Saturday, February 19, 2011
BLAME IT ON "SPELL CHECK"
I never should rely on Spellcheck. Thanks to an eagle-eyed reader who spotted this gaffe: "Farmers in Alberta are delighted to know that they will not be able to buy local diesel fuel for their farm equipment." Of course, it should read "Farmers in Alberta with NOW be able to buy....
GOVERNMENT CAN'T GET ANYTHING RIGHT???
The “true believers” always insist that "private" is best. Their doctrine, their dogma, includes one specific “truth” that: “governments should keep out of business and let the real world do what it does best.” Just let Free Enterprise take over. Just let business and industry do what it does best. Just let private business control the economy and everything will work out. Nonsense! Haven’t the events starting with the 2008 economic meltdown banished all those cherished notions? No – it’s still the mantra of everyone from the hard-right conservatives in Canada and of course the Tea-party-influenced Republican economics wizards in the U.S.
Now - of all places in Canada to have government involved in business, the last should be Alberta. At least that’s part of our mythology. Albertans have been all over the map on economic policy. From the old Social Credit nonsense of a Scottish religious fanatic named C.H. Douglas, espoused by Bible Bill Aberhart who combined his job as premier of Alberta with a revivalist hellfire and brimstone weekly radio program. He would have, if the Supreme Court had not stepped in, started printing money for free distribution to all Albertans. (Interesting that it was the successors to Bible Bill, the Mannings, father and son, who created the Reform Party which led to the Conservatives we have now.)
Earlier, before enterprise madness had taken over, there was the failed attempt by that dastardly “red” Tory Peter Lougheed to try to industrialize Alberta. (Alberta still depends on resources: grains, beef, and oil for its financial health.) Lougheed wanted to try to introduce some variety into the Alberta economy. He thought it would be a good idea to do what economists refer to as “value adding” to the economy. Simply said, you took raw commodities, and processed them and increased their value ten-fold. In fact, further processing, say to a finished consumer product, would add another ten-fold increase. (No economist but I think I got the number right. By why quibble?)
Lougheed, recognizing that Alberta was exporting oil-seed grains for processing, wanted do it at home and keep the profits for themselves. He opened seed-crushing facilities. Soon Alberta was heavily into the production of edible oils. The problem however was that the edible oil market took a nosedive and the Lougheed venture failed. Nice try but no cigar.
Now once again, those die-hard private-does-it-best guys are getting into the oil processing business. I have long complained that the whole country, not just Alberta, is a huge exporter of raw commodities. (Like my favourite hobby horse: Saskatchewan produces the majority of the world; mustard seed but produces little or no finished mustard. In fact, when I was in Dijon, one of our guides told us proudly that their mustard was made from locally grown seed, while all the other used seed from Saskatchewan.)
We all know that Canada is America’s best and most secure source of petroleum products. To that end were had developed a process to turn raw bitumen from the Oil Sands into a slurry to be shipped south via pipeline where is it processed in American refineries.
Turnaround! The Alberta government sees that the price of oil is rising again, Quoting from a recent G&M Report on Business: “Alberta said it will supply the proposed upgrader with 37,500 barrels of bitumen per day provided by production royalties that government will collect from oil sands companies.” What it all boils down to is that Alberta will process more of its own bitumen into diesel fuel. Farmers in Alberta are delighted to know that they will not be able to buy local diesel fuel for their farm equipment. It’s a step.
If Alberta, probably the county’s most right-leaning jurisdiction, can show that a private-public company can work to improve the economy. The plant will generate thousands of jobs. It’s “government to the rescue” and I for one am cheering!
Now - of all places in Canada to have government involved in business, the last should be Alberta. At least that’s part of our mythology. Albertans have been all over the map on economic policy. From the old Social Credit nonsense of a Scottish religious fanatic named C.H. Douglas, espoused by Bible Bill Aberhart who combined his job as premier of Alberta with a revivalist hellfire and brimstone weekly radio program. He would have, if the Supreme Court had not stepped in, started printing money for free distribution to all Albertans. (Interesting that it was the successors to Bible Bill, the Mannings, father and son, who created the Reform Party which led to the Conservatives we have now.)
Earlier, before enterprise madness had taken over, there was the failed attempt by that dastardly “red” Tory Peter Lougheed to try to industrialize Alberta. (Alberta still depends on resources: grains, beef, and oil for its financial health.) Lougheed wanted to try to introduce some variety into the Alberta economy. He thought it would be a good idea to do what economists refer to as “value adding” to the economy. Simply said, you took raw commodities, and processed them and increased their value ten-fold. In fact, further processing, say to a finished consumer product, would add another ten-fold increase. (No economist but I think I got the number right. By why quibble?)
Lougheed, recognizing that Alberta was exporting oil-seed grains for processing, wanted do it at home and keep the profits for themselves. He opened seed-crushing facilities. Soon Alberta was heavily into the production of edible oils. The problem however was that the edible oil market took a nosedive and the Lougheed venture failed. Nice try but no cigar.
Now once again, those die-hard private-does-it-best guys are getting into the oil processing business. I have long complained that the whole country, not just Alberta, is a huge exporter of raw commodities. (Like my favourite hobby horse: Saskatchewan produces the majority of the world; mustard seed but produces little or no finished mustard. In fact, when I was in Dijon, one of our guides told us proudly that their mustard was made from locally grown seed, while all the other used seed from Saskatchewan.)
We all know that Canada is America’s best and most secure source of petroleum products. To that end were had developed a process to turn raw bitumen from the Oil Sands into a slurry to be shipped south via pipeline where is it processed in American refineries.
Turnaround! The Alberta government sees that the price of oil is rising again, Quoting from a recent G&M Report on Business: “Alberta said it will supply the proposed upgrader with 37,500 barrels of bitumen per day provided by production royalties that government will collect from oil sands companies.” What it all boils down to is that Alberta will process more of its own bitumen into diesel fuel. Farmers in Alberta are delighted to know that they will not be able to buy local diesel fuel for their farm equipment. It’s a step.
If Alberta, probably the county’s most right-leaning jurisdiction, can show that a private-public company can work to improve the economy. The plant will generate thousands of jobs. It’s “government to the rescue” and I for one am cheering!
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