Robert Paterson's Weblog

Hope - A Service of Public TV

Imagine if all the billions in Bonuses had been invested back into the companies

“…[Honda] announced that managers would take a 10 percent pay cut next year.”

To me, that is responsible leadership, and the biggest reason why Japanese automakers have clobbered their American counterparts for decades. Instead of pillaging their companies for personal enrichment — Japanese senior management put the company’s benefit above their own. This earlier post covers similar ground.  By taking the first hit, Honda’s  management has acquired the moral authority to perform layoffs, because they took it upon themselves to take the first blow.
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An important post from EclecticLip that offers insight into why the heroic leadership model of the US has brought us to this point

Is the Kibbutz a Model for the Times to Come?

My good friend Gabe sent me this email today:

robert - in the very initial stages of planning a self sufficient community for somewhere over in asia, in case shit goes down. do you think that much of the resources of such a community would need to be used for defense? think fortified kibbutz.

i am reminded of that JG Ballard memoir about when he was imprisoned as a kid outside shanghai. as bad as things were in the japanese-run camp, there was always a crowd of chinese at the gate trying to get in -- because conditions outside the wire were much worse.

The Kibbutz was a answer to a problem that we might all share soon.

When there is no effective government. When there is no real state. When there is no official security. When there is no secure money. How do you not only survive but thrive. You band together in an intentional community. You in effect go back to the core human organization - the Tribe. In the Dark Ages it was the Monastery. In pre-war Palestine, it was the Kibbutz.

I wonder if we can learn a lot for the Kibbutz model and apply it well at home?

It has been an eye opener for me this Christmas to have many of my extended family living here with us. In effect we had a mini tribe of 8 adults and one baby! I could feel what it might be like to make our little place here very viable. We had enough labour to get almost any task done. And the baby was in heaven and so was the mother who was helped in spades.

What do you guys think? What do feel about bringing back the Tribe/Kibbutz as  way of getting through what might come?

This is not an academic question for me. I think that we have only the year of 2009 to plan and then act before it may be too late to get ahead of what will come.

I fear that by 2010 we will see that our national and local governments cannot provide the key services that we ask of a government - sound business conditions, sound money and security. The structures and the leadership that we have all relied on for hundreds of years might be fatally weakened in 2009.

2009 will be the transition year. By the end of 2009 we will see more clearly that the bailouts will have failed in their intent. They will not have helped people stay in their houses, buy houses or buy other things. The economy will be even more moribund. If you think I exaggerate - here is an article form the WSJ on the plight of small business at the end of 2008. Thanks John Robb

In 2009 the pain will hit local governments hard. Their tax bases are too fragile being largely based on sales tax and property tax. All the local services that we count on will start to crumble. How will schools cope? Social Services? Maintenance? Police?

In 2009 we will start to see major strains in the global food system and real shortages. The just in time food system itself will be under huge strain.

But most important, what little confidence there is in our financial system will be lost. The Chinese will have to spend their savings on Chinese local problems as millions are laid off in the factories. There will be no one left to buy all the Treasuries needed to keep the system going and to finance the bailouts.

Here from The Mediavore is a quick view of the jawdropping numbers involved:

Linda Bilmes provides the day’s jaw-dropping moment on The Takeaway. The national debt has risen from $5.7 trillion in 2001 to $10.7 trillion today, and when you add in the bailout (thus far), Bilmes says the total is closer to $11.5 trillion. Even children can figure out that we’ve amassed more debt in the past 8 years than in the previous 225 years. Bilmes names three profound errors: The Bush administration led two rounds of tax cuts; the administration spent more than a trillion dollars on the wars in Afghanistan and Iran, borrowing all of it; and spents billions on defense that so far has been of little benefit. Bilmes reminds us that the $1 trillion we spent on Iraq will result in trillions of additional expenditures on equipment replacement, Veteran’s benefits and other costs in the coming decades. Yes, you should listen to this, no matter how depressing you find it. Listen

The foundation of the world system - the US Dollar and the US Credit - will be lost.

With the foundation gone how can the weakened parts still stand?

I can't see how this cannot happen. I may be off by a year or two. But I can't see how the dollar can hold its value. I can't see the world system remaining viable with the failure of the dollar. I cant see how our current leaders can do anything to stop this.

I hope I am wrong. Challenge me please.

But if I am right, then we will be looking at the very conditions that made Kibbutz's a good idea or the Monasteries in the Dark Ages. When there is no state only a community at scale and with intention can offer us respite.

Only local structured communities can rebuild the resilience needed to get though the hollowing out of the state.

The Building of the PEI Igloo

Charlie Scott - master builder (aka my son in law)
The snow conditions were perfect for block cutting
The easy bits
The harder bits begin
In need of more support
Closing in
James and Max - the slaves (aka nephew and son)
The next day
Natural Light

I am sad to say that the warm days have meant that the PEI Igloo is no more - more like a "tell" of an ancient city lost in time.

Igloos on PEI

My New Year Prediction - Many of us will wake up in 2009

Cypher and Mr Smith do a deal - A Moment for our time?

I have this growing feeling that we have indeed been living in The Matrix - a dreamworld.

Many hope that we can just go back to how it was before September 2008 - Like Cypher, we know it's not real but we want to return there. The Real World is hard and dirty.

It's a cat's life

It's all mine! When is that baby going to leave?

Westjet wins the prize over terrible Christmas weather

I re-post in full Jane Boyd's story on what Westjet did to ensure that their passengers (Guests indeed!) were not abandoned this Christmas. They should be rewarded by our support.

Travel across Canada this Christmas week has been an awful experience for many due to the severe winter weather conditions. Despite this, Westjet pulled out all of the stops to try and keep their customers happy.  Compare all of this service to the experience some Air Canada passengers had trying to get to Toronto. Way to go Westjet! 

From a Westjet Press Release earlier today:

At one point in time, in the wake of the severe weather, WestJet was
faced with as many as 4,500 guests who would not have made it home in time for
Christmas if the airline did not demonstrate its can-do attitude.

     "We regret we were unable to get this number down to zero," lamented Ken
McKenzie. Despite our best efforts, 130 guests remained to be flown, which is
the equivalent of one flight, as of December 25th."
     Here is a breakdown of what WestJet spent between December 20 and today,
in an effort to get our guests home

     -   More than 6,000 hotel rooms were provided free of charge to stranded
         guests at a cost of more than $500,000
     -   More than 25,000 meal vouchers were provided to guests in airports at
         a cost of approximately $220,000.
     -   $250,000 on ground transportation including taxis and chartered buses
     -   Aircraft were chartered from third party airlines at a cost of
         approximately $325,000 to assist in clearing the backlog of stranded
         guests.

     Above and beyond the dollars and cents, there are hundreds of stories of
WestJetters who went the extra mile during this period, including one employee
who ran 10 kilometres to work in minus 20 degree weather after his car broke
down, and countless office staff who manned check-in counters, baggage belts
and other locations.

A Sombre Reminder at Year End - The Price of Afghanistan

Source icasualties.org

What is the Mission? It can't be "democracy" - how does a soldier deliver that?

What is the Mission? It can't be defeat the Taliban/Afghans - no great power, not even Alexander the Great has done that?

What is it?