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Rob Ford's Toronto

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CalgarianExOntarian said:
Please don't take this as personal criticism but I am about to criticize your one particular statement as harshly as I can, because it comes across as stupid and innumerate, and reflective of a lot of what is wrong with debate over public spending.

(Followers of TO council budget debates, I imagine you get that this is pertinent to the "Rob Ford's Toronto" discussion.)

In the city I live in, $1 million is roughly $1 per capita. I really, really don't care if that gets wasted every week or two by the city government.

$1 billion is $1000 per capita. If that gets wasted a few times a year, heads should roll.

It's not good that the English words for so many gruesomely out-of-scale numbers all end in "illion". Really the word "billion" should be replaced with "so-hugely-more-than-a-million-it-will-make-you-puke". As for "trillion", don't get me started ...

This is not to say that I think the federal Senate scandal should be dismissed because the per capita cost is effectively zero. That's a big deal, but it's all about integrity, transparency, and honesty, not money. If you want to worry about money, think about how much you want to spend on F-35 jets, or not.
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Thanks for your response, I see the point you're making but my viewpoint is more on the cumulative aspect of politicians financial waste. Yes
$1 million wasted per week doesn't sound like much but over a year (52 weeks) adds up to $52 million which imo is still a lot of money that could have been used constructively elsewhere. It seems over time the politicians have pushed the limits of what's acceptable waste up and up and up. A commenter on the The Sun wrote that $1 billion dollars spent on the gas plants cancellation is quite acceptable as that amount is spread out over 20 years at $55 million per year is really not that much, but to someone like myself that billion dollars could have been put into education, R&D, employee development etc. I remember the 1992 Presidential election race where Ross Perot was laying out his plan to reduce and eliminate the US debt which at the time was 4.2 trillion, fast forward to today and the US is sitting at 17 trillion which some American politicians even today find acceptable. Canadian politicians have seemingly are developing the attitude of a billion here, a billion there, no big deal, with that attitude it won't take long before provincial and federal debt are hit the trillion mark.
 
Peepers said:
I'm not trying to white wash anything just add some perspective.
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Comparing Rob Ford's dozens of lies, wife-beating, crack-using, drunk-driving, and bigotry to Hudak's politically-motivated hypocrisy is white washing.

This thread isn't anything to do with the current political situation in Ontario, and surely you attempts to deflect it in that direction don't go unnoticed.
 
Admiral Beez said:
UT has always had a large representation from this demographic. You see it in this thread where many with no legal expertise believed with strong conviction that Ford was going to jail. I think much of the "ignorant but sure" crowd can be attributed to the younger folks on UT, plus the man-childs in their 20s and 30s still living in their parents' house. Once you live a little, you begin to see that there is a difference between opinion, desire and fact.
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you mean Ford's basement-dwelling buddies are lurking in this thread??
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CalgarianExOntarian said:
In the city I live in, $1 million is roughly $1 per capita. I really, really don't care if that gets wasted every week or two by the city government.
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Yes, and in the province I live in $1 billion is roughly $75 per capita. So the gas plant and ehealth "scandals" cost me 150 bucks. I'm not losing any sleep either.
 
Jimmi T said:
Spoke with someone who knows Romeo DiBattista Jr well the other day. He laughed at the suggestion Romeo's involved in any major criminal activities. I think where he fits into the Ford story is just the activities that used to go on at the Bloor Street club while the mayor was in attendance. Just hard partying with girls, etc.
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While this isn't really solid evidence of much of anything, based on the complete lack of evidence other than an offhand reference by Cooke in a circlejerk panel and a nod in the Lisi ITO, there is absolutely FA to link DiBattista Jr to any criminal activity like influence peddling or kick backs for bids.
 
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to Appear Weekly on The Junkies

Toronto Mayor Robert “Rob” Ford is scheduled to join the Sports Junkies radio show on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C. on a weekly basis.

The Junkies were elated to announce Wednesday they’d be joined by Mayor Ford, an avid sports fan, on a weekly basis to talk sports and give his NFL picks.

Mayor Ford’s weekly appearance is tentatively scheduled for Thursdays at 8:40 a.m. EST.
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http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/12/04/toronto-mayor-rob-ford-to-appear-weekly-on-the-junkies/
 
The Fool said:
Thanks for your response, I see the point you're making but my viewpoint is more on the cumulative aspect of politicians financial waste. Yes
$1 million wasted per week doesn't sound like much but over a year (52 weeks) adds up to $52 million which imo is still a lot of money that could have been used constructively elsewhere. It seems over time the politicians have pushed the limits of what's acceptable waste up and up and up. A commenter on the The Sun wrote that $1 billion dollars spent on the gas plants cancellation is quite acceptable as that amount is spread out over 20 years at $55 million per year is really not that much, but to someone like myself that billion dollars could have been put into education, R&D, employee development etc. I remember the 1992 Presidential election race where Ross Perot was laying out his plan to reduce and eliminate the US debt which at the time was 4.2 trillion, fast forward to today and the US is sitting at 17 trillion which some American politicians even today find acceptable. Canadian politicians have seemingly are developing the attitude of a billion here, a billion there, no big deal, with that attitude it won't take long before provincial and federal debt are hit the trillion mark.
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What you are missing is that the absolute debt is much less important than the Debt to GDP ratio. That is to say, the ability for the economy to service the debt. In your example above, the US Debt/GDP ratio was about 60%. As of September 2013, the US Debt/GDP ratio is about 73% - somewhat higher but not alarming. If you look historically the US Debt/GDP ratio has been much higher (and much lower)

It's a valid economic question as to what ratio constitutes an emergency level. There was an economic paper recently by Reinhart and Rogoff that made the claim that the "tipping point" was 90% ratio, but the paper was debunked due to errors in the Excel worksheet that supported the claims! :)
 
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Uncle Teddy said:
A few more days before more comes out?
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The rest of the ITO is slated for release Friday at 4:30pm.

Metroman mentioned that the Chief is planning a press conference at some point.

Eyewonder mentioned something involving lawyers is in the works. This is seperate from the ITO.

Those are the things we are waiting on here, although the two latter items are just rumours at this point.
 
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is hooked on sports

Athletes have a hard time escaping the crossfire because Ford keeps showing up in news clips as if dressed for ESPN, not CNN. At various times recently, the mayor has been photographed wearing in a Leafs jersey, an Argonauts jersey, a Raptors tie and an NFL tie.

[...]

As it turns out, he doesn't wear those jerseys for political reasons. Arthur writes: "As Rob Ford races around the world as a global train-wreck celebrity, sports follows him, because Rob Ford follows sports. Ford has become the world's most famous Toronto sports fan, in addition to everything else."
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http://www.mercurynews.com/warriors/ci_24647904/toronto-mayor-rob-ford-leaves-em-laughing
 
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