Here’s to 2025!

Well, we made it through all 366 days of 2024. I kind of shut down on December 22nd. Enough of 2024 already and I needed to put my brain to sleep for a few days. Okay, okay! Save the snarky comments. Anyway, here’s to 2025!

Sad Start

I have never been to New Orleans but it ranks high on the list of places that I want to visit. The adults in my family all love it! For them and many others NOLA is synonymous with fun and celebration. Everyone knows the storyline. The New Year’s party was in full swing in the early hours of January 1st when a domestic terrorist drove a pick-up truck into the festive crowd killing at least 15, injuring many, many more and ruining countless lives. I know – there are many conflicts raging around the world in which many more than 15 die each day. But there is something so sad when these mass murders occur in places of joy – Christmas markets in Germany, Nice on Bastille day, …. or at a music festival.

Disaster avoided in Las Vegas? But the symbolism – an explosion of a “Musk” Rivian cybertruck in front of a “Trump” hotel? Omens of things to come post-January 20th? I hope not!

So Wishful Thinking for 2025

• When voters vote, policy overtakes personality in importance
• That we stop debating umbrella terms. The “Woke” example – in the beginning if you were woke, you were aware of racial injustice and opposed racism. Then in the late 1940s you were aware of and fought against anti-semitism. Does an individual’s declaring anti-wokism confer the racist / anti-semite moniker? Of course not! So debate individual issues.
• We scrap the carbon tax and scrap fossil fuel subsidies. I keep trying to find numbers that measure either / or consistently. I can’t. However, I can say with some confidence that the subsidies are higher than the potential tax revenues. And eliminate the bureaucracies managing the tax and subsidy regimes. Money saved is money earned.
• That governments figure out how to use its assets efficiently to address policy needs without spending money. Example: In a recent post I suggested that unused government lands could fuel housing supply and generate government revenues.
• An idea from The Economist – Canada joins the European Union. There is more to this idea than the marriage between maple syrup and Belgian waffles and French crepes. Now for that villa in Tuscany…….
• I hope all office workers go back to the office, full time! Artificial Intelligence marches on. If you can do your job at home, chances are that AI will soon replace you. Besides, office workers are the spoiled brats of the labour force. Do miners, farmers, truckers, plant workers, shop keepers / retail workers, etc even have the option of working from home?
• Fewer shiny-kneed politicos dealing with the incoming US administration. Let a bully bully and he will just keep bullying. So instead of rushing off to Florida invite the new administration to dinner at the Ice Hotel in Quebec City. Just kind of a reminder of what New York City could look like without Canadian energy exports.
• Somebody out there worth voting for on merit of policy and personality? The number of people justifying their impending vote with “it can’t be worse than” is just sad.
• That we find a way to house the chronically unhoused – I am dedicating my 2025 to addressing this national shame. More to come.

I could keep going but

Time to stop. Now is the time to send you all my best for this year and many more years to come. This traditional Scottish New Year’s message continues to best capture my wishes for all of you in this new year.