As regular readers know I am a full scale Kyoto sceptic who, never the less, for reasons of geopolitics and thriftiness believes that alternative energy is critical to the West’s survival. So I was delighted to read on Tyler Hamilton’s must read blog, Clean Break, that there is a Geo-Exchange conference coming up on November 27th. i was less happy that it is in Montreal as that eliminates any possibility of getting there; but it is great to see this under explored technology being discussed.
I tend to call the tech “geo-thermal but it really does not matter. The point is that household heating and cooling could be done - either completely or in part - with nothing more complicated than some tubing, a trench or pond and a heat exchanger. Sure there are capital costs; but compared to building another nuclear reactor, high dam or coal fired plant these costs look pretty reasonable. And they would become more and more reasonable as the technology was adopted by more households.
the fact that they satisfy the religious belief of the enviros with respect to CO2 is a lucky co-incidence.
Written by jay on November 25th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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“We are delighted by the fact that Canada will become the first country to officially recognize the Quebec nation. Mr. Speaker, there will be many other countries that will recognize the nation of Quebec and the country of Quebec,” Duceppe said.” cbc
The pointy thing you are feeling is what is laughingly known as the thin end of the wedge.
Written by jay on November 25th, 2006 with no comments.
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Over at Bound By Gravity Andrew raises some rather direct questions about Flaherty’s introduction of the “net debt” concept in the fiscal update.
He helpfully provides this definition from the fiscal update papers:
The full impact of public debt on the economy includes not only the federal government’s debt, but also debt of provincial-territorial and local governments, and the assets of the Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan. That is why a standard measure of debt used by organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is total government net debt.
The OECD definition of total government net debt allows for comparisons across countries. It is calculated on a National Accounts basis. As such, the OECD definition is not directly comparable to federal debt (accumulated deficit) and excludes government employee unfunded pension liabilities, which are fully accounted for in federal debt (accumulated deficit). bound by gravity
Flaherty seems to be using the “net debt” number as a comparison with other G7 nations and with the OECD numbers. Which is good so far as it goes but using a net debt concept for much else smacks of slight of hand. Moreover, while the Statement defines net debt according to OECD standards there is nothing to suggest that this will be the standard the government uses or will continue to use.
In the movie biz, where lying with numbers has become a fine art, the greatest single question in a player’s contract is “net or gross points”. Gross points means a percentage of whatever the film takes in at the box office less what the exhibitor is paid. Net points means that gross number less whatever the hell the studio wants to deduct by way of “production and distribution” expenses for which there is no generally recognized calculation. Which do you think name stars and directors and even writers demand?
A legally undefined “net debt” calculation looks like flim-flam from where I sit. If you want to count government assets against “net debt” you get into a huge set of valuation questions. The CPP is relatively straightforward as it is a financial asset for the most part. But what is to stop you from counting government buildings at fair market value? Can you count Crown land? Can you count receivables (and at what discount?). Do you count future assets like offshore oil reserves or intellectual property like the RCMP logo? Do you count the CBC and its library of copyrights?
I suspect, depending on what assets you choose to include and what valuation you choose to give them, you could count Canada as debt free as of next Tuesday.
Which is bogus. But entirely expected from a Finance Minister who continues to claim the correct measure of the debt is as a percentage of GDP rather than as an absolute number.
Sigh.
Written by jay on November 25th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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