I hate it when the government bribes us.

In July the BC provincial government and the Ontario provincial government are adding a new tax - the HST - that will increase the rate we pay on lots of stuff.

In Ontario, the government is sending everyone a cheque for a $1000. (I think. That's what I heard, anyway.)

A couple years ago the BC government did something similar with the carbon tax.

This is such an obvious ploy to buy-off the voters. If the government truly wanted to help us save money on the tax, lower the tax rate. Or give a 60 day grace period. Or, best yet, don't even bring in new taxes.

Why spend all that money sending money back to the people who had to send money to the government in the first place?

Emergency plans never work.

Every now and then while driving I see a road sign that says, "Disaster Route". I wonder what the hell that means. I figure it's an evacuation route for some monstrous disaster. But I know that if the disaster is bad enough, there's no point relying on government emergency plans.

On January 12, Haiti was hit by a 7.0 Earthquake and 33 after shocks. Yesterday, Haiti got hit by another 5.9 earthquake. Estimates are that 100,000 people could die from this disaster.

I was watching CNN the other day and Anderson Cooper said that relief operations had been bungled. It took 3 days for international rescue teams to arrive because before landing in Haiti they were busy "assessing" the situation.

Have you noticed that in every major disaster, help never arrives on time and rescue efforts are bungled? That's just the way disasters work.

Here's the wikipedia entry on 1995's Kobe earthquake (approximately same size as Haiti and 6,000 people died):

In the aftermath, both citizens and specialists lost faith in the technology of their early warning systems and earthquake construction techniques. The national government of Japan was criticised for not acting quickly enough to save many people, for poorly managing Japanese volunteers, and for initially refusing help from foreign nations, including the United States, South Korea, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom.

And here's the entry on Hurricane Katrina:

The criticisms of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina primarily consisted of criticism of mismanagement and lack of leadership in the relief efforts in response to the storm and its aftermath. More specifically, the criticism focused on the delayed response to the flooding of New Orleans, and the subsequent state of chaos in the Crescent City.

Should I bailout failing local tv stations?

I guess local broadcasters like CTV, Global and CBC, have been asking the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission to tax cable and satellite customers for receiving over-the-air television stations.

In other words, they're losing money because no one watches their crappy shows and they want the government to take my money and give it to them.

My thoughts are: there's a reason you're losing money. It's because there is no demand for your programming. People don't want to watch your shows. So you should fail or change. You shouldn't ask the government for a bailout.

Why? Because I don't want the government deciding what I should be watching on TV and taking my money to finance shows that no one watches.

Local is not always better. In fact, local is very often inferior. That's why we have free trade. It's why we're able to buy better quality, cheaper products elsewhere. Same goes with television and movies and radio and entertainment.

Talking on a cell phone while driving will soon be illegal.

The provincial government recently announced that talking on the cell phone or texting while driving will soon be illegal.

They announced it to great fanfare. People were happy. A few representatives from various community groups were standing beside the minister at the press conference, smiling and nodding their heads.

People phoned into the radio station and said it was a great idea because they've had lots of "close calls" or "near misses" with distracted drivers.

My first instinct as well is to support the move. No one likes people yapping on their cell phones while they drive.

But we also need to think about the role of government. Should the government be responsible for legislating good behaviour? Can you legislate good behaviour? Do laws make people moral? Is the government's role to take care of us? Do I want a portion of my taxes supporting these kinds of initiatives?

Where do we draw the line? If talking on a cell phone distracts drivers, then shouldn't it be illegal to talk to a passenger? Or fiddle with the radio?

We need to remember every law that is passed, no matter how benign, gives the government just a little more power over our lives. And, in this case, the government restricts our freedom just a little more as well.

PS: Isn't the expression "near miss" silly? Wouldn't it just be a "miss"? I would think a near miss would actually be a hit.

We shouldn't ever rely on the government.

Another post regarding Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge. He said that during disasters the government is never a "first responder". In other words, if the government bothers to come to your rescue at all, it always comes much too late. In many countries the government doesn't bother to come at all.



The perfect local example is Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Remember all the people stuck at the convention centre for a week with no food, water or medical help? All those people stuck on the roofs of their houses? The bodies floating around for weeks?



Cooper said that during disaster it's individuals who go in and help people. This brings up a good point: Never rely on the government.



Sorry, but the government will not solve all your problems. The government will not rescue you in a major disaster or give you enough money if you're poor or look after you if you're sick. They say they will and they'll charge you high taxes for it.



They might even do a little bit for a little while. But in the end, the government will fail. You will be disappointed. Conservatives recognize this; Libertarians even more so; Liberals - not so much.



The reasons the government ultimately fails are a topic for another (longer) post. In the mean time, plan to take care of yourself. Assume that government programs and institutions won't help you much.