ReeferMadness

Hey, look at that. Apparently, it's OK just to quote half the article now.

Here is some honesty from Alberta that you don't see from the main parties, who are more comfortable just feeding the myths.

Note to the moderators: I see you've chosen to ignore the misogynist reference to Rachel Notley. Not surprising - right wingers get away with anything on MLW.

By dramatic, I assume you mean true. When you've existed on a steady diet of fiction for so long, no doubt the truth does seem a bit dramatic. I grew up in northern Alberta back when they were still called tar sands. Thanks for the "education". Oh, You mean a socialist hellhole like Norway where they now have a sovereign wealth fund worth $1.2 trillion and some of the world's best social programs? Yeah, that would really suck. I'm sure you're glad you're not in their shoes. Canada had a national oil company but sold it when it wasn't worth much because Mulroney wanted to suck up to Alberta. Alberta invested in tar sands technology as part of Alberta Energy Corporation but sold it at at a time it wasn't worth much because... well, because it's Alberta. In Norway, they take care of the people and the oil companies are expected to look out for themselves. In Alberta, they take care of the oil companies and the people? Whatever, right. You're asking the wrong question. Why are you shipping raw bitumen out of the province instead of refining it? Why are the royalties and taxes so low that money is being piped out of the province faster than the oil? Why are you producing 3 million barrels a day and still running a multi-billion dollar deficit? Gross incompetence.

I understand very well. I understand Alberta is the author of its own misfortunes. I understand that 30 or so years ago, they elected a beer-guzzling ex-mayor whose main qualification was that he publicly referred to people from Central Canada as "eastern bums and creeps". He later showed himself to be so completely out of touch with his own electorate that in a drunken haze, he publicly lambasted and abused people in a homeless shelter, not understanding some of them had full time jobs but couldn't afford rent on what they were making. But back to the main point. He wanted companies to come in and develop Alberta's low quality tar sands badly. He wanted it so badly, he offered a sweetheart deal. They were offered oil at a 1% royalty rate (essentially free oil) until they paid off the huge investments necessary to develop the tar sands. The result was predictable. There was a stampede of companies rushing into the tar sands. Since they were paying for the development costs with essentially free oil, they had zero incentive to be efficient. They rushed in like coke-addled rhinos. They distorted the labor-market, bidding up the cost of semi-skilled and unskilled labor which is why Alberta now has Canada's most overpaid workforce. There was so much money sloshing around, people were flying in to Alberta to work their shifts. The resulting gold-rush bid up the cost of real estate, causing increased homelessness (see above). They increased Canada's GDP in a way that didn't really increase Canada's wealth, since most of the money just flowed out of the country to reward foreign shareholders or pay for expensive equipment, the vast majority of which was manufactured elsewhere. It did, however, artificially increase the value of the Canadian dollar, which resulted in manufacturers in other provinces being less able to compete on the world market. Never once have I seen an Albertan cry over Ontario jobs lost due to our bouncing petro-dollar. Here's what people don't seem to get. Alberta's boom didn't come from selling oil. They're produce 3 million barrels a day! It came from from building massive infrastructure to mine bitumen so that it could be shipped out to American refineries. These are plants which last for decades so an economy based on building new plants is the height of economic delusion. Such is Alberta. So, now where do things sit? Alberta is running a massive deficit, trading in delusional conspiracy theories, carrying ~$300 billion in unfunded clean-up liabilities, and going all in on a dying industry while oil companies thank them by giving them the finger while leaving. Kenney is determined to give away every last public dollar to the oil industry before it goes under. So you want to know who's to blame? Look in the mirror. And stop whining.

sure it is. Which is why I never said any of that. Unless you're going to somehow rewrite the laws of economics, the most expensive oil will be priced out of the market first... Sure. When it comes to oil, there is the side of the oil industry which everyone immediately genuflects before. Then there is the side of the workers, which is mostly ignored. There is the side of the resource owners, the people of the Alberta. They've been royally (royalty) screwed since King Klein instituted the great give away. The side of the environment, which, in Alberta at least, is essentially openly mocked. The side of climate change, which Albertans apparently believe will be resolved with a bag of magic beans. Then there is the side of thinking Canadians, who wonder when it was exactly that reality departed Alberta for good. You're hilarious. Criticize me about being presumptuous about Alberta and then come back with a random and completely unfounded accusation about Trudeau. I'm no expert or fan of Trudeau but here's what I know: His childhood was mostly spent in Ottawa When he became an adult, he chose to live in Vancouver On the subject of Quebec as a nation, he once said that nationalism was a 19th century notion and that recognizing Quebec as a nation went against everything his father ever believed. Honestly, I don't know why you think what you think about Trudeau. Personally, I think he's a lightweight who's very likable and has had some solid political instruction. I think he went to Quebec because his family name got him elected there, not because he's some kind of secret Quebec agent.

Alberta hasn't sent anything. You don't seem to understand how Equalization works.

The Greens are the only ones who would prioritize environmental issues. The others are pretenders. But blaming it on the parties is weak. The reason that the parties have won't prioritize it is that too few people are demanding action. Imagine World War II where everyone says "Yeah, someone should go fight those Nazis" but nobody is willing to give up anything until everyone else does first. That's exactly the situation we're in today. European countries are showing much more progress than we are. And China and India are showing bolder leadership in technology development. One day, we're going to wake up and find the world has passed us by while we're arguing over the toxic, carcinogenic sludge in Northern Alberta.

Hmmm. I guess we need pure socialism then so there is nobody to sell the government assets to. Did you notice how readily the communist bosses of the Soviet Union became crony capitalists who are now embraced by right wing politicians like Trump and Johnson? It's almost as if they were never socialists at all.... Which is what anyone with a few brain cells said all along.

He said it isn't working. I know that sounds hurtful to members or the holy church of capitalism but he's right. What I said (and I quite clear in my post that I was diverging from him on this) was that this is exactly the way it works. Unless you have strong democratic controls to keep it in check. I know that right wingers aren't big on "science" or "evidence" or "knowledge" or even "intelligence" but all of the evidence points to exactly that conclusion.

Perhaps you could point out where I did that. I didn't so you can't. So, with "due respect", perhaps you might read and understand BEFORE you comment. Thanks!

Wow, Shady. It looks like you're having difficulty with the concepts in this thread. Did you try reading the article?

Democracy sounds like an interesting idea. I think we should give it a try. Know what gets in the way? Capitalism. Governments are for sale to connected insiders. Just the way capitalists like it.

Ray Dalio, Founder of the World's Largest Hedge Fund, Says the System is Broken Of course, most progressives know what Dalio and others like him have been blind to all along. Without strong measures to restrain the worst of capitalism and force redistribution of wealth, this is exactly how capitalism always works - or rather fails to work. When you define success as being richer than everyone else, people will find a way to do just that. Whether it's fair, whether it's moral, whether it's legal; those are things for lawyers and ethicists to quibble over. Only ideologues and idiots think that it's relevant that capitalism is transparently not a meritocracy.

I'm sure your mother must be very proud. No doubt you are doing a fine job of covering up/excusing corporate malfeasance. Don't worry - physics will make an exception just for you when it ends civilization. Keep patting yourself on the back. You're doing great. I'm sure you'll get exactly the karma you deserve.