Bottom up, people centred heath is the wave of the future despite our politicians.
Year: 2007
The Denial Machine
Dr. Tim Ball's perspective on The Fifth Estate's "The Denial Machine."
The Best Laid Plans of Govt Planners Usually Screw Up Your Life
It is safe to say economist Randal O'Toole is an expert in many of the things that have caused Pittsburgh and other cities great pain -- government planning, government mass-transit systems and government attempts to shape or contain the redevelopment of cities. A...
To Lower the Cost of Housing, Cut the Red Tape
The ALP's proposed tax concession for first-home buyers who have saved for a deposit may merely offset part of the excessive house prices they face. The proposal is for a concessionary 15 per cent tax rate on salary-sacrificed earnings of up to $5000 per person...
Featured News
Why University?
In this essay, I explain that young people should come to university to be educated, and not to become credentialed; the public should support universities because universities educate young people, not because they produce credentialled workers. Why should a...
A Lamentable Tale of Two Colonies
During the whole of recorded history, the empire has been the most constant and common form of political organization. A basic, self-evident feature of all empire-building has been the successful occupation of the lands of the local, Indigenous inhabitants by outside...
Many Cities Changing One-way Streets Back
More traffic will be coming to downtown Danville, Ill. — and that's how Danville wants it. The city of 33,000 is converting some of its longtime one-way streets back to two-way thoroughfares. City officials hope the change will make it easier for customers to reach...
Rolf Penner responds to CWB Chair’s column
Following is the viewpoint of the writer, chair of the Canadian Wheat Board’s board of directors that was published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. Rolf Penner's response is in bold text. Rolf Penner, the author of Wheat board’s price premium simply a myth (SP, July...
We’re all paying a terrible price for outrageously unaffordable housing – and it’s entirely unnecessary
“Relative to incomes, housing in major New Zealand cities is now some of the most expensive in the world,” Don Brash, chairman of the Centre for Resource Management Studies, told the Parliamentary select committee looking into the affordability of housing today. “And...
Followers or Leaders
Our leaders have long been enthusiastic promoters of New Zealand as a leader in world opinion. But they normally refer to political opinion. We may well be trend-setters in giving the vote to women, cradle to grave welfare, and even in rejecting nuclear weapons, but...
The Toronto Megacity 10 Years Later
Toronto amalgamation was a costly error – producing higher costs, disempowering voters, and shifting economic growth to more efficient suburban centres.
“We looked up to the Environment and when we looked down the land was gone!”
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Lower Rural Prices a Benefit
Did I read this article correctly? Does it really take 7 years of median income to pay for a median house in these markets? If one takes the CMHC affordability measure of 30% of total income devoted to housing as being an “affordable” budget, then it would take this...
Honolulu Ranks Near Top in Housing Costs Survey
Honolulu is third-most expensive housing market among urban areas in the nation and in five other countries, according to a new survey. Honolulu's median multiple -- which calculates the median home price and median household income to rate affordability -- was 10.3,...
CWB Disparities
Re: "The case rests on shaky math," Rolf Penner, Opinion, July 3. Rolf Penner makes a price comparison between wheat at Bottineau, N.D. and Boissevain, Manitoba. While this analysis is a worthwhile exercise, it does not provide the foundation to support Penner's...