A distinguishing characteristic between right and left wing thought is the importance given to the income or wealth gap (or however rich and poor is defined) between the rich and poor. The left places more importance on this statistic than do those on the right.
I am on the right and therefore feel the statistic is given too much importance. A thought experiment illustrates why. Say all the rich earn $100,000 per year and all the poor earn $25,000 per year. The gap between the rich and poor is $75,000 per year. Say I have magical power and can halve or double everyone's income. If I halve everyone's income, the gap between the rich and poor falls to ($50,000 - $12,500) = $37,500. If I double everyone's income, the gap between the rich and poor increases to $150,000.
Which group is happy if I halve their income? The rich sure aren't and neither are the poor. The poor may acquire a degree of psychological happiness due to greater income equality but not enough to offset their drop in income. Greater income equality in this extreme thought experiment results in greater unhappiness for both groups. Income equality can be undesirable.
Those on the left say take from the rich and give to the poor to reduce income equality. Income for the rich declines and income for the poor increases by the amount of redistribution. This is what our society does and is valid to a certain extent. A social safety net is desirable. However, redistribution has limits, especially at the margin. Taking from those who produce results in less incentive for them to produce. They therefore produce less. This helps no one.
There are limits to redistribution. Going beyond the limit harms everyone. Placing too great an importance on the gap statistic leads to a redistribution beyond point of harm.
Right on
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Most Powerful Special Interest Group
Politicians, especially those on the left, are feeling the power of the most powerful special interest group.
The most powerful special interest group consists of citizens who do not belong to a special interest group. Piss them off and you are gone.
Right on!
The most powerful special interest group consists of citizens who do not belong to a special interest group. Piss them off and you are gone.
Right on!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The U.S. and disabled children from a Canadian's perspective
I spent last week in the U.S. and was struck by something. This is purely anecdotal but it seemed to me that there are many more disabled children in the U.S. compared to Canada. How could this be, I asked myself, for such a wealthy society. Then it dawned on me.
We abort ours.
God bless America!
We abort ours.
God bless America!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Full Day Learning ffor Four & Five Year Olds in Ontario
The Ontario Liberal government will be pushing full day learning for 4 and 5 year olds. They plan implementation in Sept. 2010. There are so many things wrong with this that it is hard to know where to start the criticism.
Four and five year olds are probably best off with a parent. If this isn't possible, let the parents decide which day care is best. The premise that I accept, and apparently our provincial government doesn't, is that parents will make the best choice for their children.
When my wife and I decided to place our daughter in daycare we researched and visited a number of establishments. We chose the one we thought was right that suited our budget. Our decision proved to be correct. We were confident that the daycare knew who the client was: my wife and myself. We were confident that they knew that if we grew displeased with their service that we would replace them. The bottom line is that choice kept our private daycare, and others, honest, responsible, and incented to do good work. Choice worked. They provided a great service. (Peekaboo daycare in Brampton off Kennedy and Sandalwood for anyone interested)
My daughter finished grade one. The experience we as parents had was less than praiseworthy. We were informed significantly less than daycare. The teachers were not their when we dropped off our child (at 7:45) and were long gone by the time we picked her up. We got to see her daily work periodically, not weekly as in daycare. The attitude of the teachers and staff was what you would expect from someone with union backing and very little competition. (Private schools are out of our price range).
Choice is the key. Government run schools crowd out choice except for the top earners of society. Without choice, we have no power.
On a side note, it is very interesting that private establishments such as Kumon, Oxford Learning Center, and others are popping up all over. There is a market for establishments that will supplement your child's education. If our school system was doing a good job, this wouldn't be happening.
I know how full day learning for four and five year olds will go. The Toronto garbage strike provides a strong clue. The staff will have great compensation packages, great benefits, and a Cadillac pension plan and they will still strike or threaten to strike every three or four years.
Full day learning for four and five year olds is a bad idea the deserves to be stopped. Write to your provincial government representative and tell them so.
Right On
Four and five year olds are probably best off with a parent. If this isn't possible, let the parents decide which day care is best. The premise that I accept, and apparently our provincial government doesn't, is that parents will make the best choice for their children.
When my wife and I decided to place our daughter in daycare we researched and visited a number of establishments. We chose the one we thought was right that suited our budget. Our decision proved to be correct. We were confident that the daycare knew who the client was: my wife and myself. We were confident that they knew that if we grew displeased with their service that we would replace them. The bottom line is that choice kept our private daycare, and others, honest, responsible, and incented to do good work. Choice worked. They provided a great service. (Peekaboo daycare in Brampton off Kennedy and Sandalwood for anyone interested)
My daughter finished grade one. The experience we as parents had was less than praiseworthy. We were informed significantly less than daycare. The teachers were not their when we dropped off our child (at 7:45) and were long gone by the time we picked her up. We got to see her daily work periodically, not weekly as in daycare. The attitude of the teachers and staff was what you would expect from someone with union backing and very little competition. (Private schools are out of our price range).
Choice is the key. Government run schools crowd out choice except for the top earners of society. Without choice, we have no power.
On a side note, it is very interesting that private establishments such as Kumon, Oxford Learning Center, and others are popping up all over. There is a market for establishments that will supplement your child's education. If our school system was doing a good job, this wouldn't be happening.
I know how full day learning for four and five year olds will go. The Toronto garbage strike provides a strong clue. The staff will have great compensation packages, great benefits, and a Cadillac pension plan and they will still strike or threaten to strike every three or four years.
Full day learning for four and five year olds is a bad idea the deserves to be stopped. Write to your provincial government representative and tell them so.
Right On
Saturday, August 15, 2009
History of the World
The history of the world is one of tyranny and misery. People throughout history have lived under tyranny of an all powerful leader or state. The grandest exception to this is the United States for the last 233 years. The United States has been a pond of freedom and prosperity in an ocean of tyranny and misery.
Why? The DNA of the American is no different than others. Look no further than the constitution and the bill of rights. The right to Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness is the foundation. The bill of rights lists the protections that the citizens have from their own government. How profound. Freedom is unleashed. With freedom, citizens are unshackled to pursue their interests. And pursue they do. This pursuit leads to achievement and effort and individual betterment.
Do not muck this up. Allow the individual to pursue, achieve, and advance and you have a better citizenry and country.
Right On
Why? The DNA of the American is no different than others. Look no further than the constitution and the bill of rights. The right to Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness is the foundation. The bill of rights lists the protections that the citizens have from their own government. How profound. Freedom is unleashed. With freedom, citizens are unshackled to pursue their interests. And pursue they do. This pursuit leads to achievement and effort and individual betterment.
Do not muck this up. Allow the individual to pursue, achieve, and advance and you have a better citizenry and country.
Right On
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Nationalized Healthcare - To Our American Friends
You are in the middle of the great debate. Which mode of health care delivers health care most efficiently; public, private, or a combination of the two. Many have pointed to Canada's system to argue that public delivery is the "best". Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. This I don't want to argue. But, you should have an idea about the difference in what we pay in tax compared to what you pay in tax.
We have roughly similar societies. We don't have to finance a per capita defense budget as large as yours but everything else is similar. There is a great Canadian income tax calculator at http://www.ey.com/CA/en/Services/Tax/Tax-Calculators. This provides the amount of tax on income owed to the federal and provincial governments on various levels of taxable income. Taxable income is a close proxy to salary.
At $50,000 of taxable income, $9,497 of tax is owed in the province of Ontario.
At $100,000, $28,036 is owed.
At $150,000, $50,453 is owed.
Canadian's can use RSP contributions (similar to IRA contributions) to lower taxable income by $20,000 and defer tax to retirement years but there aren't many other methods to lower tax.
This doesn't include federal and provincial sales tax of roughly 14% on non-staple items nor property tax of roughly 1% of the value our homes nor many other nuisance taxes and tariffs.
Dear Americans, calculate your total tax and add your insurance premium to it and I will bet that the sum doesn't come close to what our total tax bill adds up to. It may if you choose the public health care delivery method.
Good luck.
Right on
We have roughly similar societies. We don't have to finance a per capita defense budget as large as yours but everything else is similar. There is a great Canadian income tax calculator at http://www.ey.com/CA/en/Services/Tax/Tax-Calculators. This provides the amount of tax on income owed to the federal and provincial governments on various levels of taxable income. Taxable income is a close proxy to salary.
At $50,000 of taxable income, $9,497 of tax is owed in the province of Ontario.
At $100,000, $28,036 is owed.
At $150,000, $50,453 is owed.
Canadian's can use RSP contributions (similar to IRA contributions) to lower taxable income by $20,000 and defer tax to retirement years but there aren't many other methods to lower tax.
This doesn't include federal and provincial sales tax of roughly 14% on non-staple items nor property tax of roughly 1% of the value our homes nor many other nuisance taxes and tariffs.
Dear Americans, calculate your total tax and add your insurance premium to it and I will bet that the sum doesn't come close to what our total tax bill adds up to. It may if you choose the public health care delivery method.
Good luck.
Right on
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Why I don't want a public daycare service
The Toronto garbage strike. Garbage collectors earn between $45 and $60K per year, have a great pension, bank up to 18 sick days per year and have other benefits. They still strike. Doesn't everyone see the connection.
Public daycare workers will be offered overly generous compensation and benefits and with time will push for more. The push will never end. They will hold parents hostage with strikes or threatened strikes.
The system as it stands is a vast transfer of wealth from those working in the private sector to those working in the public sector. Public daycare only adds to the problem.
Right On
Public daycare workers will be offered overly generous compensation and benefits and with time will push for more. The push will never end. They will hold parents hostage with strikes or threatened strikes.
The system as it stands is a vast transfer of wealth from those working in the private sector to those working in the public sector. Public daycare only adds to the problem.
Right On
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