Home Grown Juice

As the days go on and my search for a permanent job continues, I've been contemplating several different Plan 'A's right to Plan 'ZZZ' - but one thing I've found so strange, that with all my trials and tribulations for an educated degree I still cannot find employment in my home town that fits me. I think, for the most part, I've been slapped with a big fat label on my forehead - as if that $40,000 education typecast me as a 'B-movie-extra' - left to sit in the background while 'more-experienced men' (i apologize to you ladies, but come-on, it's mostly men at the top, i doubt I'd take on such a negative tone if a few ladies were in charge of corporate buffoonery - well most ladies** anyways [** ladies refers to the exclusion 'Wedding Planning' as a hobby on a curriculum vitae] but i digress) plan the structure and organization of our economic make-up. Well, as it continues, my great leaders have still not come up with any tangible plan to rescue 'our' economy - nothing. Canada has been exposed to a purplish curtain curtailing our curiosity to the point where we still somehow have a housing and banking industry floating above the complete crash - or do we? At this point in time, Canada is balancing on the edge of a cliff, moving slightly downgrade, but horizontally along the plane of the cliff - Canada has managed to balance on the edge of disaster, while never fully acknowledging we need help and we're in trouble. The sub prime mess that stirred up to the melting pot in the U.S. is a homegrown remedy of our own - we sucked in the spoonfuls of rotten cough medicine, and are about to puke up the phloem all over ourselves.

Plan 'ZZZ'

When I first was searching for a property to purchase, I was offered a plethora of different options to mortgage, 5%, 15%, 0% down all at my fingertips. My broker and I discussed the 0% down option, which she negatively criticized and I agreed, but the option was still there. Now if we insert the right proportion of 'unscrupulous' individuals into our equation - where rich get rich quicker than you can say ponzi, the 0% down option suddenly becomes this cash cow of a farmer's wet dreams - just walk right up and buy the farm! Who cares that the bank will actually own it for 70% of my lifetime, I can live the now! And as if the leadership of Canada is still living in the now of 2006, the Stools at the top are bailing out executives, again.

The U.S. has led the way exposing the plight that the common Capitalist endures. Capitalism requires competition - the driver behind the wheel to ensure that fair prices are to be delivered on time to all delivery recipients. However, as capitalism grows, a Capital peaks, and is eventually reached - one winner amongst all deliver drivers - these are the ones that figure out the streamlined effect for perfect growth - growth that has no boundaries and evolves with humans and technology - growth that is delivered on time and at the perfect temperature for digesting - the perfect pizza delivery boy. Capitalism can thrive on this type of delivery boy. But what we see today isn't quite capitalism anymore - it's more of a collusion or colluding effect. The competition to deliver fair prices is still there, however there are only a few at the top that have figured it all out - how to plug their electric drivers into the global, mass communication world of the online and global delivery service - how to play the game that is dictated by sets of rules dictated by the conductor of all global traffic. The question still remains - who is that global conductor of drivers and delivery? Who conducts the orchestra?

The Colluding Effect

The question can inevitably be answered - the consumers - us. The US may still be defined in a capitalistic fashion - however with capitalism, we as us, observe that capitalism really only serves those at the top - as stratification of incomes is an easy economic target to monitor - the old saying "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" really hasn't died now has it? (unlike "what's good for the goose is good for the gander", who's saying died off when we realized that men and women are very different species) Now in the instance of competition, I'll present the scenario of going 'grass-roots' - Grass, in particular, can be grown as a seed product for lawns and landscaping - Grass just grows - as easy of a grass-roots analogy as I can get. Grass relies on water, water is available to us all at a fair price (see below). If I choose to start a new job (as I explained, my government hasn't found me a job yet) and begin my own grass-turf company, I need - a shop, building and area for growth ~ $500,000, or $10,000 per month. Seed product and start-up costs ~$5000 - time and labour - Free. Developing clientele - walking and talking and typing. So if we examine the most difficult tasks above, developing clientele and the time and labour are definitely the most difficult tasks to finish - yet these are the ones that are free! The easiest task, buying grass seed and dirt and finding a building, are easy, but the most expensive. So irregardless of this paradox, I go on and develop a clientele, grow grass seed and start selling - I've observed the market, my prices are fair and I make a profit. Now, as it stands, two scenarios can play out.

1) I'm approached by my competition, the uber-powerful and ultra growth oriented GrassMart, who offer me a fair price for my business, I can either a) accept the offer or b) reject the offer.

a) by accepting the offer I've closed shop, made some money and moved on to greener pastures

b) i reject the offer. Now under this scenario, timing is a big key indicator. How long have I been in business to pay off my initial investment and have turned a profit to actually make money. This is where under a 'colluding' scenario, the big dogs are the only ones to bark, and their bite is mean. Collusion of an industry allows the product providers, or delivery boys, to dictate the price of their services. These are instances where the value of a product can be manipulated by these individuals, for example OPEC***. In my rejection of the offer, I suffer the consequences of an open market being dictated by measures out of my control. If I reject the offer, I can see the value of my grass seed product plummet, down the drain and sustainability of my grass-roots effort can easily be pissed on and destroyed. Just like that.

(There is a c) scenario where I reject the offer and GrassMart comes and slaps a lawsuit for seed-patent infringement, but I should move on....)

***

However with OPEC, this consortium maintains the oil price at a fair value. The rise in the price of oil during the years from 2003 - 2007 were a function of the massive growth and consumerising nature of the US - it peaked as the US economy peaked and plummeted in turn. The US created the rise in oil prices, not the OPEC. But as things expanded, Canada went on and started to build the great machine that digs, pumps and pushes oil on us. The costs, as things expanded, also expanded, creating a bubble of expensive food, expensive gas and expensive lifestyles. In Canada, with oil at $50 USD, we still pay $0.85 for a liter gasoline ($3.22 per gallon). What could be happening, and this is all speculative of course, is that Canada can no longer sell it's expensively produced oil to the world. The world no longer needs our dirty oil, so we keep it for ourselves. But as we keep it for ourselves, we don't buy any other cheap - easily accessible oil. The oil that keeps our tanks at $0.55 a liter, the oil that keeps the costs of our lifestyles down. Canada has just seen an inflationary bump in costs to everything that relies on oil and gas to grow. Food, clothing, and all the pizza delivery drivers across this nation will have to pay a little more. This is a product that we never asked for, but is being pushed on us by the refusal to compete in a Capitalistic world.

delivery drivers

Approximately a week ago, Canada's leaders spoke up and discussed one of our most precious resources, our Water. As the world grows hungrier and gets thirstier, water is becoming an ever-increasing more valuable resource. Huh - imagine that - the element that composes 90% of our body mass, and we can't get enough of it clean. Anyways, Canadian leaders showed great valour, saying, 'This is Ours - We Need to Protect our Resources". Valid point, valid case. There is a case where water is essential to all of us, if Canada has mis-managed resource allocation, or if this Global Warming threat is real, we do need to protect ourselves - I agree. But if we look at number and equations (... starts to drool...) 30.3% of Canadians rely on groundwater, the remaining 26 million or so get water from other fresh sources, rivers, great lakes, rain, snow, etc... Groundwater is part of the sub-class, Freshwater, as contaminants picked up from it riding gravity through soil, waste and material eventually ends up as a murky aquifer or aquitard, laying in a bed of geological structure and rocks. Canada has begun to research our reserves, with one study being executed to determine a "facility for the extraction of up to 300,000 m3/a" (alot of water - humans use about 15-20 m3 daily). But what the research and reporting will do is determine that Canada has a heckuvalota groundwater. So water, water everywhere, why not have a drink?

Freshwater

The glory to have water as a great resource should depict the value to it's people - it's population. So as a Canadian, I am a little perplexed why we fall in the category of 'not-so-good-water-management' - see here. Apparently, Canadians pay a little more for their water. As a vast country in the North, we don't quite equal Mexican water costs, or Japanese costs, or the US's, or Australia's. We pay more for our water to drink and swim. We clean it up, distribute it through our faucets into our 90%+ make-up. The completely renewable water source.

So with room to grow, the conundrum for a nation is - do we grow? Do we grow water? Do we harvest this resource and distribute it off into the poorer countries, capitalizing on their misfortunes? I fear that the words of our politicians have set this up - we want to protect our vast resources - we want to value what we have - we want to set a price on our water for trade. It will soon be discovered that Canada may hold a key to the Groundwater conundrum - it may soon be discovered that we have our own Nubian Aquifer - an aquifer in Africa so big it could provide water for 1,000,000 people - but is so wrapped up in political upheaval that no one can figure out how to pump it out... But what Canada also holds is the power to turn the faucet on - to pump and dig - but what I fear is that Canada's water may become so polluted with capitalistic intentions that our waters and our livelihoods become controlled by interests that aren't my own.

Nubian Aquifer

If Canada were to lead this charge, and once delineation of our waters is determined, we need to step up - cut our own water bills first, and consider water an essential element of life - no cost associated with water. Every one should be able to find a free faucet for life. Conservation will be key, however once this step is concluded, we can set up international aid donations. For every dollar donated of water, a tanker is filled and shipped to a third world filling station - free of charge with the donations of dollars. Canada could feed the world the tastiest kool-aid coloured flavour to tickle all taste buds - the taste of water - if we only lost our competitive intentions.

Water is born of elemental nature -

Water is a unique element, displaying sublimation characteristics unknown to any other earth element -

Water is a secret ingredient to life itself -

Water is a liquid at room temperature and pressure -

Competition is born of thermodynamic entropy - greed

Competition is a cloned ideal, displaying destructive characteristics on all earth elements.

Competition is a secret ingredient to slavery itself.

Competition is a curse in modern times and a technological age.