Public service employment has grown by 31 per cent

[Colin Parkinson]

What I quoted: "To be honest, I don't have a lot of faith in today's boards and CEO, they are far to beholden to shareholders and dividends."

What I wrote: "Who else should they be beholden to but the owners, which is what the shareholders are?"

Is it really that hard to figure out who "they" are without me having to write the reference and pronoun in the same sentence? Does the quoted sentence provide a clue (hint: "they")?

My point is that boards' ("they") obligations are to shareholders. Colin then asked: "So in your view a "Business" rests completely outside of any good citizenship framework that we expect from all other mentally competent citizens?"

What is "any"? The question is unanswerable. We could contrive an unexceptionable framework ("they should obey black letter law"), or an exceptionable one ("they should bear any expense to pursue whatever social goal of the moment someone dreams up"). We could contrive an infinite number of frameworks. Tell me what framework you propose.

If all that is meant by good citizenship is "obeys black letter law", there is nothing of interest to talk about. It's already done.

It can be very challenging to enforce "Black Letter law" on a large multi-national corporation that has minimal commitment to the country it is operating in. I know one company that took a mine that had by expert accounts a good 25 year life in it and high graded it over 7, went into shut down mode and mostly abandoned it with the least amount of work possible.

I want companies to prosper and turn a reasonable profit, I also want them to be part of our cultural fabric and care for the resources that we give them access to. If we ran our country like how many shareholders want their company to run, those same shareholders would cry foul.

 

[Brad Sallows]

It can be very challenging to enforce "Black Letter law" on a large multi-national corporation that has minimal commitment to the country it is operating in. I know one company that took a mine that had by expert accounts a good 25 year life in it and high graded it over 7, went into shut down mode and mostly abandoned it with the least amount of work possible.

Why would it have been better to tie up people and equipment for 25 years? If I wanted a house built and it could be done in X months and the contractor proposed to draw it out into 2X months for "reasons", I'd just laugh.

I want companies to prosper and turn a reasonable profit, I also want them to be part of our cultural fabric and care for the resources that we give them access to. If we ran our country like how many shareholders want their company to run, those same shareholders would cry foul.

Fine, but it can't be an open tab at a bar. Tell entrepreneurs and developers and whatnot what is wanted so they can cost it. Then they can calculate whether a venture is going to be profitable or not before they commit capital.

Inviting companies to get stuck into something by low-balling them is corrosive to economic deployment. Word gets out. There is little point going through the political pain of trying to grease economic development by removing some impediments and leaving or adding others. It's approximately insane to support the renewed push by governments to expedite big projects and at the same time pull in the other direction by supporting fuzzy notions of business citizenship that put unknown and therefore unquantifiable liabilities on balance sheets.

 

[dapaterson]

All I can think about in reading this sentence is Ayn Rand’s book “Atlas Shrugged”.

Highly recommended book.

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

[Kung Fu Monkey -- Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009]
― John Rogers

 

[Brad Sallows]

"Atlas Shrugged" gets a lot more flak than "1984" or "Brave New World". It doesn't lend itself to being a how-to manual for would-be collectivists, authoritarians, and tyrants. It's real crime is to put its foundational ideas, childishly delivered or not, in the minds of children.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

"Atlas Shrugged" gets a lot more flak than "1984" or "Brave New World". It doesn't lend itself to being a how-to manual for would-be collectivists, authoritarians, and tyrants. It's real crime is to put its foundational ideas, childishly delivered or not, in the minds of children.

I read it “Atlas shrugged” at about 14 years, because someone in my life said that I should not.

It was thought provoking.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I read it “Atlas shrugged” at about 14 years, because someone in my life said that I should not.

It was thought provoking.

She always cheers me up

 

[Fabius]

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

[Kung Fu Monkey -- Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009]
― John Rogers

John Roger’s of Hollywood screenwriting fame? An individual whose political views are generally left of centre and who has a favourable view of socialism?

Why would he have anything positive to say about any book by Ayn Rand, .

 

[dapaterson]

John Roger’s of Hollywood screenwriting fame? An individual whose political views are generally left of centre and who has a favourable view of socialism?

Why would he have anything positive to say about any book by Ayn Rand, .

Unlike Any Rand he makes money off his writings, and won't end up supported by the state in his later years.

 

[GK .Dundas]

Unlike Any Rand he makes money off his writings, and won't end up supported by the state in his later years.

* ouch*

 

[daftandbarmy]

Unlike Any Rand he makes money off his writings, and won't end up supported by the state in his later years.

The fate of many a failed screenwriter/ playwright

 

[daftandbarmy]

Going down....

Public servants to learn about job cuts in January​

Federal public servants are expected to learn about job cuts in their departments when they return from their holiday break.


Departments such as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Environment and Climate Change and Employment and Social Development have told their staff already that news on job cuts will be shared in the new year.

Ottawa is looking to cut program spending and administration costs by about $60 billion over the next five years through its “comprehensive expenditure review.”

The latest federal budget said the exercise will involve “restructuring operations and consolidating internal services.” It said it also will deploy workforce adjustments and attrition to return the size of the public service to “a more sustainable level.”

Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a message to its employees that the department will implement expenditure review decisions in mid-January. It said employees whose positions may be affected will be notified at that time “in accordance with workforce adjustment and career transition provisions.”

Public servants to learn about job cuts in January | Globalnews.ca

Federal public servants are expected to learn about job cuts in their departments when they return from their holiday break when leaders share their plans.

globalnews.ca