L'argent des autres...

À l'aube d'une récession en double creux, on constate que les employés de la STM (réseau de transport public de Montréal) vivent la dolce vita...

Via le Blogue du QL:

Dépenser l’argent des autres…

par Gilles Guénette

On apprend ce matin dans La Presse qu’il y a de plus en plus de riches au Québec. En effet, «de 2006 à 2007, le nombre de Québécois ayant déclaré des revenus de 100 000$ ou plus a progressé de 13,7% pour atteindre 214 237 contribuables [ou 3,6% seulement des 5 961 937 contribuables]. En termes absolus, jamais le nombre de Québécois ayant déclaré des revenus de 100 000$ ou plus n'aura grimpé autant en une seule année, selon le dernier rapport sur les statistiques fiscales des particuliers publié cette semaine par le ministère des Finances». Voilà une bonne nouvelle.

Et si on se fie à ce qu’on apprenait hier dans Le Journal de Montréal, beaucoup de ses nouveaux riches se trouvent à la Société de transport de Montréal. En effet, grâce à la Loi d’accès à l’information, TVA Nouvelles a appris que «44 chauffeurs d'autobus dont le salaire moyen est de 58 000 $ ont touché jusqu'à 133 000 $. Les chauffeurs ne sont pas les seuls à faire de bonnes affaires puisqu’une dizaine de professionnels syndiqués ont accumulé jusqu'à 157 000 $; 16 commis divisionnaires qui s'occupent de la répartition des véhicules et qui ont un salaire annuel moyen de 71 000 dollars ont encaissé plus de 130 000 $; 22 membres du personnel administratif ont reçu entre 116 000 et 136 000 $; et 37 employés d'entretien gagnant en temps normal moins de 60 000 $ par année ont reçu entre 120 000 et 139 000 $.»

Encore une preuve, comme si on en avait besoin d’une de plus, qu’on ne regarde pas la dépense lorsqu’on gère l’argent des autres! (Surtout lorsqu’on a la certitude que l’État va nous backer, ou éponger d’éventuels déficits extraordinaires en cas de pépin.) L'an dernier seulement, la STM aurait versé près de 48 millions de dollars en heures supplémentaires à ses employés sur une masse salariale d'environ 662 millions de dollars. Et ce ne sont pas de petits salaires! En moyenne, 60 000 $ pour un employé d'entretien. Idem pour chauffeur d’autobus. 71 000 $ pour un commis divisionnaire (whatever that is!).

«Bon an, mal an, on fait l'analyse et soyez assuré qu'on gère ça avec beaucoup de rigueur, parce que c'est quand même les deniers publics», soutient Odile Paradis, directrice principale, Affaires publiques de la STM. Je me demande si ce genre de «rigueur» serait de mise dans une STM privée.

Les totalitaires s'en prennent à l'économie comportementale (behavorial economics)

Via the Daily Reckoning:

Zookeepers Unite Against Behavioral Economics

from The Daily Reckoning by Bill Bonner

Loewenstein and Ubel take aim at the jungle. They believe “behavioral economics,” in which you actually watch what people do, is a threat to their trade.

“For all its insights, behavioral economics alone is not a viable alternative to the kinds of far-reaching policies we need to tackle our challenges,” they write.

What sort of ‘far-reaching policies?’

Well, to give you an idea. The feds came to the conclusion that it was not a good idea to let people get so fat. What to do about it?

“The fashionable response,” say the two, “based on the belief that better information can lead to better behavior, is to influence consumers through things like calorie labeling.”

But the latest studies show that “it has little impact.” In other words, people don’t seem to care. But instead of letting fully informed people make their own decisions about how fat they will be, the zookeepers want to decide for them.

The problem is that food is too cheap, they conclude. So “we need to consider taxes on unhealthful foods.”

But “an over-reliance on behavioral economics is not limited to health care,” they point out. Take energy consumption. The two note that merely telling drivers how much gas they’re burning is not enough. The real problem is that “gas is still relatively cheap. An increase in the gas tax that made the price of gas reflect its true cost [what?] would be…far more effective.”

Deconstruction: The two academics are closed-minded, meddling bumblers. Obviously, the fat person chooses to be fat and the gas-guzzler chooses to guzzle gas. Both of them have their eyes wide open. Loewenstein and Ubel merely want to substitute their own tastes and judgments for those of the native fauna. They’re the zookeepers, after all.

Bill Bonner
for The Daily Reckoning

Les dangers d'une présidence échouée

Via Zero Hedge:

The Dangers of a Failed Presidency

By Michael Krieger, of KAM LP

If moderation is a fault then indifference is a crime.

-Jack Kerouac

Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.

-Buddha

Having fallen from the eternal, the Evil One's desires are endless, insatiable. Having fallen from pure Being, he is driven by the desire to possess, to fill his emptiness. But the problem is insoluble, always. He is compelled to have and to hold, to possess and consume, and nothing else. All he takes, he destroys. Certainly he rules the material, as he is called the Prince of this World in the gospels - but only of the things of this world.

-Denis de Rougemont

I have been calling Barrack Obama’s Presidency a failure for at least six months now and it seems that I now have considerable company in this assessment as it becomes obvious to most. It is not a failure because of the Republicans. It is not a failure because of events beyond his control. It is a failure because this was a man that filled a depressed and downtrodden nation with the audacity of hope. When I voted for the man I knew it was against my personal financial interests. It was clear what he would do with taxes. Nevertheless, I got to the polls and voted for this fifth avenue creation thinking maybe, just maybe he might do some of the things he said. Most important to me were two issues related to the military-industrial complex (see Eisenhower’s warning on this during his Farewell Addresshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY) and civil liberties. George W Bush was turning America into a depressed police state with perpetual war and consolidation of power between a corporate oligarchy and entrenched political class. A nation where the masses voluntarily gave up many of the liberties the founding fathers fought for merely to ease the fear that consumed them and which was propagated by the administration and the media. I and many others that voted for him even though they disagreed strongly with his economic policies thought he would at least reverse this trend. Why did we think this? Cause he said so. How foolish we were.

That being said, the real answer was certainly not John McCain as I think we would be in just as bad shape with him. I think that what this experience has taught us is that the President of the United States answers to others behind the scene. There are many theories on who these others are but I will keep it very simple. There is clearly a power elite that consists of a union between big corporate and financial oligarchs and career bureaucrats in Washington D.C. These are the folks that pull the strings of all administrations. All you have to do is look at the trends that have been in place since George W Bush and continue under Obama to see what these players want. Bigger government and thus more Federal power, more wealth for the oligarchs (thank you Federal Reserve) and an erosion of the middle class, and reduction of civil liberties in the name of the 1984-like never-ending “war on terror.” I believe in a war on terror of my own. A war against the terror that Washington D.C. is constantly trying to inject into your head so that you sheepishly give away all you rights and power to them. That’s my war on terror.

Ok, so what do I mean by “The Dangers of a Failed Presidency.” I mean that it is July of an election year and Obama’s magic spell that held sway over the American people and the world for about three months has completely washed away. I mean that the printed money mirage recovery that we have had to tragically watch is ending and we have no job growth to speak of other than a few hundred thousand census workers. The public has no appetite for more spending and Bernanke has no cover to print more money (yet). As such, if people think things are in freefall now for this administration just wait and see how the next several months pan out. This then brings me to the following quote:

The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” says Rob Shapiro, another former Clinton official and a supporter of Mr Obama. “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”

I found this quote in an FT article earlier in the week and it sent chills all over my body. This is how the strategists in Washington D.C. think. They are sick, twisted people. This guy doesn’t even realize how sick and twisted what he said is which is why he said it. Imagine what they say off the record! You can take this quote in many different ways but none of them are good. I am not going to say anything beyond the fact that I would be VERY suspicious if some sort of event occurred before the elections. Google the term “false flag.” Also remember Rahm Emmanuel’s famous quote of “you don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” Think about this deeply. This doesn’t mean do what the public wants, or follow the constitution. It means that that those pulling the strings of power have the opportunity to do what THEY want, what fits THEIR ideology. Hitler is the most famous modern example of a leader that used a crisis to form his fascist state. Again, I am not talking about Obama in isolation. I am referring to the power structure that has been firmly in place since the 9/11 attacks. Many call it a silent coup. I agree with this assessment.

This email is not meant to create fear. It is actually meant to get people ready if things get crazy for whatever reason. It is a challenge to people. I challenge everyone to think about how they would react should another terrorist attack or something along those lines occur. I was there for 9/11 and I saw the buildings go down in person. I know what it was like to be manipulated by my own government and media in the wake of such an emotional trauma. I also see that what we have done since, with things such as the Patriot Act and two wars that are still ongoing, and I have reflected on how they have changed America for the worse and provided a fertile ground for the elite to take away more of our rights and our wealth. So my rallying cry is that we must be strong and fearless in the face of fearful events. In the wake of anything that may occur in the years ahead we must not react on emotion and NEVER give away our inalienable rights in the name of protection from big brother. Be fearless, strong and resolute. Spend more time with your neighbors and build things up at the local level. If we have those supports then we will be less inclined to cry to the magicians in D.C. and the Federal Reserve for “help.”

Mike

Les merveilles des utopies socialistes

Via My Way News:

Report: Amputations without anesthesia in NKorea

Jul 15, 4:50 AM (ET)

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea's health care system is in shambles with doctors sometimes performing amputations without anesthesia and working by candlelight in hospitals lacking essential medicine, heat and power, a human rights watchdog said Thursday.

North Korea's state health care system has been deteriorating for years amid the country's economic difficulties. Many of its 24 million people reportedly face health problems related to chronic malnutrition, such as tuberculosis and anemia, Amnesty International said in a report on the state of the health care system.

A 24-year-old defector from northeastern Hamkyong province told Amnesty that a doctor amputated his left leg from the calf down without anesthesia after his ankle was crushed by a moving train when he fell from one of the cars.

"Five medical assistants held my arms and legs down to keep me from moving. I was in so much pain that I screamed and eventually fainted from pain," said the man, identified only by his family name, Hwang. "I woke up one week later in a hospital bed."

The report was based on interviews with more than 40 North Koreans who have defected, mostly to South Korea, as well as organizations and health care professionals who work with North Koreans. Amnesty researchers did not have access to North Korea, one of the world's most closed countries.

There was no immediate reaction from North Korea, which is sensitive to outside criticism and usually responds through its state-controlled media, though sometimes days or even weeks later.

North Korea says it provides free medical care to all its citizens. But Amnesty said most interviewees said they or a family member had given doctors cigarettes, alcohol or money to receive medical care.

Doctors often work without pay, have little or no medicine to dispense and reuse scant medical supplies, the report said.

"People in North Korea don't bother going to the hospital if they don't have money because everyone knows that you have to pay for service and treatment," a 20-year-old North Korean defector named Rhee was quoted as saying. "If you don't have money, you die."

Many interviewees said they had to walk as long as two hours to get to a hospital for surgery, said Norma Kang Muico, an Amnesty researcher and author of the report.

North Koreans are numbed to what was wrong with the health system, because "things keep progressively getting worse, or even staying the same but at that low level," she told reporters in Seoul on Thursday.

Amnesty blamed failed or counterproductive government policies and said North Korea should cooperate with aid donors to ensure transparency in the distribution of food assistance and guarantee that medical personnel are paid adequately.

The group also recommended that countries such as South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia ensure that humanitarian assistance in North Korea is based on need and is not subject to political conditions.

__

Associated Press writer Sangwon Yoon contributed to this report.

Pourquoi les oligarches aiment-ils la 'death tax'?

Ce message fait suite à l'hypocrisie des milliardaires.

Via Economic Policy Journal:

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010

Why Oligarchs Like Estate Taxes

One thing that needs to be understood about oligarchs is that they are accumulators of assets and businesses. If it throws off huge cash flow, they want it. It is not for entertainment value that Warren Buffett in each issue of Berkshire Hathaway's annual report announces that he is looking to buy businesses.

What does this have to do with estate taxes? Many of the great family businesses of all time have been put on the market for oligarchs to swoop up because of estate taxes.

A case in point, that turned out okay, is the recent death of majority New York Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner. Because he died this year, when there is a fluke no active estate tax, the family will be able to hold on to his stake in the Yankees and keep it a family business. If he had died, the year before, or even worse, next year, the estate tax bill would be horrendous, over $500 million. The family would have been forced to sell. Most likely into the hands of an oligarch, maybe even Buffett.

La citation du jour

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

-Cicero, 55 BC

L'illétrisme économique et Wal Mart

Via le blogue de David Descôteaux:

VENDREDI 9 JUILLET 2010

Wal-Mart isn't the villain here

(Published in Metro)

A sticky Saturday in my backyard. The kids are gushing sweat like two BP wells.

“Ok. I’ll go to Wal-Mart and buy a swimming pool.” Across the fence, my neighbour Stephanie is sunbathing. She jumps up. “Wal-Mart? They get their stuff from workers paid $1 an hour in foreign countries while people here are losing their jobs!”

Here we go again …

Stephanie was probably at the G20 summit throwing stones at police last week. She has good intentions, but a poor understanding of economics.

“Stephanie,” I say. “You focus on one visible aspect of free trade, and ignore other crucial effects.

“Suppose Ben gets a bicycle from Jerome for $100. Suddenly, Canada opens up to international trade. Ben can now buy an Indian bicycle for $20. Four things happen:

1- Ben is $80 richer. With this money, he can stimulate jobs in other Canadian businesses.

2- Jerome is $100 poorer — at most. He can try to match his competitor’s price, or leave the bicycle business. For now, he goes out into the street and screams anti-free trade slogans.

3- Julia, an Ontarian unable to afford a $100 bike, can now get one for $20.

4- Baijk, an Indian, earns a living working in a bicycle factory.

Of the four effects, only the second is bad for Canadians. And it’s more than outweighed by the other three.

Stephanie doesn’t budge: “You economists just look at numbers. What about poor Jerome?

“We could compensate him. For example, we could take $50 of Ben’s new wealth and give it to Jerome. When the pie gets bigger, everyone can get a bigger slice.

“But, in India, a factory with no minimum wage exploits Baijk while polluting the environment!”

“True. But nobody forces Baijk to work in that factory. He chose to work there because his other options — prostituting himself or scavenging scrap metal from mountains of trash — are worse to him. The hard truth is: The only way Baijk can earn a better wage is if more multinationals like Wal-Mart compete to ‘exploit’ him.

"And remember: 100 years ago, Canadians had neither minimum wage nor environmental standards. We were poor and couldn’t afford such luxuries. Arguing against free trade on this ground denies poor countries the same development path we followed.”

Stephanie has heard enough. She picks up her Naomi Klein book, and resumes sunbathing. Economics is senseless and boring, she says.

I know. Now let’s go get that swimming pool.