Look Ma, Stagnant!

In Japan they have trains that go over 300 miles an hour. That's, like, fast. In China, they're building the tallest building in the world in under three months. That's, like, tall and fast.

In North America, we don't have trains that go that fast. For all our 'New World' space and technology, we lag even Asia.

In the USA, they haven't begun construction where the old Twin Towers stood and in Montreal, our subway cars run on rubber tires that basically can only be manufactured by Michelin. The claim being it's more comfortable. Right.

Good way to ensure you always have the best price.

In fact, it's such a corrupt racket it's disgraceful. Outside bidders have no chance.

And in such a restrictive and secretive environment, it's no wonder no marvels take place here anymore.

We didn't build that for real.

***

The key is transparency. We think we're making rational choices when we vote, but we're not. It doesn't make sense to vote for "free" health or education or daycare or anything else without knowing the cost of things. Yet, we do it. We trust the government to handle our money efficiently.

As we learned, a fool and his money are soon parted.

The least we can do is ask what are the costs of running all these institutions to determine exactly where we need to improve.

Would you hand your money over to a stranger who would then claim to act on your behalf?

If so, wear knee and elbow pads and a helmet at the dinner table.

Why we would entrust hundreds of millions of dollars to mere mortals so vulnerable to stupidity and corruption is beyond me to comprehend.

Wait. If post-secondary education ever becomes "free" watch the scandalous behavior that will unfold. Call me a skeptical-cynic. It's one thing to dream about what ought to be and quite another to be fleeced attaining lofty and noble objectives.

It's like that scene in Casino when the workers were skimming. Who is going to notice? So it is with the public purse, who's gonna notice 500 grand here, 1 million there?

If there's no public pressure to demand "quarterly reports" why should officials care?

We create the culture of corruption.

Same in sports as we've seen how international criminal organizations have infiltrated most sports on the planet.

Corruption breathes when there's denial.