If You Need To Explain...

Did Churchill have to explain to the British people why they were fighting the Germans? Did he have to explain what was the purpose of the war? No, of course not, because these things were obvious and needed no explanation. In fact, if a leader has to explain why his country's soldiers are fighting somewhere, it's a pretty good sign that they are probably fighting for the wrong reasons. I'm just saying.

Here We Go Again

So the Western nations are attacking another Arab state. Again. We all know how well that ended the last time. Oh wait, that time, correction, those two times still have not ended almost 10 years later. At least we are not invading Libya. Yet.

Am I too cynical in thinking this is more to do with protecting oil supplies than protecting Libyan civilians? Is it just a coincidence that Libya and Iraq produce about the same amount of oil? Maybe. Maybe not.

So You Want A Revolution?

Watching some these in-progress revolutions happening in North Africa and the Middle, it's fascinating how easy it is to shine a light into the dark places today. I dislike the term "facebook revolution" because it demeans the people who are willing to take a stand against tyranny. People, not technology, cause revolutions. Technology is merely an enabler. It speeds up communication, often bypassing the traditional media altogether. How long did it take for news of the 1976 riots in South Africa to spread around the world? A day or two at least. Now it would happen in minutes. This is why the Internet is so valuable and why it needs to remain open.

Sadly the attacks on the Internet's openness are coming from authoritarian regimes as well as the supposedly free countries, such as the U.S. Anti-wikileaks campaigns. Domain seizures. This is how it starts. This is the thin edge of the wedge. Freedom is easy to lose. It's hard to win it back. Just ask anyone in any country in the midst of revolution right now.

Play Nice

It amuses me when nations don't play nice for the sake globalization. For example everybody wants the Chinese to let their currency float freely on the open market. So far they have resisted because keeping their currency artificially weak is good for their economy which depends on exports. And other countries are taking the same action. And why shouldn't they? A government's first responsibility is to it's own country, is it not?

The governments of certain Western nations have been drinking the globalization Kool-Aid for too long. Globalization only benefits large multinational corporations while it hurts national economies. It seems some governments are finally realizing this and are taking appropriate action. The global economy might suffer while national economies flourish as they did in the past. I don't have a problem with this.

Rental Apartments

I'm always looking at rental apartment listings and I'm noticing a large decrease in the number of listings on the popular services. Although I've seen this kind of decrease before, it's never been to the point where there's only one or even zero new listing per day.

Toronto is always chronically short on apartments. Most of Toronto's apartment buildings were built in the 1970s. In the 1990s the rental laws were relaxed to encourage the private sector to build new rental accommodation. The idea was doomed to failure as the private sector is only interested in building condominiums. So the apartment shortage worsened while rents sky rocketed.

Aside from the apartment shortage, there are other factors at work. There is a worry the Canadian housing market is a bubble the could burst at any time. Sensible people naturally avoid buying in such a market and continue to rent, which reduces apartment availability. One source of temporary rental accommodation is the basement apartment, but the rising cost of utilities is a major disincentive for home owners to build basement apartments.

It's not a good time to be looking for an apartment.