unit in the US. It was efficient because everyone involved was utilised completely and they had a complete vertical understanding of the organisation. In the early 1920s, Henry Ford built a completely integrated manufacturing plant, every aspect of the automobile was made in that plant. It was discovered over time that while it seemed a good idea, the complexity and variety of processes made the model very inefficient. This model was abandoned and the new models were developed which eventually lead to a highly integrated but segmented supply gain – so there are a series of plants doing specialized work that feed various assembly lines.
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CLICK HERE FOR - LIBERAL LEADERSHIP 7 POINT PLAN
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The requirement for institutional reform is clear, the challenge is that people often incur fear at the prospect and understandably so, their livelihoods are at stake in many cases. That is why the most important aspect of change policy is to extend security to all affected actors; this generates an atmosphere that gains people's help in change rather than their resistance. There must be a commitment to compassion in change.
Please notify me if you have suggestions or direction - thank you.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Government Accountability - It matters regardless of where you reside on the political spectrum.
It is inherent in the mechanics of our political process that all actors avoid accountability. You say, but they are elected and voted out, that is accountability enough. The challenge is that there is no clear reporting on outcomes and so no clear means for the public to assess the success or failure of a given piece of legislation. Due to this reality, we are constantly getting spin because politicians attempt to conceal errors from the electorate. The process that emerges out of our present governance distorts the public’s perception of what legislation has worked and what legislation has failed. Absent clear reporting by a truly objective party it is impossible for the public to reward good work or punish bad work with their vote. As a result, legislation keeps getting propagated or remains in place when it should be altered or replaced. Worse, however, it drives fundamentally dishonest discourse, disingenuous discourse and misleads the public, people see this and government loses moral authority and credibility.
In business we have a “dashboard”, it consists of a collection of indicators that are generated by a set of metrics that are derived from a mission or intention for any give business initiative. The dashboard gives a clear indication if our decisions were correct or incorrect. The government needs such a mechanism for the public that is reliable.
Every piece of legislation comes into being with an intended outcome. That intended outcome should be clearly stated in a plainly worded mission statement at the top of every statute – stating the intent of the legislation and the “spirit” of the legislation. There then should be a clearly stated set of metrics for that specific legislation and the indicators should be developed and documented as well. In this way, at the point of actuating legislation, there is baseline data (where we are) and where we are intending going.
The next stage in the process is reporting, clear, concise and objective reporting. This task needs to occur at arm’s length from the government by an accountability officer. The accountability officer would be responsible for processing the metrics, updating the indicators and reporting the data to the public in an accessible way via a website. The outcome would have every element of government operation available to the public facilitating transparency. The accounting systems in government are electronic, so a member of the public should be able to access the “income and expense” sheet for any ministry or sub-department thereof. The accountability officer would be responsible for making this data available on the website.
We are working toward a more “democratic” electoral process that will eventually bring more “parties” into play in the political process. The outcome will be more minority governments and generally more responsive government – THIS IS A GOOD THING. Like many good things it comes with a side effect, in the majority of cases, it results in government growing relative to the economy, because, government attempts to please people by spending; a phenomenon that accelerates in politically competitive circumstances. This is just a reality to be managed as opposed to an argument to make government any particular size. There is an optimum size for government, the “right” size, the determination of the size of government is outside the scope of this communication, but accept if you will, that some limit on the size of government is warranted – I make this case with the average family giving up nearly half of their earnings to government now.
The second task of the accountability officer would be to report on the size of government relative to the economy and to have the authority to constrain spending should government attempt to exceed optimum a given size as has been predetermined through input from various sources society-wide. There needs to be a degree of flexibility to allow for counter-cyclical spending and the like, this brings to life a similar function as the central bank – the central bank has a clearly defined mandate as it relates to inflation, it functions at arm’s length from the government. So to would the accountability officer have a clearly defined mandate which would permit opening and closing the fiscal tap depending on economic conditions as prescribed by their mandate.
The combination of these two functions at arm’s length from the government will usher in a new more effective and more responsive government. Myths will no longer govern, results will.
In business we have a “dashboard”, it consists of a collection of indicators that are generated by a set of metrics that are derived from a mission or intention for any give business initiative. The dashboard gives a clear indication if our decisions were correct or incorrect. The government needs such a mechanism for the public that is reliable.
Every piece of legislation comes into being with an intended outcome. That intended outcome should be clearly stated in a plainly worded mission statement at the top of every statute – stating the intent of the legislation and the “spirit” of the legislation. There then should be a clearly stated set of metrics for that specific legislation and the indicators should be developed and documented as well. In this way, at the point of actuating legislation, there is baseline data (where we are) and where we are intending going.
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CLICK HERE FOR - LIBERAL LEADERSHIP 7 POINT PLAN
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The next stage in the process is reporting, clear, concise and objective reporting. This task needs to occur at arm’s length from the government by an accountability officer. The accountability officer would be responsible for processing the metrics, updating the indicators and reporting the data to the public in an accessible way via a website. The outcome would have every element of government operation available to the public facilitating transparency. The accounting systems in government are electronic, so a member of the public should be able to access the “income and expense” sheet for any ministry or sub-department thereof. The accountability officer would be responsible for making this data available on the website.
We are working toward a more “democratic” electoral process that will eventually bring more “parties” into play in the political process. The outcome will be more minority governments and generally more responsive government – THIS IS A GOOD THING. Like many good things it comes with a side effect, in the majority of cases, it results in government growing relative to the economy, because, government attempts to please people by spending; a phenomenon that accelerates in politically competitive circumstances. This is just a reality to be managed as opposed to an argument to make government any particular size. There is an optimum size for government, the “right” size, the determination of the size of government is outside the scope of this communication, but accept if you will, that some limit on the size of government is warranted – I make this case with the average family giving up nearly half of their earnings to government now.
The second task of the accountability officer would be to report on the size of government relative to the economy and to have the authority to constrain spending should government attempt to exceed optimum a given size as has been predetermined through input from various sources society-wide. There needs to be a degree of flexibility to allow for counter-cyclical spending and the like, this brings to life a similar function as the central bank – the central bank has a clearly defined mandate as it relates to inflation, it functions at arm’s length from the government. So to would the accountability officer have a clearly defined mandate which would permit opening and closing the fiscal tap depending on economic conditions as prescribed by their mandate.
The combination of these two functions at arm’s length from the government will usher in a new more effective and more responsive government. Myths will no longer govern, results will.
Please notify me if you have suggestions or direction - thank you.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
More Bad Tax Policy - Governance confounded by failed doctrine AGAIN
Again in BC, we are being bludgeoned with equality. In the name of social justice, the NDP is taking from those who have worked hard to build a life for their families and giving it away on programs that none of us will ever know the outcome of. British Columbians are generous people; however, too often we’ve seen redistributionist policy gone awry. If the NDP is sincere about helping the less fortunate, then it is better to focus on getting them started with education and capital, rather than through force of law taking from the very type of people the NDP are purporting they want to create. This envy culture brought into being by the systematic demonization of success and that calls financial security greedy will cripple British Columbia if it is allowed to get traction.
Disaster is inherent in the pursuit of equality, because, it is contrary to the way the universe works – equality exists nowhere in nature or in the physical world generally. Never in human history has equality been achieved and when it has been pursued, disaster has ensued – so just stop it, please. As a strategy to improve the plight of the poor it has never worked and worse, when you say to people I am going to take something you own away and give it to someone else, you excite resistance to the goal you are attempting to achieve – that is just stupid so stop it. It is also unnecessary when you can develop policies that give the less fortunate opportunity to be a part of the middle class and beyond AND benefit the people who are relatively wealthy – you create a win win – and you avoid punishing success. It seems if you shake a tree in BC ten weary old Trotskies fall out, peddling faulty solutions.
Here’s a couple Win-Win Policy Suggestions, I’ve many more – have a look.
What does work in contrast to equality, is equity. When we are generous in our efforts to build lives, support families and at creating opportunities that a healthy economy gives – the lower-income strata will benefit and society generally will benefit. A healthy economy, open markets, support and work will help the less fortunate be a part of society. Chopping the heads off tall poppies to feed a culture of envy will lead us all to subsistence – there is a better way we should take it. It is important to note also, it was greedy Toryism that got the whole redistributionist misadventure going during the industrial revolution. As a society now, we are smarter and we know a little generosity goes a long way.
Disaster is inherent in the pursuit of equality, because, it is contrary to the way the universe works – equality exists nowhere in nature or in the physical world generally. Never in human history has equality been achieved and when it has been pursued, disaster has ensued – so just stop it, please. As a strategy to improve the plight of the poor it has never worked and worse, when you say to people I am going to take something you own away and give it to someone else, you excite resistance to the goal you are attempting to achieve – that is just stupid so stop it. It is also unnecessary when you can develop policies that give the less fortunate opportunity to be a part of the middle class and beyond AND benefit the people who are relatively wealthy – you create a win win – and you avoid punishing success. It seems if you shake a tree in BC ten weary old Trotskies fall out, peddling faulty solutions.
Here’s a couple Win-Win Policy Suggestions, I’ve many more – have a look.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Transcendence – Why it matters
Transcendence as I understand it, in the context of social development, is a complex of processes by which a given individual can interface with society at large and better their lot relative to their prior generation or, perhaps, achieve exponential transcendence by excelling beyond the average; beyond the average as defined by the socioeconomic and cultural complex in which the individual exists.
Bono, the lead singer of U2, described the effects of transcendence as follows, “when an Irish kid looks up at the mansion on the hill, he thinks “you bastard”, when an American kid (USA) looks up at the mansion on the hill, he thinks “that will be me one day”.” There is a good deal of power in that belief, one can argue that it is has been monopolised to a specific social group, one can challenge its use and application – no one can challenge that the belief is powerful. It has moved the US to prominence. Now allow me to grant the naysayers a complete acquiescence and say, as the offer of transcendence has been implemented in the US it has been a total failure due to social inequity – which is untrue in my opinion – but even if it was true - which belief do you see as more powerful, the belief that society is managed and you’ll be placed where you’re placed OR that your fate is your own and if you apply yourself, the path to achievement as yous to define.
Desiring individuals to climb the socioeconomic ladder stands in contrast and opposed by the Calvinist and Confuciusian social imperatives, in which, societal stasis is integrated – your father was a lawyer, so you are a lawyer. In England, where my personal cultural underpinning harkens from, the Calvinist social imperatives have migrated to governance in a way that has effected a good deal of socioeconomic stagnation. It is my opinion, and the opinion of many more qualified than I, that this social stagnation was causal in the general fall of British economic performance relative to the USA economic performance over the past couple hundred years.
Say the word “Transcendence” and most business people, or people with a market prominence in their thinking related to economy and government, roll their eyes. Transcendence has gotten a bum rap in these quarters because it is heavily associated with big “S” socialism and the myriad of damaging policy initiatives that have emerged from the left “wing” of the political spectrum. Redistributionist policies like a “progressive” tax system. Redistributionist policy always means taking someone’s money and giving to someone else at the discretion of an inherently unaccountable entity called government. Redistributionist policy is founded on the pursuit of “social equality” as opposed to “social equity” and the belief that the “pie” is finite when the “pie” is infinite.
In the past government has pursued transcendence in a damaging way, they have chosen to make people pay for the progress of others. For a transcendent policy to be accepted broadly it must effect benefit for all – a win win. People who have garnered capital want to keep it, people without capital, need capital. The key here is to develop a policy to incent people with capital, to direct that capital to emergent individuals – in this way, the holders of capital gain and emergent individuals gain eventually making the transition to affluence and capacity. There are many ways to have people happily contribute to the process of emergent individuals, the government needs to be more aggressive in this space.
For an example of transcendence policy, follow this link.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
OPEN MARKETS - The Challenge they are Presented
I should premise my comments here by saying "I am a believer" in the market economy. I am a believer because I have watched it work so often and so well, and, conversely, I've seen other modalities fail profoundly. The Market economy is an extension of the natural inclination for human beings, to interface with the environment to further their wellbeing and the wellbeing of their offspring. We live at the apex of human existence in Canada right now, look closely at what has gotten us here – good governance, family, effort and community – most importantly though is human enterprise. Early in Canada's development, the government decided it needed people and it said to Europeans – come to Canada and we will give you land. Thousands answered the call, from all walks of life, from all nationalities and together we built a country that is widely considered the best in the world. Certainly, there were mistakes made, but even the negatively affected by the European focus are better off here in Canada than most people the world over. Quibble if you will over details, be disgruntled if you must, but remember if you will, the privilege that being Canadian grants.
When I say "business" people affected by modernity and related institutions often grimace – they think exploitation and a number of other thoughts they've been conditioned to think. Business, enterprise, capitalism is people finding ways to extract a livelihood and prosperity from the earth. There is at times a long and winding road between the earth and the modern financial system; it behoves us all to remember the interconnection.
Every layer of abstraction between the populous and the earth is an opportunity for someone to profit. People use regulation, legislation – governance generally to better themselves – this reality can create distortion between the fruitful utilisation of the "earth" or the highest and best use of the earth absent government intervention relative to what actually transpires. There are other considerations at play certainly, however, the challenges associated with economy mostly stem from distortions facilitated by governance. The question is, does policy, governance, fairly represent the actual activity of people OR, does policy, governance, distort the activity of people or misdirect benefit. The goal of all policy should be to permit the human enterprise to occur absent coercion or distortion and to facilitate human enterprise generally. The "bum rap" "capitalism" has gotten is the perception of many in the populous that "enterprise" has corrupted governance in a manner that is detrimental to the populous. It is true the corporations have lobbied effectively for their interests and hence they have gained distorting advantage in some areas, as it is true, that large labour organisations have lobbied effectively for their interests. The fact that these interests have gained prominence in legislation is no fault of the parties, it is the fault of leadership (governance) for failing to develop systems that govern to the highest and best good, rather than, governance that falls prey to special interest.
Increasingly, the two primary and most represented actors affecting the political space – big business and big labour – are drawing society as a whole toward a regulatory regime that suits their interests and in doing so, they are constraining and or distorting the market for the third leg of the economy which consists of artisans, artists, small business, self-employed, farmers etc. The fragmented nature of the third leg of the economy precludes as concentrated of a lobbying effort relative to the other two legs of the economy. This phenomenon, if left unaddressed, will result in an ever increasing concentration of wealth and influence flowing to large corporations, labour unions and government. We need large corporations, we need government and we have labour unions (due to bad governance and greed on the part of employers). The question becomes, what is the right mix? It is my ardent desire to raise the alarm, that in Canada we are increasingly becoming institutionalised, that there is a trend away from self-reliant and independent individuals of the sort the third leg of the economy produces. This is occurring because of the combination of mass media, mass markets, mass education, massive lobby efforts and the resulting regulatory realities have created so many barriers to entry that "independents" have a difficult time entering markets or participating in an effective way.
It is a Faustian circumstance that has incumbent actors in the market effectively precluding other entrants due to incumbents being able to control access to the market via regulation. It is a paradox that the thing best for the advancement of the human condition, is most resisted by economic players – the best thing being disruption and or creative destruction – there is a vibrancy that emerges from one operational model falling and new more effective one filling its place that moves the human condition forward rapidly. In a vibrant economy, absorption of new technologies is rapid and attempted by several actors generating a circumstance that heuristics provide the best outcome; dramatically contrasted to government institutions where absorptive capacity is extremely limited and so advancement is stagnated.
An unfettered market is very effective at delivering goods and services at reduced managerial cost. In Canada the CRTC controls communications and media, they constrain the supply of related goods and services in a number of different ways and as a result, in Canada, we pay more for media and have less variety of product and service.
An open market means that there is an opportunity for non-incumbents to enter readily, that regulation is directed only at health and safety and never supply of product or services. In the new world in order for new technology to find its way to use, we need open markets – regulations for health and safety are a must – otherwise, the government needs to stay out of the way.
We have attained an exceptional standard of living in the West, in Canada especially, we have the solutions. The Anglo / European economic complex has enjoyed immense success. There are improvements to be made to build out prosperity to the populous generally under the rubric of the Anglo / European economic complex. The core of the system, the engine, the market, works. The markets work because they are nothing more than people doing what people have always done with a common modality of interface – that being a currency.
CLICK BELOW - More Thoughts on the Subject
Tax Policy - KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid
CANADA - ECONOMIC STAGNATION NATION
Thoughts on - Counter Cyclical Spending
Government Scale & Accountability CANADA - ECONOMIC STAGNATION NATION
Thoughts on - Counter Cyclical Spending
Monday, April 25, 2016
Seeding Prosperity - Why it matters
Why is seeding prosperity important? It is what facilitates life. Prosperous people are absent the need for government support, they are absent the need to steal, they enjoy better health and they contribute to more prosperity – prosperity contributing to more prosperity is a virtuous cycle. This is in no way a right or left issue, this is about igniting the economy and ensuring an ever-expanding source of fuel. The more people can access capital - apply their respective talents and garner wealth as a result, the more people will be drawn upward; in sociology, they call this “transcendence”. Why is transcendence important, because in the long term without it society stagnates, becomes decadent, and ends – in the short term it drives participation in the economy. The cycle is come into perfect resolution with just a cursory review of history.
There are a number of contributing factors that inhibit transcendence. The most prominent of which is the inclination for established players in any given economic environment (market) to resist encroachment on their sources of revenue, this, in combination with entrenched franchises is challenging. The concern of incumbents is that by generally seeding prosperity incumbents' “wealth opportunity” will wane and with it, influence. The opposite is true, however, what will happen is that the rising tide will raise all boats, big and small, and as for influence, there will be a society-wide buy-in on the merits of the system.
There is a propensity for institutions to become tools of incumbent players, so the bigger institutions get the more concentrated influence over institutions becomes – government institutions are no exception, in fact, they may be the worst. This comment is in no way a rebuke of government employees, it is a statement related to the realities of institutional inertia – institutional inertia is a governmental, private sector and civil society reality. This is a phenomenon that is a product of the natural inclinations of people, which is exacerbated by the linear concentration of influencers associated with hierarchy – this is as mechanical as a lever and fulcrum and as inevitable as the sunrise. It will happen unless we take steps to ensure that we introduce disruptive processes into the phenomenon that is "institutional inertia" and the resulting reality of “social” or “economic” concentration. The joy in facilitating disruption and effecting transcendence is that you make everyone wealthier – in a prosperous society there is no requirement to tax wealth and no need for initiative killing redistributionist policy.
In British Columbia, we use to have hundreds of school systems, now we have one, we use to have hundreds of medical systems, now we have one, we use to have hundreds of auto insurance providers, now we have one. Due to this reality, there has been a massive concentration in political influence and the majority of people are outside the political process. Big Business and Big Labour hold sway in the political process in Canada, the majority made up of small business, artisans, farmers and other independents are in effect unrepresented; what’s worse, however, is that there are no real political imperatives for policy for the maintenance and enhancement of the most valuable and dynamic sector of society.
We have to find ways to seed the economy, to facilitate the grassroots to drive growth. The first thing we must do is provide the environment that promotes action wherever possible and mitigates the risk associated with the natural heuristics that occur in a market economy and or the rigours associated with *“creative destruction” – a positive phenomenon that can result in short-term human discomfort. In a safe place, people try things, some work and some fail, the more that happens the better for us all. So John Turner’s slogan, "free enterprise with a heart" sums perfectly what needs to be in place. The cost of failure low, the rewards for success high, in this sweet spot the mountain of technology that is now latent will come to action; the key is to make it happen here in British Columbia.
*Creative Destruction is the process of disruption ending one solution for another and or the process where the market fails to accept an offering simultaneously accessing the market with a competing offering.
CLICK BELOW - More Thoughts on the Subject
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Smart Infrastructure – INVEST PLEASE - AVOID SPENDING
Are you concerned about how infrastructure spending is going to get done - I am. Please read this and let the government know how you feel.
There are three elements to smart infrastructure, the
infrastructure has to serve to improve commerce so that is PAYS for itself in
time, government should seek to partner the costs wherever possible (or avoid
them altogether) and it should be financed creatively and to the extent
possible domestically. Infrastructure is
agreeable to politicians because it normally results in a ribbon cutting and
public gratitude; but it should be remembered that the real infrastructure of
society is human capital, build human capital and it propagates itself.
Governments are good at counting traffic flow or assessing the value of transporting
goods; the entire western accounting complex is very poor at valuing human
capital. Infrastructure is more nebulous than ever, perhaps the most nebulous after human capital is infrastructure that facilitates technology – little things floating
in the sky that no one sees.
Recent press coverage of the feds meeting with municipal and
provincial governments has me quacking in my boots, I was hearing a lot about
arenas, recreations centers; Canada, toys are what we buy when the budget is
balanced, government is a little like the single parent that invests in hockey
gear only to have no milk for the month. It is a question of priority, it is a
question of putting pencil to paper and choosing to spend on things that result
is a sustained improvement in living standards, invest money in infrastructure
and avoid spending on things that just end up costing more when the loan is paid.
Intellectual
Infrastructure
The language that emerges in the form of buzzwords often
serves to give insight into to the head-space that is feeding human action, when
I hear “shovel ready”, it gags me – one realizes this is only a metaphor, but
to many when you say “infrastructure” they think railroad. So here are some
suggestions for some “intellectual” infrastructure.
Bigger Pipes &
Satellites Please
The CRTC sometime ago in effect sanctioned throttling by
granting companies the “right” to choose who’s data travels quicker than others
over the internet, this was offered as a solution to “burdened” infrastructure
– granted it was infrastructure specific to “private” companies, companies it
should be noted that enjoy a privileged operating circumstance relative to most
other countries. There are two key factors creating a problem, firstly, the
regulatory environment in Canada related to telecom is anti-competitive and
secondly, the term “information highway” has relevance in communication policy;
that is to say, government has a role to play in ensuring there is optimal
infrastructure to maximize it’s tax base and to promote regional advantage. We
are failing in Canada on this score, mainly due to the regulatory environment we’ve
created. A minimal investment in satellite technology and encouragement to the
telecom industry to build out capacity would serve to facilitate commerce and
human interaction in general, but also take industrial opportunity to all
corners of the country. Satellites could
be P3 financed and “private” information transmission infrastructure is able to
be addressed through more generous Capital Cost Allowances.
Please See Link Below:
CRTC - We need reform
Note: there have been some changes at the CRTC, but the fundamental structure remains the same.
Please See Link Below:
CRTC - We need reform
Note: there have been some changes at the CRTC, but the fundamental structure remains the same.
Converting
Knowledge to Action
Government has a responsibility to provision for the collection and distribution of knowledge
and to make the services it provides efficient as possible. Examine the budgets
of governments in Canada and you will see that money is going out on Medical
Care and Education and coming in on Business activity. That is the MATH, and
the joy of math is that it informs without bias or political distortion. One of
the greatest impediments to facilitating trimming cost and enhancing services
by government in Canada is a gross under estimation of people to read, think
and care for themselves that emanates from the collective paternalism of
interested service providers. Give people the information they need to make
manage their life and they will – the largest element of intellectual
infrastructure is knowledge and the largest benefit to government is the self-reliance that comes with
having it.
Job one, free web based education programs, this is
almost unrepresented now. The government is wed to big buildings, big
institutions and big money, when the internet opportunities for free education
lay wasting. Trades theory could be web based and free, and supplemented with
very little self-financed one on one tutelage. There are a vast number of
professions that could be facilitated on line – most learning can be done
online – certainly a larger percentage than is now available.
Job two, give people the tools they need to take care of
themselves so government services are targeted to high value use. Medical
service delivery, even under the “single payer” model we have in Canada could
be made much less costly, if the government would only give people the means to
care for themselves. There is plenty of space to support this through
government provided infrastructure, self-directed medical assessment for
example – the vast majority of Canadians can plug a basket of symptoms into a
computer and make an assessment of their medical status – self-directed medical
assessment could be developed an expanded. Canadians can enter the medications
they are taking into a computer and have a the computer scan a database for
contraindications and print out complete reports on other risks like food
interactions – the computer will do a better job than people.
Governments in Canada run massive organizations
delivering health care to Canadians and they fail to track medical outcomes, in
Canada we have no database that explains the 10,000 or more deaths from
preventable medical accidents each year; this is analogous to a farmer failing
to measure yields – people surviving a hospital stay is the key metric in
health care – we should be tracking it so people can decide how best to manage
the risk.
See Link Below:
Converting
Knowledge to Action
The vast majority of the world’s knowledge lays in a
latent state along with untold wealth now, in large measure because as a
society we are absent the absorptive capacity to put it to work. There are two components to converting existing
knowledge to actionable goods or services, firstly there is knowledge required
and secondly there is capital required. There are several ways government can
contribute to a infrastructure for a “capital deployment”; it can provide the
platform for favorable capital distribution from the mass of wealth that is
also latent in the form of conservatively invested “boomer” wealth, by engaging
in a form of quantitative easing that would subsidize capital.
Please see links below:
Converting the bank of latent knowledge that is present
in the world today to action requires a process called innovation – we hear the
word – we see it as the creative use of knowledge to generate something new and
or improved to sell to a market. Innovation is also, as often as not, an exercise
in heuristics; patient capital is required here.
Please see Link:
Funding
Money used to pay for infrastructure can justifiably come
from the liquidation of raw resource assets – sell one asset, create another;
we have failed in the past in converting raw resource assets into actuating
human capital – we have frittered it away paying to operate government
institutions, which cost more than the tax base can pay for. We have hitherto
spent much of our resource wealth rather than invest it.
Please see links below:
The municipal governments need to be able to issue bonds
for infrastructure improvements, this is a place where the cities can garner
funding from their respective citizens and the federal government can augment
returns to bond holders. In doing so, a healthy outcome emerges, in that cities
initiate the spending at their discretion, the local citizens choose to
support it and the federal government engages in a populous driven quantitative
easing program.
Human capital is the most important asset of any society;
the second most important is the financial wherewithal to actuate human
capital. Infrastructure spending is INVESTING in a manner that facilitates the
human endeavor. The government needs to play the role of the facilitator of
facilitation; that starts with providing access to relevant information and
then promoting access to capital.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Cloud - with privacy goes freedom
The “Cloud”, once a term of nature, is now a term that means
the aggregation of the world’s data into a central database. As a means to
share data, to make data available to people, the internet has been a wonderful
addition to the world. The challenge that is arising, is that personal data,
every aspect of our lives is being aggregated and tabulated in a manner that
puts our private lives in the hands of a few, and most concerning, in the hands
of government. Once you commit a piece of data to the cloud, an email, a
telephone conversation, your calendar entries – it is in effect in the public
sphere. We need to find a way, across platforms to isolate that which we want
the world to see, from that which we want private.
The first incursion into my private space via the internet
was in 1994, it was three in the morning. I went into my home office to do some
work, I had left my computer on and I noticed the curser moving around my
computer screen. I sat and watched as someone remotely accessed my personal
data, they opened files, accessed my browser data – I used Netscape at the
time. To this day I have no idea who it was, that is a violation of most obscene
kind.
The cloud facilitates this type of incursion into the
private lives of people, the challenge has been the insidious advance of the capacity
to be monitored – if in 1950 you said to my father the government was going to
read every letter he wrote in route, he would have screamed blue murder – we all
have in effect acquiesced to this very reality in 2015. There is no means in
any of the instruments developed in the modern technological sphere to patrician
inherently private information from the public.
If you have a digital device that plugs in, it can be
hacked. People hack into washing machines and change cycles or effect “malfunctions”.
The list is endless, and very few people have the capacity to protect
themselves and government seems content to permit this to go on, government is
more than complicit in this incursion, it is a willing co-conspirator.
Government seeks wherever possible to collect data regarding our person – the Canadian
Long Census Form for example – even asks what your sexual orientation is, or
government tabulates your personal income and foreign entities hack Revenue
Canada’s database.
Privacy is one of the keystones of democracy. The capacity
to function as a free agent is dependent on anonymity, absent anonymity the
capacity for centralized control grows. The cloud has much promise; somehow we
have to find a means by which to have control of our private data - I had
someone hack my blog and take down a NATO article I wrote AND delete it from my
hard drive in the last 30 days, my cellphone was hacked and data lost last week.
My personal experience from 1994 until now illustrates to me, and I hope you,
just how vulnerable we are.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Canada - Economic Stagnation Nation?
BOOMERS - Wealth Concentration and Stagnation
In reading Sotheby’s report on Real-estate trends in luxury
properties the excerpt below spurred some thought, 9.6 million people
(boomers), 80% of high net worth Canadians, are over 55 years of age and 58% of
those are retired – and more are soon to be retired; this reality is rested
juxtaposed against the provision of many FREE services to this same cohort, of
most significance of course are medical services. While this “age group” is
larger than ever before, they are healthier than ever before which may defer to
some degree their taxing the free services, but tax services they will. There
is a another affect on economy as well, they cost more to keep and they
generate less income, once more however, the capital they have they are
conservative in investing – less apt to take chance on disruptive, innovation
or risk prone investments, often the type of investments that stimulate the
economy.
In the forest management people refer to a stand of timber
becoming decadent, that is to say, that in its maturity the old growth
precludes new forest, and the old growth is well established and living thereby
precluding giving living space to new forest – this is a point of stagnation,
the increase in fiber volume is limited. This contrasts to a circumstance after
a fire perhaps, where several species are taking hold, there is age class
variance as the forest species move through life cycles – there is dynamism
here – annual increase in fiber volume is greater here. The population profile
of Canada, much of the western world is in a state of decadence due to this
reality, which parallels the aged forest reality.
Japan, given its racial homogeneity and the resulting
resistance to immigration was the first example of this pernicious reality
taking hold – some two decades of low growth and a monetary policy at war with
deflation ensued. Could this fate be awaiting us in Canada or the wider western
economy? There are indications that there are factors seemingly suppressing
inflation, Central Bank policy has been simulative in the extreme since the
2008 downturn, with little indication the tide is turning. It seems that the
economy is never really hitting it’s stride, never any pressure on price due to
capacity restraints, just more or less – sideways. It would be unwise to
suggest that a single cohort is to blame, or a single demographic element – it
is, however, certainly a single and significant contributing factor.
The combination of the increased use of free government
services, the withdrawal from vocation and resulting income contraction and the
ongoing conservative management of capital on the part of this cohort is sure
to challenge us.
The situation seems to cry out for some means to incent this
cohort to put its money to work more aggressively. There may be reward to
government coffers in policy that mitigates risk in the areas of investment that
most improves our economy. There is
requirement for infrastructure spending, capital that is more or less latent or
invested at no real rate of return – the government could engage in 3P
processes that include partial payment of infrastructure thereby reducing “cost”
and improving return. A municipal bond program could be brought in to play, so
local communities could go to their citizens to raise capital for City infrastructure
and enjoy the support of upper level governments, via a tax credit of some
kind. Recent attempts at infrastructure spending seem somewhat muted, in the
post stimulus spending time frame we are now in, there seems very little infrastructure
spending on the horizon. The joy of infrastructure spending is, it gives an immediate
boost the economy now – in much the same way a healthy house market does, AND
then it is the gift that keeps giving as it makes the future economy more
efficient.
The process of government sweetening the pot for investors
in government infrastructure is aggressive in that it is a form of quantitative
easing, it is quantitative easing that puts enhanced return in a place that
rewards presently “latent” capital AND directs benefit to the middle class,
rather than the institutions that caused the downturn in the first place. Quantitative
easing in other jurisdictions had the government issuing a $1000 bond at a cost
of $900 – this is a simplification for illustration, the point is financial
institutions got “free” money. Sweetening the pot for “Boomers” who have capital
directed in a manner that is less advantageous now, who then move investments
to a place that moves the economy in an immediate way, is likely to provide
several benefits; including the funds to government coffers on the boomers
capital gains taxes.
One would have to put pencil to paper to see the degree that
is appropriate for government to participate; however, when one tallies the quantifiable
benefits of infrastructure, increased revenues from capital gains – (offsetting
to some degree the initial investment by government) AND the multiplier effect of
the actual work – one would guess supplementing infrastructure bonds and or municipal
bonds to the tune of 5% would be very viable – I suspect even a better return
could be offered. Here we have a several wins; the public gets better return on
capital, the public invests in the infrastructure it needs (the hospitals the
boomers are going to be filling, the road and rail that support commerce, the
city transportation networks the improve commerce and the environment, the much
needed education system reconfiguration – the list is endless) AND the people who
have wrongly paid to repair the damages of a financial industry gone a rye, get
a little back.
I know what you're thinking, this is like a remake of the Keynesian
“Roosevelt New Deal”, and there is nothing new here. The concept of the new
deal is here, the implementation is different. The Keynesians purpose in all policy is to increase
aggregate demand, they rarely care how that is done, government spends – I mean
SPENDS – to increase aggregate demand. This is different, this is government “seeding
the economy”, by providing an avenue for all levels of government AND it could be
easily adapted for small and medium business as well in the same spirit as the
British Columbia Venture Capital Program, an avenue that lets infrastructure that is in
REAL demand be build. The “New Deal” was a top down, centralized effort, the
same sort of effort that had quantitative easing enriching the very people who
created the financial downturn in the first place. This is a hybridization of
quantitative easing, municipal & government bond programs, directed at a
group of people who require secure returns and whose capital we need.
Canada is a long way from the Japan scenario, we have
immigration, we are a resource economy and we have a generally more vibrant
demographic picture. We do however, need to be mindful that the “idle boomers”,
their ageing and their “idle capital” could be a drag at the very least, and
push us into a period of stagnation at worst. With a small amount of incentive, we
can generate a big result, and if it is managed properly, rather than saddling
future generations with debt, we enhance future generations’ operational
reality and enrich them.
Government Resource Revenue Dependence
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