Pedram: The original old testament describes an ora around Moses, but because of poor translation in the middle ages, ora was translated as horns. So in a lot of the statues from that time, Moses is depicted with horns.
Shiva: Really?
Pedram: Yah. Look it up.
Sina: Is it on Wikipedia?
Pedram: Yup.
Sina: Alright I believe you.
The Drummond Report has been released and, if all goes according to plan, it will set up the political will for Ontario’s government to go ahead with its austerity plans. Meanwhile, the Federal government has hinted that it is going to go ahead with its planned austerity despite evidence of a deteriorating economy at a time when the Bank of Canada is still operating at near-zero interest rates.
Now it’s certainly satisfying to see some of my work in the final report, but I think I might be the only person in the Ontario Ministry of Finance right now that advocates more spending and higher deficits across Canada. (I can’t really blame Ontario because this actually needs to happen at the federal level.)
For example, while the report instead talks a lot about transportation user fees and congestion taxes (which I don’t mind!), this might be the opportune moment for federal and provincial commitments to build high-speed rail in the Quebec-Windsor corridor. And subways! Toronto desperately needs more subways!
Sigh. Why does Canada insist on following the European example? It’s not working well for them, you know.
This is 12:34 long and worth every second.
Kirk Douglas kills the guitar.
UPDATE (2012/02/16): I just watched this in HD on my TV. oh man…
I shut down my site recently for precautionary professional reasons. That goes against the most basic principle of my blog, which is that it should always be public and open (otherwise what’s the point of having a blog?!). And I purged some of the rottenness as well.
Which got me to think: why? And then, like most moments in my life, I was reminded of a comic.
As such, my site is back up and I’ve ended my short lived private-only post policy.
P.S. I also updated my site’s look to something proper. I think it’s just great.
Clap your hands y’all, it’s alright.
When William Easterly agrees with Jeffrey Sachs, there are two possible reasons.
1) Jeffrey Sachs is unusually right, or
2) William Easterly is unusually wrong.
Unfortunately in this case, Easterly is unusually wrong.
From the article:
Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman isn’t paying enough attention to growing U.S. government debt as he promotes deficit spending, Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs said.
“Krugman has staked out a rather crude Keynesian position and unrelentingly so,” Sachs said today.
Krugman “knows one thing, which is stimulus, stimulus, stimulus and expand deficit spending.”
Krugman has “under-emphasized the risks of growing debt, he’s over-asserted what we really know about the effects of these policies and he has underestimated the long-term need for public-sector change and reform,” Sachs said.
But it is all about stimulus (both fiscal and monetary). It is all about too much savings and not enough spending. And as long as there is a massive savings glut and interest rates are stuck at zero, federal government debt doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t.
Tell your friends.
pooƃ os :ɐ
Some updates:
– the problem with exchange students from the south of France is that they make you want to move to the south of France
– ultimate frisbee is a great winter activity
– having a TV just confirms that, although it’s definitely nice, it’s really not that amazing
– for the first time in 20 years, I have a gaming console
– but let’s be clear, PS3 gots nothing on NES
– I’ve taken up cross-country skiing and it’s damn fun
– I really don’t think I’d hate winter in Toronto so much if every winter were this mild
– and the skiing is helping too
– my grad school applications are all in. and my professor screwed me over again.
– chance encounters are sorta amazing
– I lack a lot of things, but I don’t lack perspective
– I miss my friend Jessica
– and I finally get what she was talking about.
“I just want to tell you something before you leave. You are all going to junior high next year and then high school after, and then university or college years after that. Some of you will go to different schools. And even if you do go to the same schools, you will make new friends and some of you won’t be friends anymore. You may not think so right now, but it’s true. Sometimes people are going to do mean things to you and you will sometimes do mean things to others. You will have hard classes and you will have easy classes. You will like some of your teachers and others you won’t. But no matter where you go in life and no matter what you do, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how bad it seems, I want you to know one thing: It will pass. Believe me. You will get through it. I promise you. *pause* *pause* Good luck and have a great summer.”
– Mrs Ward, Grade 6 Teacher, Last day of school, June 1996
Kids, life always goes on.
[
