Numbers Don’t Lie

Perspective on Current USA Covid 19 death toll

Mulder

On March 13th, the NY Times published a piece using CDC predictions on how the Covid-19 Virus would affect the USA in terms of deaths, hospitalizations, etc. In a nutshell they said the death toll would be between 200,000 and 2.2 Million.

The outrage at this point is over a death toll of over 200,000 which was recently reported. (currently as of this piece, the death count is at approximately 211,000.

So although this is a tragedy in any sense of the word, there has to be some solace that the USA has by all metrics pointed out in March, handled the Covid-19 situation very close to the best case scenario. The death rate has been dropping and even if the USA was to lose another 1000 per day until March 12th, this would still be under 400,000 which is still way down the curve close to the best case scenario.

Please have some perspective people.

Why are Tories protecting Supply Management?

Mulder

I mean I get why the Liberals do it. But why are Tories doing it? You can come join me….and Maxime Bernier….on the other side where the grass…..and Canadian economy….are greener. Even Rona Ambronse sees the potential damage to our economy preserving it will cause us with Trump as President. If you think waiting for him to lose office is something we can hold out against, you are wrong. There will be mass layoffs right away in Canada. And Trump isn’t going anywhere for at least 2 more years and likely 6 more years, at which point our economy will have fallen off the cliff.

Of course the Boy Blunder Trudeau will blame Trump, but he should blame his own father who brought about Supply Management back in 1971. Do you not all see the sweet irony which has the drama teaching, hair modelling, selfie taking, pixie dust spreading Prime Minister has to smack down one of his father’s legacies?

Kathleen Wynne Nickels and Dimes Small Businesses

Mulder

Today Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals raised miniumum wage in Ontario from $10.25 to $11.00. Either she doesn’t do math or she is nickel and diming.  She announced that she would tag the rise to inflation since 2010 when it was last raised.

Yet by my math when I take the CPI inflation rate in Canada over the past 4 years and multiply the rate by the current $10.25 minimum wage I get a $10.96 minimum wage.

CPI inflation for 2010 – 2.35%

CPI inflation for 2011 – 2.30%

CPI inflation for 2012 – 0.83%

CPI inflation for 2013 – 1.24%

So $10.25 x 1.0235 x 1.0230 x 1.0083 x 1.0124 = $10.955

So she has just tagged in an added 4.45 cents.  You may think this is paltry but it is another way she is nudging Ontario small businesses over the cliff a nickel at a time.

Officially Screwed….again.

Obamacare Continues to NOT Impress

Mulder

And the hole gets bigger.

Are Americans getting OfficiallyScrewed?

More than 4.7 million Americans had their health insurance canceled as a result of any of the thousand-plus-page law’s new rules, the Associated Press reports, but the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed Tuesday that between federal and state exchanges, just 2 million Americans have signed up for Obamacare coverage.

How The Free Market Deals With “Minimum Wage” or “Living Wage” Increases

Mulder

In 2013 there was a bump in discussion with regards to raising minimum wage to what is being termed a “living wage”.

Price Floor

Any Economics 101 student can tell you is that a minimum wage is a price floor. What price floors do is prevent the market from reaching the equilibrium point and in the case of a minimum wage (or living wage) they create a higher supply of people who want those jobs, and a lower number of employers wanting to provide those jobs. This in the very high tech economics language creates “waste”.

So how does the free market deal with minimum wage? Well in 2011, McDonalds in Europe knew that the job of order taker at McDonalds was a position that they could replace with cheaper order kiosks. So they replaced the jobs of hourly income earning people with kiosks.

And mark my words, if Ontario raises it’s minimum wage to the “living wage”McDonald's Kiosk level being asked for of $14 an hour, there will be no where left for students to find jobs. McDonalds will bring in kiosks. Mom and Pop shops will lay off students and work the extra hours themselves. The  black market “cash” jobs will make a huge comeback. Tax coffers will suffer as unemployment rises and underground employment markets thrive outside of the sight of the tax man.

What we SHOULD be doing is eliminating minimum wage. Let employers pay people what the job value is based on the supply and demand curves finding that equilibrium point.

Polar Ice Caps Grow 29% from 2012 to 2013

Mulder

And here we had everyone threatening global warming was going to melt the ice caps by the summer of 2013. Well lo and behold, they are actually growing.

A chilly Arctic summer has left 533,000 more square miles of ocean covered with ice than at the same time last year – an increase of 29 per cent.
The rebound from 2012’s record low comes six years after the BBC reported that global warming would leave the Arctic ice-free in summer by 2013.
Instead, days before the annual autumn re-freeze is due to begin, an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia’s northern shores.

The Curse of Michael Buble – Screwing Over Canuck Fans Since 2011

Mulder

I am starting to scare myself.

3 years ago when Michael Buble said that Vancouver Canucks were Vancouver’s team and not Canada’s team, I cursed them.

Reason for the Curse of Michael Buble
Click to Enlarge

That’s right. Me. A scientific individual resorted to the three pronged curse invoking some pretty powerful stuff!!! Right in the heart of the finals against Boston in 2011. To rehash from my 2012 blogpost:

I gave this the good old triple curse.
First you take your index finger and touch the lid of one closed eye (with the other open) and you say “ACK ACK ACK”. This is the Malochia or Evil Eye. Then you give the Devil’s curse and say “SIX SIX SIX, number of the beast.”
This is all followed by the ultimate sports curse from the movie Caddyshack. This is simple in that you just say “Noonan!!”
Put it all together and you have a very powerful curse. In this case, the Curse of Michael Buble!!!.
“ACK ACK ACK!! SIX SIX SIX! Number of the Beast! NOONAN!!”

And what has happened so far?

2011 – They lost in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
2012 – They were a one seed and lost in 5 games to the lowly 8th seeded Los Angeles Kings.
2013 – They were a 3 seed and lost in 4 straight to the 6th seeded San Jose Sharks.

I am going to anxiously wait by the phone for Mr. Buble’s phone call telling me Vancouver’s bandwagon (if they ever make the finals) is big enough for all of Canada….Provided they are not playing another Canadian team that is.

Sweet 16 Here We Go!!!

Mulder

Watching March Madness with another tasty little treat.  This porter from Great Lakes Brewing Company is nice, dark, coffee and toffee overtones.  Reminds me a bit of Young’s Double Chocolate Stout.  I bought it for the name.  I will buy it again because it’s good.  And how good you ask??  Well after 1463 ratings at ratebeer.com it has a score of 99/100 overall and 100/100 in style.  Yowza.  There are not many that can beat this puppy!!!!

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald 1

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Rating

 

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald 2