After long months of silence, the Ontario government has now stated that it will not cover any shortfall in the pension plans for GM and Chrysler when they go bankrupt.
Both companies and especially GM have committed a form of fraud over the past generation, underfunding their pension plan while, at the same time claiming they were too big to fail and did not need to pay money in the trust fund maintained by the Ontario government to protect employees in the event a company goes bankrupt.
Many stakeholders, including U.N.C.L.E., made it clear that the Ontario taxpayer is not responsible for covering a private pension plan for which the taxpayer could not benefit from if it was over funded, and was never invited to the bargaining table.
The UAW and GM employees, especially, are livid with the decision. After decades of fleecing the car buyer and the taxpayer, the people in this industry formed a culture of entitlement which was not sustainable. When organizations like U.N.C.L.E. called for restructuring and change, we were told where to go.
We sympathize with the employees, many of them who put their trust in an incompetent union negotiators and equally dumb GM management. However, this is not a new issue. For at least 20 years, all industry stakeholders except for the union and management warned of the way the pension deficit was ballooning.
While the taxpayer is not required to foot the bill for the unfunded pension, the government should still act. Senior GM management as well as UAW management should be held under criminal arrest until it is determined whether a crime has been committed. All vehicle inventory plus factories need to be seized by the government and auctioned off to compensate the pension plan.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Pot Calling the Kettle Black
Canadian university professors are complaining that their first year students in Ontario are lazy, relying on Wikipedia to collect information for assignments rather than doing work.
Maybe assignments should be based on something more than simply gathering information, maybe analysis might matter LOL.
After living in Latin America for three years, I was astonished to see the university program highlights in B.C. that were outright lies about life in Latin America. You see, the professors who design these programs have NEVER been to Latin America. They design the programs based on elitist academic views which have no relationship to the on-the-ground truth. For example, here in B.C. there are programs that discuss how NAFTA has been to the disadvantage of Mexicans. But, in Mexico, the VAST majority of people think NAFTA has made them equal to Americans and Canadians.
The hubris of the typical North American professor-type is offensive.
And the qualifications of many of the high school "leaders" who are responsible for graduating some of these students are suspect. Tonight on CBC, they interviewed a typical high school principal in Ontario. His name is Tom Shultz. I know Tom, very well. He was a phys-ed teacher at Merivale High School when I attended there in 1975-1980. At risk of being sued for slander, I won't say much more about Shultzie.
Maybe assignments should be based on something more than simply gathering information, maybe analysis might matter LOL.
After living in Latin America for three years, I was astonished to see the university program highlights in B.C. that were outright lies about life in Latin America. You see, the professors who design these programs have NEVER been to Latin America. They design the programs based on elitist academic views which have no relationship to the on-the-ground truth. For example, here in B.C. there are programs that discuss how NAFTA has been to the disadvantage of Mexicans. But, in Mexico, the VAST majority of people think NAFTA has made them equal to Americans and Canadians.
The hubris of the typical North American professor-type is offensive.
And the qualifications of many of the high school "leaders" who are responsible for graduating some of these students are suspect. Tonight on CBC, they interviewed a typical high school principal in Ontario. His name is Tom Shultz. I know Tom, very well. He was a phys-ed teacher at Merivale High School when I attended there in 1975-1980. At risk of being sued for slander, I won't say much more about Shultzie.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The White Man's Burden
It started as Imperialism, when the British ruled the world. But its beginnings started in Rome a couple of thousand years previous.
It is really just hubris after all; the belief that one is superior to another and can provide advice and counsel. And run the shop better than the shop owner.
Once the twentieth century arrived, Imperialism had a bad name. Sadly, it was replaced by other isms which have fared much worse. Fascism and communism are examples. Then, once we white folks were blamed for all the ills of the world by the very people who benefited from such ills (a.ka. fully tenured university professors), we decided to go about fixing those problems. Give us your starving children, your dying grandparents, your drunk Indians etc. etc. and we will nurse them back to life.
Along came the Red Cross and Oxfam, and the like.
This institutionalized, and almost, Jungian, unconscious guilt over the perceived mis-deeds of long-dead Caucasian generations has caused many Western nations along with their living, Caucasian, male leaders to do some of the darned things.
When Afghanistan, a nation of nothing more than a bunch of heroine exporting, ignorant dumb assess who live mainly in huts, herding goats, decided that it would harbour the Taliban and Al Queada, some of us decided we needed to fix the place. So we invested billions of dollars. Only to find out that some guy wearing a Shriner's hat has decided that its ok to rape women, and actually codified it into law. Wouldn't we have been better off to just close our borders to anyone holding an Afghan passport, or even anyone who had visited the place in the past 10 years?
I don't suffer from White Man's Burden. I don't blame myself nor my ancestors for the fact that people in Afghanistan just don't get it. My accountability and responsibility in life goes no further than my backyard. And my offer to help those who can't help themselves doesn't extend outside my neighborhood.
Its not that I am selfish or lazy, qualities which every human being shares, whether in Canada or Afghanistan. It's that I am not lost in my own hubris. I am no better than anyone else. I am just a simple fellow who knows I cannot help someone who doesn't realize that I have help to give.
So its time to exist Afghanistan quick as a fart in the wind. By staying there, we perpetuate the culture of guilt which takes resources away from the people who really need it - the people in our house, our backyard and our neighborhood.
It is really just hubris after all; the belief that one is superior to another and can provide advice and counsel. And run the shop better than the shop owner.
Once the twentieth century arrived, Imperialism had a bad name. Sadly, it was replaced by other isms which have fared much worse. Fascism and communism are examples. Then, once we white folks were blamed for all the ills of the world by the very people who benefited from such ills (a.ka. fully tenured university professors), we decided to go about fixing those problems. Give us your starving children, your dying grandparents, your drunk Indians etc. etc. and we will nurse them back to life.
Along came the Red Cross and Oxfam, and the like.
This institutionalized, and almost, Jungian, unconscious guilt over the perceived mis-deeds of long-dead Caucasian generations has caused many Western nations along with their living, Caucasian, male leaders to do some of the darned things.
When Afghanistan, a nation of nothing more than a bunch of heroine exporting, ignorant dumb assess who live mainly in huts, herding goats, decided that it would harbour the Taliban and Al Queada, some of us decided we needed to fix the place. So we invested billions of dollars. Only to find out that some guy wearing a Shriner's hat has decided that its ok to rape women, and actually codified it into law. Wouldn't we have been better off to just close our borders to anyone holding an Afghan passport, or even anyone who had visited the place in the past 10 years?
I don't suffer from White Man's Burden. I don't blame myself nor my ancestors for the fact that people in Afghanistan just don't get it. My accountability and responsibility in life goes no further than my backyard. And my offer to help those who can't help themselves doesn't extend outside my neighborhood.
Its not that I am selfish or lazy, qualities which every human being shares, whether in Canada or Afghanistan. It's that I am not lost in my own hubris. I am no better than anyone else. I am just a simple fellow who knows I cannot help someone who doesn't realize that I have help to give.
So its time to exist Afghanistan quick as a fart in the wind. By staying there, we perpetuate the culture of guilt which takes resources away from the people who really need it - the people in our house, our backyard and our neighborhood.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Eliteism and French Immersion
Today I read that some Toronto parents are concerned that their children are being denied the opportunity to be placed in French immersion classes because their children are not "gifted".
The two biggest lies, and there are lots of lies in this field, in education, is that only gifted students belong in French immersion along with the lie that students must score well in math to take computer science courses.
Learning a langauge has absolutely nothing to do with being gifted. It is based on need. I know many people who speak multiple languages who have never graduated from high school. I have a friend who is fluent in Vietnamese, Mandarin, English and French, who never took a course other than English in his life.
French immersion is a sham. A total farce. Students are held up as some sort of model of special education when many of them can barely order a meal at the St. Hubert in Montreal. A supposed French immersion teacher I know ordered a meal, in French, from a deli in Montreal and the waitress did not understand one word he said. A French immersion graduate I know, now lives in California where she wishes, every day, that she had learned some basic Spanish.
Various Canadian governments spend 100s of millions of dollars to teach people French, while far more Canadian youth learn Mandarin and Cantonese over the dinner table at home.
Speaking French in Canada is completely irrelevant except to people working in the Quebec provincial or municipal civil service.
The entire program in Canada to teach anglophones French is completely useless. I took 10 years of French education in school, but learned more Spanish by living in Mexico for 4 months LOL.
Learning a second or third language is important. It does not require secondary school immersion programs.
Ditch the French immersion and teach the kids how to communicate effectively, independent of English or French.
The two biggest lies, and there are lots of lies in this field, in education, is that only gifted students belong in French immersion along with the lie that students must score well in math to take computer science courses.
Learning a langauge has absolutely nothing to do with being gifted. It is based on need. I know many people who speak multiple languages who have never graduated from high school. I have a friend who is fluent in Vietnamese, Mandarin, English and French, who never took a course other than English in his life.
French immersion is a sham. A total farce. Students are held up as some sort of model of special education when many of them can barely order a meal at the St. Hubert in Montreal. A supposed French immersion teacher I know ordered a meal, in French, from a deli in Montreal and the waitress did not understand one word he said. A French immersion graduate I know, now lives in California where she wishes, every day, that she had learned some basic Spanish.
Various Canadian governments spend 100s of millions of dollars to teach people French, while far more Canadian youth learn Mandarin and Cantonese over the dinner table at home.
Speaking French in Canada is completely irrelevant except to people working in the Quebec provincial or municipal civil service.
The entire program in Canada to teach anglophones French is completely useless. I took 10 years of French education in school, but learned more Spanish by living in Mexico for 4 months LOL.
Learning a second or third language is important. It does not require secondary school immersion programs.
Ditch the French immersion and teach the kids how to communicate effectively, independent of English or French.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Should Animals Be Doing More For Animal Rights?
U.N.C.L.E. believes that animals, particularly wild animals, should play a more active role in the fight for their rights by participating in marches or organizing boycotts.
For several milinea, too many animals have been chasing each other around, and often eating each other. They need to put aside their differences and come to the table together to demand their rights. They need to raise up their paws, or talons or whatever.
Animals need to take control of their own future and organize themselves. With the pending end of the United Auto Workers (UAW), perhaps the union officials can be put to work organizing animal rights from the ground up to the tips of the trees.
Animals have a right to be heard. Most animals anyhow. We don't include those bad animals such as that skunk-type animal from China that causes SARS, and we exclude those really ugly animals like hyenas.
I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the first 1 million animal march on Washington. And also watching the animals have their own Pride celebration where the damned ugliest ones walk down the road with no clothes on, and the big, fat female animals like a hippo bounce those big mammaries of theirs up and down as they wave placards demanding equality.
Animals should also boycott events. Bears, for instance, should refuse to attend the bear hunt. Lemmings should stop at the end of the cliff, not jump off it.
Nuff said.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Excessive Exit Packages
Judy Rogers was the city manager in Vancouver. She also sits on the board of the organizing committee for the Olympic games (VANOC).
In December, after the new mayor took over, Rogers resigned. It cost the city almost $600,000 to pay off Rogers. That payoff represented 2 years salary.
Its an unconscionable amount of money to pay someone not to work. The cash payment is only part of what Roger's receives. She still qualifies for a pension well in excess of $60,000 per year. In addition, she is not required to pay anything back should she find another job. She does not give up her role with VANOC and she receives job counseling.
Rogers is not the problem here. She was a perfectly competent city manager, but no friend of the unions who new city mayor Gregor Robertson relies on for support.
The problem is that the payoff to Rogers establishes a precedent for the next person in line. Its a culture of largess where politicians pay off established staff in order to put their own hand-picked people in place, often brown-nosed, ass kissers, who then go on to recommend projects the politician wants, despite the absence of any merit to the project.
Rogers' payment is actually not out of line. In Toronto, several senior bureaucrats were dismissed for cause including Wanda Lysiak, Treasurer, and were paid out. Lysiak was paid in excess of $400,000 despite being fired for cause and investigated for potential criminal malfeasance. However, nothing compared to one Toronto city manager, fired for cause and paid $500,000, who started work 3 days later at a 6-figure salary for the University of Toronto!
Of course public sector payouts don't compare to the private sector. Robert Nardelli was fired as CEO of Home Depot and paid $200 million!!
In December, after the new mayor took over, Rogers resigned. It cost the city almost $600,000 to pay off Rogers. That payoff represented 2 years salary.
Its an unconscionable amount of money to pay someone not to work. The cash payment is only part of what Roger's receives. She still qualifies for a pension well in excess of $60,000 per year. In addition, she is not required to pay anything back should she find another job. She does not give up her role with VANOC and she receives job counseling.
Rogers is not the problem here. She was a perfectly competent city manager, but no friend of the unions who new city mayor Gregor Robertson relies on for support.
The problem is that the payoff to Rogers establishes a precedent for the next person in line. Its a culture of largess where politicians pay off established staff in order to put their own hand-picked people in place, often brown-nosed, ass kissers, who then go on to recommend projects the politician wants, despite the absence of any merit to the project.
Rogers' payment is actually not out of line. In Toronto, several senior bureaucrats were dismissed for cause including Wanda Lysiak, Treasurer, and were paid out. Lysiak was paid in excess of $400,000 despite being fired for cause and investigated for potential criminal malfeasance. However, nothing compared to one Toronto city manager, fired for cause and paid $500,000, who started work 3 days later at a 6-figure salary for the University of Toronto!
Of course public sector payouts don't compare to the private sector. Robert Nardelli was fired as CEO of Home Depot and paid $200 million!!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
You Aren't Covered for That - Sorry
The Business Model for Insurance Companies
You walk out of your home one morning and discover a vandal has broken into your car, parked on the street, by smashing a window and breaking the side mirror. You call your insurance company and they ask you to send: a copy of your driver's licence, the original police report, a copy of the city permit allowing you to park on the street, your lease proving you live on the street, a copy of the ownership, photos before and after, and an affidavit that the damage to your car occurred on the street.
After you send all the information to your insurance company, a month goes by and they now ask for: the original of the city permit allowing you to park on the street and the negatives from the photos.
Another month goes by and a letter arrives: you need to provide proof you have paid the lease and provide something like a utility bill which proves you live under the lease agreement.
Two months go by and another letter arrives: please provide proof that the side view mirror was standard with the car when you purchased it, not an aftermarket upgrade.
A month later you receive another letter advising that "you are not covered for the damage because you have an underground parking spot in your apartment which you did not use. You failed to document the reasons for parking on the street. We would be happy to answer any questions you have. Please call us at 1-800-555-1212"
You call the insurance company's call center 18 times over the next month. 10 times the line is busy, 3 times you go into an endless loop of voicemail and no-one answers the phone, and 5 times you leave a message but never get a call back. On the 19th time you get a "customer service associate" in Mumbai who you cannot understand. He keeps asking you over and over, "did you pay the deductible, did you pay the deductible." It seems that the script on his computer is stuck.
When the same insurance company - AIG, is taken over by the government, a number of executives take $$millions in bonuses, without ever once making a written request and without documenting any of the payments. No deductible was applied to the payments. 11 of the executives agree to stay on to work the company out of its problems, but all resign on the day they receive their bonuses.
Oddly, the CEO of AIG doesn't think there is anything wrong with their business model. The next day, the CEO finds the hood of his car spray painted with AIG - Arrogance, Incompetence and Greed. Do you think he knows better than to call his insurance company?
You walk out of your home one morning and discover a vandal has broken into your car, parked on the street, by smashing a window and breaking the side mirror. You call your insurance company and they ask you to send: a copy of your driver's licence, the original police report, a copy of the city permit allowing you to park on the street, your lease proving you live on the street, a copy of the ownership, photos before and after, and an affidavit that the damage to your car occurred on the street.
After you send all the information to your insurance company, a month goes by and they now ask for: the original of the city permit allowing you to park on the street and the negatives from the photos.
Another month goes by and a letter arrives: you need to provide proof you have paid the lease and provide something like a utility bill which proves you live under the lease agreement.
Two months go by and another letter arrives: please provide proof that the side view mirror was standard with the car when you purchased it, not an aftermarket upgrade.
A month later you receive another letter advising that "you are not covered for the damage because you have an underground parking spot in your apartment which you did not use. You failed to document the reasons for parking on the street. We would be happy to answer any questions you have. Please call us at 1-800-555-1212"
You call the insurance company's call center 18 times over the next month. 10 times the line is busy, 3 times you go into an endless loop of voicemail and no-one answers the phone, and 5 times you leave a message but never get a call back. On the 19th time you get a "customer service associate" in Mumbai who you cannot understand. He keeps asking you over and over, "did you pay the deductible, did you pay the deductible." It seems that the script on his computer is stuck.
When the same insurance company - AIG, is taken over by the government, a number of executives take $$millions in bonuses, without ever once making a written request and without documenting any of the payments. No deductible was applied to the payments. 11 of the executives agree to stay on to work the company out of its problems, but all resign on the day they receive their bonuses.
Oddly, the CEO of AIG doesn't think there is anything wrong with their business model. The next day, the CEO finds the hood of his car spray painted with AIG - Arrogance, Incompetence and Greed. Do you think he knows better than to call his insurance company?
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