There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?
Recent Articles
- Justice for Indigenous Peoples is Long Overdueby Ryan McGreal, published June 30, 2021 in Commentary
(0 comments)
- Third-Party Election Advertising Ban About Silencing Workersby Chantal Mancini, published June 29, 2021 in Politics
(0 comments)
- Did Doug Ford Test the 'Great Barrington Declaration' on Ontarians?by Ryan McGreal, published June 29, 2021 in Special Report: COVID-19
(1 comment)
- An Update on Raise the Hammerby Ryan McGreal, published June 28, 2021 in Site Notes
(0 comments)
- Nestlé Selling North American Water Bottling to an Private Equity Firmby Doreen Nicoll, published February 23, 2021 in Healing Gaia
(0 comments)
- Jolley Old Sam Lawrenceby Sean Burak, published February 19, 2021 in Special Report: Cycling
(0 comments)
- Right-Wing Extremism is a Driving Force in Modern Conservatismby Ryan McGreal, published February 18, 2021 in Special Report: Extremism
(0 comments)
- Municipalities Need to Unite against Ford's Firehose of Land Use Changesby Michelle Silverton, published February 16, 2021 in Special Report
(0 comments)
- Challenging Doug Ford's Pandemic Narrativeby Ryan McGreal, published January 25, 2021 in Special Report: COVID-19
(1 comment)
- The Year 2020 Has Been a Wakeup Callby Michael Nabert, published December 31, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
- The COVID-19 Marshmallow Experimentby Ryan McGreal, published December 22, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
- All I Want for Christmas, 2020by Kevin Somers, published December 21, 2020 in Entertainment and Sports
(1 comment)
- Hamilton Shelters Remarkably COVID-19 Free Thanks to Innovative Testing Programby Jason Allen, published December 21, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
- Province Rams Through Glass Factory in Stratfordby Doreen Nicoll, published December 21, 2020 in Healing Gaia
(0 comments)
- We Can Prevent Traffic Deaths if We Make Safety a Real Priorityby Ryan McGreal, published December 08, 2020 in Special Report: Walkable Streets
(5 comments)
- These Aren't 'Accidents', These Are Resultsby Tom Flood, published December 04, 2020 in Special Report: Walkable Streets
(1 comment)
- Conservation Conundrumby Paul Weinberg, published December 04, 2020 in Special Report
(0 comments)
- Defund Police Protest Threatens Fragile Ruling Classby Cameron Kroetsch, published December 03, 2020 in Special Report: Anti-Racism
(2 comments)
- Measuring the Potential of Biogas to Reduce GHG Emissionsby John Loukidelis and Thomas Cassidy, published November 23, 2020 in Special Report: Climate Change
(0 comments)
- Ontario Squanders Early Pandemic Sacrificeby Ryan McGreal, published November 18, 2020 in Special Report: COVID-19
(0 comments)
Article Archives
Blog Archives
Site Tools
Feeds
By A Smith (anonymous) | Posted January 11, 2011 at 21:06:44
goin'downtown >> an investment towards a national sports team could be deemed an investment in marketing the city for business attraction and retention.
Taking money away from people and giving it to government to spend, decreases consumer spending, decreases business investment and leads to distorted incentives.
Instead of telling businesses to compete with good products, it tells them to make the right political donations. If you want an economy that can build stuff that people want to buy, not just in Hamilton, then you want to promote an economy based on free and voluntary exchange/competition.
However, if you want an economy based on politics and who you know, then you shouldn't expect to create world leading companies or world class careers. I think it's obvious how Hamilton's economy has been moving the past fifty years. We have traded competition and freedom for security and stability.
Ask yourself this, why has Hamilton lost almost all of our good manufacturing jobs? Just look at our fastest growing industries, government funded healthcare and education. Do either of these industries promote competition? Not so much. In either of these industries can smart people sell directly to the public at prices they choose? Not so much. So where is the incentive to innovate? If I do save costs delivering health care, how am I rewarded? By having my budget reduced by the health care minister.
Switzerland is a nation of 7.78M people that embraces personal freedom and limited government. It has 15 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list. Canada is a nation of 34.3M people that touts government health care as our biggest accomplishment and we have 11 companies on the same list. On a per capita basis, Switzerland's economy is more than 6x better at producing world class companies than we are.
Perhaps the lesson here is more government spending does not equal more business success.
Permalink | Context