March 6, 2011 - Courage My Love

The sun is shining. Four little words, with the most important one being "shining". Out of the darkness into the light. It's still freaking cold, but today was filled with warm corners where the wind could not find you but the sun did.

Good news today, my pension funds have totally turned the corner. They were pretty beaten up in the market dive two years ago, but it seems that health has returned. The TSX is cruising over 14,000 and that is great news. I have my money socked away in agressive Canadian markets, and we perhaps better than most, have not felt the economic rumbles of the last few years. Maybe the agressive markets should be toned down a bit, but even as I watched it tumble a few years ago, I knew it would claw up and surpass the level where it started to fall.

I am certainly no financial genius, but I will be okay in my retirement years. The real key is avoiding that stupid consumer debt and having your home paid off. I have no intention of leaving a bundle to the kids, since they are both on their way to be financially secure anyway. As I mentioned at some earlier point, all I want is endless days filled with painting and gardening and writing, what more do I need?

Okay the topic of the day is politics. We are in the midst of a national election and probably a soon to be provincial one. I love politics, but I can't seem to find a one party fits all scenario and so will probably just vote for the local yahoo I believe might actually be inspired to do a good job. So nothing along party lines, because let's face it, party lines are stupid. In this country we have the right (the conservatives), the left (the liberals) and the far left (the New Democrats). The lines between them blur at the best of times and this election, even more so.

The conservatives won't discuss abortion or gay marriage. Easy to say their power base is the religious main stream  middle of the country. The Liberals don't want to talk about leadership - they have a penchant for picking incredibly intelligent leaders who come across as arrogant. The New Democrats want to double the output of social security (probably at the expense of big business). 

There is absolutely nothing about the conservatives that appeals to me, and never has been. Harper is a perogie, mostly for the way he looks (dumpy and white) and partially where he is from (the near west). A flatlander and a dunderhead at the best of times. He waltzed into power on the dissolution of the Liberal party's government. We tend to allow our leaders to take charge for anywhere from 4 to 12 years and then we absolutely pummel them in the polls and switch to the next party. Let's hope that is his fate.

Ignatief suffers the intelligent arrogance curse of the Liberals. He's smart as hell and he's probably right but he has too many American affiliations (he taught at Harvard for christ's sake) and he is arrogant. Joe Average will not vote for someone they perceive may be smarter than they are. However, that said, the Liberals do really well in urban areas with high ethnic content. The Indian community and the Chinese community control a huge block of votes.

Jack Layton is every man, but he is feared by big business. Jack would spend all the tax dollars on health and education and looking after our social network. To hell with job incentives and work, to hell with infrastructure, to hell with big business. Maybe that is not such a bad thing. Jack does not appeal to ethnic minorities but he does appeal to the socialist in all of us.

We never go as far to the right as the US and we certainly go a lot further (to our credit) to the left. Our economy is doing the best of all countries in the G8, which says something for our banking system and our productivity. We are failing to take care of those who need our care the most. The lower most layer of our society, those we turfed from mental homes to the street, the old with no pensions, the young with no skills, are left drifting in that cold cold wind.

The people I work with are smug. You know the type. Oh, we should enforce the "work for welfare" rules and the "let single uneducated mothers" get jobs instead of riding out welfare - you know the ones who talk like that. They are concerned about what they can buy, and where they can go on holidays, and damn the little people, let them get jobs. Little do they realize that our social safety net is for them as well, everyone is about two weeks away from living on the streets. Jobs can be gone in a heartbeat.

Think about it, the mortgage, the car payments, the kids in hockey/dance/tennis/whatever and you lose your job - then what? Pogey pays a max of 1500 per person per month, try living on that in this fine expensive city we live in. Once you miss a payment or two, everything goes, just ask Duncan. I am of the belief that it is just stuff, it isn't important, let it go, but then, I don't have to worry about young children or extended family.

When all is said and done here in this country, the medical is free, the drugs are free, and you will get the basics of life. Ok not what you wanted, but better a little for all, than none for everyone.

So back to politics, I will probably vote left of centre and maybe even venture to the far left this time. 

Added later: it is much later, darkness has fallen, the wind has died down, and it is very crisp. I went out onto the docks to watch a boat pull in, amazing really, where we are located on the river, they have to spin the boats so they face out to the ocean again, so when they depart, they are going the right way. It looks like the river isn't wide enough to spin these boats, but it is.

The boats are huge, you can tell by the size of the tugs in the picture. It is pretty slick how they do this, it sure wasn't my strong point when I was sailing. Of course, this isn't going into a slip, just up along to a berth, which is totally different. Whatever, glad it's not my job. There isn't a boat pole large enough to fend this sucker off. Landing this boat, any boat really, takes courage, my love.