"At the end of the day it'll be fine. A little speed bump. Everyone will forget all about it."

From the BBC:

Cannabis retailers in Canada began to run low on supplies from the very first day of legalisation a month ago. How long are shortages expected to continue as the new market for recreational cannabis finds its feet?

This is a great real life experiment. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for supply to rise to meet demand (at current prices). Part of the delay is probably down to bureaucratic stuff, but you can't set up a cannabis farm and get the stuff certified and to market overnight.

Problem is, we'll never see an article reporting that suppliers are up to volume and things are running smoothly, it's just not particularly interesting.

Reader's Letter Of The Day

From The Evening Standard (20 May 2014, page 40):

It's disappointing that so many newspapers have allowed the Governor of the Bank of England to get away with blaming the UK house price bubble on lack of new supply and holding up his home country Canada as a counter-example.

Yes, per capita, Canada is building three times as many new homes as the UK, but they are suffering a house price bubble every bit as bad as ours - one which he presided over until his move to the UK.

Mark Wadsworth, Young People's Party.

Carney's Canada comedy

From the BBC:

Mr Carney will say: "When we look at domestic risk, the biggest risk to financial stability and therefore to the durability of the expansion [of the economy] those risks centre in the housing market."

Mr Carney says the fundamental problem was a shortage of homes - and the Bank of England had no solution to that...

He will say in the interview: "There are not sufficient houses built in the UK. To go back to Canada, there are half as many people in Canada as in the UK, twice as many houses are built every year in Canada as in the UK and we can't influence that.

So as a result, there was no house price bubble in Canada..?

From CBC News:

Vancouver ranks second only to Hong Kong in having the least affordable housing, according to Demographia's 10th annual survey of 360 housing markets in nine Western countries.

The survey divided median housing prices in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S. against median gross household income to come up with its ratings.

Under this rating system, homes in Vancouver cost 10 times median income compared with 15 times income in Hong Kong. Three times median income is considered affordable.

Read the full Demographia report.

Canadian Porn (Safe for Work)

From CBC

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says AOV XXX Action Clips and AOV Maleflixxx may not be airing enough Canadian content or closed captioning.

The X-rated specialty channels are supposed to air 35 per cent Canadian programming over the broadcast year and 90 per cent of its content should have captioning.

As part of proposed licence renewals, the commission plans to hear evidence on the apparent non-compliance.

How do you make "Canadian programming"? Does the plumber speak French to the English speaking bored housewife? Are there hockey/poutine/maple syrup fetishes?

And captioning? Have any of these people actually heard porn dialogue?

They probably aren't even aware they are doing it.

This month's edition of British Airway's Business Life magazine ("Total reading time 57 minutes", it says on the cover) includes half a dozen main articles (one page or longer) all of which are about rents and rent-seeking:

1. Interview with the CEO of Canada Goose, the premium cold weather clothes manufacturer:

When [my grandfather] first arrived, he worked in a clothing factory as a cutter and then decided at some point that he wanted to open up his own place, which he did. It was very small and in downtown Toronto, which was the home of the garment industry back then. Now it's the night-club district…

Most brands these days are not real brands, they're some product mass-produced in some factory somewhere else that has a fancy store woven in front of it by marketing departments…

I went to Europe, where I learned how valuable the term 'Made In Canada' is for us. I realised that for a lot of people a Canada Goose jacket is like a Swiss watch. The place where it is made is really important. We're a quintessentially Canadian product. All of our jackets are made in Canada. It's impossible to imagine us not making them in Canada.

2. Article about football players' salaries:

Manchester City, the 2011-12 Premier League champions, spend more than £200 m each year on player wages along, a figure that equates to 87 per cent of the club's total turnover… it's not as if it's the players or even their agents who are ultimately deriving up wages, it's the broadcasters - and one in particular.

In the summer of 2012, BSkyB signed a new three-year deal to cover 166 games a season, worth a record £2.3 bn to the Premier League… It's interesting to contrast that with Sky's first deal to cover Premier League in 1991. Back then it paid just £340 m.

3. Article about a private business which wants to build reusable rockets for space travel:

"I think there's nothing positive or constructive I could say about Kenneth Clark" [Managing Director Alan Bon] told an interviewer earlier this year.

It was Clark, in his role as Minister for Trade and Industry during Margaret Thatcher's final term, who 25 years ago pulled the plug on government funding of HOTOL - Horizontal Take-Off and Landing - the admittedly flawed spaceplane being developed by Bond and his colleagues…

Earlier this year, however, the government did a volte-face and over next two years it is to plough £60 m into the development of Sabre, a revolutionary engine tipped to transform the economics of putting satellites - and indeed people - into space…

… The technology behind Reaction's pre-cooler is so commercially valuable that rather than take out a patent - which would perforce lead to publication of its workings - the company is avoiding the risk of feeding copycat competitors by treeing it as a trade secret, like the recipe for Coca Cola.

… a new backer emerged in the shape of Nigel McNair Scott, a Conservatie Party donor and chairman of property investment company Helical Bar.

4. Article about commercial property syndicates:

Commercial proeprty is bounding back. Figures from industry monitor IPD who that UK commercial real estate returned1.9 per cent in the three months to June, the highest return in two years…

Many hope that this heralds a definitive upturn in the property cycle, and a signal to invest in shops, offices and factories on the back of a recovering economy.

5. Article about local loyalty card schemes:

My Sant'Ambrogio card, issued by the eponymous market of central Florence, is about two tubs of fresh pest away from marking me as a most loyal customer indeed.

Supported by the local council, this card is designed to encourage me to shop not in the international chain supermarkets and stores on the edge of town, but instead with the market stall holders and local businesses who risk being left behind if everyone moves to the suburbs.

6. Article about hotel renovation:

You could argue that a quality new build might be cheaper but that misses the point. The Prince de Galles has an established location on Venue George V and a proven trading history, and offers considerably less market risk.

Finding suitable land in an established European city is all but impossible, and what's more, a speedy renovation can improve a hotel's fortunes in months, while building from scratch takes years.

There's a moose loose aboot this hoose etc.

From The Daily Mail:

State wildlife officials have tranquilized a moose on the loose in suburban Denver.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers were called on Monday to capture the animal, which had been wandering the streets of Broomfield for weeks before it became a problem for residents.

The agency estimates the male moose is 3 years old and weighs about 1,000 pounds. KMGH-TV reports the animal was spotted wandering through residential neighborhoods [sic] and in and out of people's yards.

Wildlife officials say the moose caused no injuries or major damage and will be taken back to the Continental Divide, where it can find food and water.

It is not reported whether they caught it with a noose and/or whether they fed it some mousse or juice before turning it loose etc.

"Rush"

From imdb.com and Wiki:

Set against the sexy, glamorous golden age of Formula 1 progressive rock in the 1970s, the film is based on the true story of a great musical rivalry between handsome English playboy guitarist James Hunt (Allex Lifeson), and his methodical, brilliant opponent, Austrian bass player Niki Lauda (Geddy Lee).

The story follows their distinctly different personal styles on and off the sixteen-track, their loves and the astonishing 1976 season in which both retreated to the United Kingdom to record "A Farewell to Kings" at Rockfield Studios in Wales.

They are willing to risk everything to become world champion in a sport with no margin for error: if you introduce synthesizers, lengthy songs reminiscent of miniature concept albums and highly dynamic playing featuring complex time signature changes, you die.

Following mixed reviews, their album “2112” crashes badly at the Nürburgring in 1976 and Lauda loses his hearing in one ear. Hunt sacks his entire pit crew after they mistakently tune his engine in the key of F but finally becomes World Champion when the rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix has to be abandoned because of fans running on to the track shouting “Wally!” during the quiet bits.

The JPS-Lotus team's druumer Mario Andretti (Neil Peart) makes a late cameo appearance during the closing credits, explaining that he has just finished packing up his 83-piece drum kit and loading it into the truck.

Mark Carnage

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney's CV

Summarised by Garth Turner.

Via Nubbers at HPC.

"Kim Jong Un warns USA against missile test launch"

From the BBC:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned the USA that it will "achieve nothing by threats or by provocations".

The warning comes as America prepares to launch a long-range missile which Washington says will put a satellite in orbit. Mr Kim was speaking in Ottawa with Canadian PM Stephen Harper ahead of global nuclear security talks. The two leaders said the USA risked further sanctions and isolation if it did not cancel its launch plans.

"America knows its obligations and it must take irreversible steps to meet those obligations," said Mr Kim, adding that Pyongyang and Ottawa were "absolutely united" on the issue.

Mr Harper said he and his North Korean counterpart had "agreed to respond sternly to any provocations and threats by the United States and to continually enhance the firm Canadian-North Korean defence readiness". But he said the international community stood ready to help the USA improve the lives of its citizens if it chose a path of peace.

The launch of the missile is scheduled for 4 July, to coincide with the 236th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. On Sunday, Canadian defence officials said the main body of the rocket had been moved to the launch site in preparation.

"A Christmas cow story"

From castanet.net:

Lady Antebellum is one lucky cow. After nine months alone, wandering the wilds of... Vancouver, Lady Antebellum is now enjoying the much more pastoral setting of the Critteraid Farm in Summerland.

The story begins last March when motorists in the Lower Mainlaind complained to the RCMP about a cow that was seen near the freeway. Despite their best efforts, the young Angus cow eluded capture. She ended up in a Surrey park bog and at one time she was seen under the Port Mann Bridge, all the while avoiding coyotes, vicious dogs, and humans.

She found some vegetation through to the Fall, then concerned park walkers started feeding her so she would not starve to death. She was nicknamed Nellie by some and April by others...

On December 19, they managed to get Lady Antebellum into a corral to allow her to become calm enough to be transferred to a safer location. It took a couple of tries to get her loaded. The first attempt ending spectacularly, as she bolted and literally went airborne over a huge rock. Finally, last Wednesday, the CDART transport trailer came from Summerland, loaded her up and had her on the way to a safe sanctuary for the rest of her life.

It's funny isn't it, as long as animals and doing what they are supposed to do, people are quite happy to kill them and eat them (and as a meat eater, that applies to me as well), but if an animal ever manages to escape (or behaves otherwise out of the ordinary), people will go to inordinate lengths to recapture them and then put them in a sanctuary where there's no question of them being slaughtered. I mean, that story wouldn't look right if it ended up with the cow being sold to a butcher.

"Feed the bears"

Barkingly insane reader's letter from yesterday's Metro:

Canada grows a pair

Make up your own minds which one is on the left and which one is on the right:

Canada follows in France's footsteps with burqa ban at citizenship swearing in

Canada to withdraw from Kyoto Protocol

Yeah, but he was only 98 when he set off

100-year-old man finishes marathon

Short Lists

The last short list was: "Countries which have never devalued their currency; 'restructured' or defaulted on their national debt; taken a bridging loan from the IMF; accepted soft loans/grants under Lend/Lease, Marshall Plan, or from World Bank or EU; received overseas aid; nationalised foreign-owned assets etc."

The following countries appear to qualify:

Bhutan (submitted by Bayard)
Australia (Adam Collyer)
Sweden (Dearieme)
Canada (Ross)

Mike W and Steve_L, who've actually read a book about it, seemed to think that there is no such country.
---------------------------
This week's Short List: "Female Jewish pop stars who are very cute". I can only think of two (not Dana International or Amy Winehouse!), but there may be a few more.

"Mother Moose Shot After Attacking Woman Near Palmer"

I love the attention to detail in this write-up:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska —  A woman was severely injured when she was attacked by a mother moose near Palmer mid-day Monday.

A cow moose with two newborn calves attacked the woman in a neighborhood off Clark-Wolverine Road, near the Knik River. The woman was able to call for help on her cell phone. Officials said the woman's injuries to her chest could have been life-threatening, but that she is in stable condition and was transported to Mat-Su Regional Hospital. Troopers shot and killed the cow moose when it again charged the victim and troopers as they arrived.

Fish and Game has the two calves, which will be taken to a wildlife center where they will hopefully be rehabilitated, raised and released into the wild next fall. A charity salvaged the meat.

This is the second cow moose with calves shot and killed for aggressive behavior in the last week. Wednesday in East Anchorage, a cow moose with newborn calves was put down after exhibiting aggressive behavior by attacking a girl on her bike and chasing a jogger.

Four or five economic thought experiments rolled into one

Ralph Musgrave, who did a good summary of Modern Monetary Theory, emailed me a link to a splendid article titled How to exit the Euro which is ostensibly about Quebecois independence, on which the author has no strong views one way or another, but also builds in the following:

i. What Modern Modern Theory is, i.e. fiscal and monetary policy boiled down to a single variable.
ii. Why there's no need for deficit spending
iii. How to introduce a parallel currency
iv. Why taxes on land values are far better than taxes on income, output and profits
v. Introducing a Citizen's Income by the back door.

There's no point me cutting and pasting bits, as you have to read the whole article, which might take you ten or fifteen minutes to understand, but we can use this model as a non-confrontational way of introducing a Georgist system where taxes on land values are used to pay a Citizen's Income, as follows:

1. The government issues every UK citizen with one thousand special tokens (whether physical or electronic does not matter), maybe 500 for kids and 2,000 for pensioners.

2. So it has issued (say) 75 billion of these tokens.

3. It then values each house and each building and each plot of land and demands the payment of exactly 75 billion of these tokens from the owners of all UK land and buildings, proportional to the value of the land and buildings.

4. So some households end up with a surplus, and some end up with a deficit. Let's say a mum dad two kids family gets three thousand tokens and the payment demanded for an average home is three thousand tokens (75 billion tokens divided by 25 million homes).

5. How surpluses and deficits (and hence net redistribution) are distributed is illustrated by the Georgist Flag (click to enlarge):6. All the surplus tokens are put up for auction, and because the surplus which some have is exactly equal to the shortfall which other people have, they will somehow end up with a market price in £-s-d for each token, that might be 1p, it might be £10, I do not know and do not particularly care.

7. The auction would be run in the same way as stockbrokers match bid and ask prices, i.e. every seller sets the minimum price at which he will sell; and each purchaser sets the price which he is willing to pay, with the bolt-on that all tokens are then redeemed/sold at this price (to prevent unwilling sellers holding out for an unreasonable price). Having established a market price, let's say it comes out at £2 per token.

8. The next step is to somehow replace the existing tax system; if we remember the lessons of Modern Monetary Theory, it's actually quite simple: you just reduce other taxes in absolute terms and other cash (non-token funded) spending in real terms. So in Year Two, we scrap VAT or Employer's NIC (or whichever your most hated tax is). The dynamic revenue shortfall is usually only half the static shortfall, so cash tax receipts go down by (say) £50 billion and people end up better off by (say) £75 billion because they get not just the cash value of the tax cut, but the benefit of lower dead weight costs.

9. Most of that extra £75 billion flows through into higher house prices or rents, so next year, when the government repeats the exercise with 75 billion tokens, the market value is miraculously bid up to £3 per token (instead of £2).

10. Then you just keep cutting other taxes and allowing the market to sort out how much should be redistributed from land owners to citizens. The two groups overlap to a large extent so the net redistribution is only a sixth of the total value of all tokens, i.e. assuming they change hands for £3 each, total revenues/spending is not 75 billion x £3 = £225 billion, it's more like £40 billion (i.e. the area on the flag between the vertical axis, the blue line and the red line).

11. No doubt the Homeys and Faux Libs will cry foul, but hey. At least we can find out in practice what people really think of Georgism. If a majority of people (who end up with a surplus of tokens) really think nothing of it and are happy for people on whom society bestows the most benefits to continue to enjoy them tax free, then they are free to set a price for their surplus tokens of nil, or 1p each (thus cutting off their noses to spite their faces as they are giving away money), or to hand them over to charities collecting tokens for the Poor Widows In Mansions Benevolent Fund and nothing actually changes either.

"Bull jumps into stand at Canadian rodeo"

Forwarded by Pavlov's Cat:
Full article here.

"Alberta woman survives vicious cow attack"

From canada.com:

A cow attack left Glenda Mosher with a broken jaw, her right cheek bone in four pieces, a fractured skull and all but two ribs broken... On March 27, they noticed a cow and two calves from a friend's herd mixed in with their own. Gary, Glenda, and their 10-year-old grandson, Travis, went to take a look. They separated the cow and the two calves and were walking them along a fence line toward a gate when the cow suddenly turned and charged.

Glenda doesn't have any memory of the attack. The cow's head smashed into Glenda, knocking her to the ground. It rolled her over four times and repeatedly stepped on her. The couple's two dogs came to the rescue, biting the cow and chasing it away...

Unusually, the dogs seem to have broken up the fight, rather than actually causing it, as is normally the case.

Victimhood Poker

TDK alerts me to this long-ish article (by Mark Steyn, so take it with a pinch of salt) about the excellent standards of Victimhood Poker being played over in Canada (in one semi-final, a gay B&B owner who was allergic to dogs had to play against a potential guest who was blind and had a guide dog - edge of the seat stuff!!)

I liked this bit best:

... in Britain, an educational establishment gung-ho about forcing the kindergartners of evangelical Christians to be taught the joys of same-sex marriage crumbled in nothing flat when Muslim parents in Bristol objected. If it's a choice between "Heather Has Two Mommies" or "Heather Has Four Mommies And A Big Bearded Daddy Who Wants To Marry Her Off To A Cousin Back In Pakistan", bet on the latter.