I am a big fan of microcredit.  The idea of enabling people to work within a group and open up new opportunities for themselves is awesome to me.  I have seen it work in multiple countries and like to participate through Kiva.  One of the best things about microcredit is the structure that is commonly used to have small groups be held accountable for the actions of their members.  I think maybe we can learn from this and apply the ideas to our North American social systems.

The argument of the social welfare state has been a point of contention for years.  Most people I talk to find the topic very polarizing as they tend to have beliefs well to one side or the other.  Either they believe the government should help out those people in need or they feel the government should leave everyone to their own devices. Yet the common ground in most of my conversations is found when talking about people who exploit the system.  The habitual welfare users who are working hard at keeping themselves on the system are frustrating to everyone I talk with.

And this is where you can combine the group structure of microcredit and how we operate our welfare state.  What if we took a group of welfare participants and had them hold each other accountable to actively pursuing employment or education?  Shift the burden of tracking effort away from the government and put it back on the welfare participants.  If the team is unsuccessful at improving themselves then you cut back on the benefits for all involved.

Groups can be made up of 5 – 10 people in a neighbourhood.  They can meet to support each other and track each others efforts.  Yes, some groups will break down, but that will be a lesson in itself to the participants.  Put teams together for three months and track their progress.  If they are improving by having people find employment then reward the others in the team.  If a group does not improve then scale back their benefits.  After three months if they are having poor performance than reshuffle the groups.

A habitually lazy person will show through by always being in poor groups and these are the people that you want to cut off from the welfare system and force to take action.  If someone is on the welfare system for ten years and always is in great groups then this person must be doing something to help their team members improve.  In this case paying them the welfare check is of value as you are paying them to help others be employed.

It is all about creating the right incentives and accountability.  How do we do this and lower the cost to the state to administer it?  Using the group strategy from microcredit may just be a way.

Before leaving Vancouver I was fortunate to spend some time with different friends I have met over the years.  One friend from school told me how for him friendship was not about always spending time with the other person, but knowing that they will be there if you need them.  This is the place I find myself in now in Houston where I cant spend time with all of my friends.

At least Facebook will allow the relationships I have made to be maintained and to hear some of the news from people’s lives.  It is a great tool for me as I, like many others, struggle to pick up the phone and stay in touch with people.  Even though I care tremendously, I am just not the type of person who does small talk.

To date, I have been very lucky in that I have not had to call upon many of the great friends in my life.  I hope that my friends realize though how much I value knowing that they will be there if I need them.  Their support, encouragement, understanding, and empathy allow me to take on new adventures and tackle new tasks.  Without my friends I would never be where I am today.

Going forward then my door is open, or in this age, my email inbox is always waiting.  Drop me a line if anything is needed.

I am in the process of reading about the great destroyer from Atlas Shrugged.  I won’t spoil the end for anyone who wants to read it, but the story oddly enough is not the most important part of the book.  The plot, the characters, the setting, are all just a background to Ayn Rands philosophy about objectivism.  If you read the first chapter and find a character that you agree with you can figure out your perspective of Ayn Rands world and how much you will like her book.

Putting it into the authors terms the things that are self evident to me are the ability to strive, set goals, accomplish, take responsibility and improve yourself and the world around you are good.  The idea that you improve yourself by tearing down the people around you is self evident to be bad.  Tearing down being to purposely cause others harm.  If taking responsibility for my actions is a good thing then, if I am to be consistent, I should encourage this trait in others.

This leaves me in the unfortunate scenario of seeing others suffer at times when they take responsibility for and face the consequences of their poor decisions.  Tough love is tough, for both the giver and the receiver of love.  It is also the highest form of love as it comes from asking what is best for the person you want to love, not what is the easiest form of love for you to give.

What then should be my position towards the rest of the world?  Do I think you should never help anyone, leaving them to face the consequences of their own choices?  Should we have no care for social causes?

Ayn Rand may say that it is for my own selfish reasons of not wanting to see poverty and suffering in the world around me, but I do believe in a minimum standard of living for all.  I can do greater things myself if we are in a society where people are better off so maybe Ayn Rand is right.  It all comes down though to the methods used to help others around us.  I don’t think it should be charity or hand outs, instead I think it should be opportunities that we should be giving to those who are suffering.  And if those people do not want to take up those challenges and strive, set goals, accomplish, improve themselves then unfortunately it needs to be met with tough love.

Good helpers are those who can adjust opportunities to the level that is achievable for the people they are trying to help.  How can you help, and for more selfish reasons, how can I help?

I managed to take it games 5, 6, and 7 of this years Stanley Cup Finals.  It has taken me a while to get through the emotions of it all before I can finally start talking about it.  Here are my thoughts:

-If the Canucks were healthy and Boston was healthy I believe the Canucks would win.  Half of the Canucks regulars had a significant injury during the finals.  You could tell that they changed their system from carrying the puck over the line to dumping the puck in because the team couldn’t skate any more.

-The Ref’ing was different in the Stanley Cup Finals compared to the regular season.  In my opinion the refs should have called everything from the scrums in the first two games and it would have settling things down from there.  Whistle to whistle is where hockey should be played and both teams should have been called until the after whistle stuff stopped.

-Tim Thomas accounted for 75% of the reason Boston won, Brad Marchant accounted for 15%, and the rest of Boston the other 10%.  Even in the 8-1 drubbing the Canucks had almost 40 shots.  Thomas stood on his head for the first period and it would have been a different game if he didn’t.  I thought Marchant was their best all round player.  Cudo’s to both of them.

-Every face off you could see Hank shaking his leg, you could tell something was wrong.  I felt that the Sedins did generate scoring chances, but it was Thomas who stopped them.  I think Chara is a good player, but for me it was Thomas who stopped the Sedins not Chara.

-Being heckled by a 10 year old crossing the street in Boston was entertaining.  Since I didn’t call any Boston fans names or curse at them they were great.  Ya they heckled, and cheered their team, but no one crossed the line.

-I don’t know why people boo’d Bettman so much.  With the salary cap going up again this year it is evidence that he is growing league revenues.  The game is faster and more exciting now then it was in the late 90’s.  Sure the guy has the Charisma of a brick wall and talks lawyer speak, but he has done a good job as commissioner.

-After game 7 I went straight home (save for a conversation about anarcho-capitalism) to mope and almost cry.  A minority in this city didn’t.  To me it is a great example on group think can cause people to get out of control.  I also believe that there are some people who looked at this like a pay day.  When you show up ready to loot then a riot is no random outcome.  Get the teenagers who were caught up in the moment to do community service and lots of it.  Take the people who instigated it and put them in jail.

-I still believe in Luongo.  I still believe in the Sedins.  I still believe in Kesler.  I still believe.  I think the Canucks need to resign as much of their blue line as they can as long as the contracts provide value.  After that, find a true scoring winger to work with Kesler.  Of the UFA’s my vote is Simon Gagne.  The main components are still here for a successful team for a long time.

-All told I spent about 4500 for tickets, flights, hotels, and meals to see the three games.  Was it worth it… all I can say is the next time the Canucks have the chance to hoist the cup I will be there!

Thesis: Governments should lease out certain pieces of public property on a 99 year lease.

Pro’s: Government is able to raise money from the lease, and lower their operating costs from not having to maintain the property.  The property would be run more efficiently by the private sector.  Any value added to the property would return to the state at the end of the lease.

Con’s: More efficiently generally means the people who use the property will have to pay more while the people who do not will pay less.  Knowing the end of the lease is coming there is an incentive to over use the public property and not maintain it.

Notes: With governments struggling financially this would help alleviate some of their troubles while still returning the property to the state.  You could impose lease restrictions forcing the property to be maintained to a certain level even to the end of the lease.

For an example of how the 99 year lease worked well in the past look at China taking back over Hong Kong.

I just finished volunteering with Junior Achievers for the final time and have been blown away with the overwhelming amount of gratitude I received.

I feel the meaning of thank you is truly to carry it forward. Take what you have done and keep doin more of it. We shouldn’t need thank you’s, but as my mom reminds me boy do they help.

So to the students I worked with thank you for the encouragement and the reminder to keep being positively impactful.

Bud light has new commercials out to fit the classic beer selling mould: you only have fun when you drink beer.  Here is my suggestion for a remake of the commercial:

I’m in uses living social deals to try new things.

I’m out stays at home.

I’m in does things with purpose.

I’m out plays tons of video games.

I’m in calls up their friends to get outside and enjoy the world.

I’m out cancels plans regularly.

I am not a huge fan of the beer drinking, party 24 hours lifestyle, but I am a fan of living life to the fullest.  For that become a ‘YES’ person and give life a try!

I don’t give money to beggars; I think it just gives them the incentive to keep begging instead of truly changing their lives.

I may be heartless in this, but you never know where the money is truly going. Is it for food, for shelter, or is it for drugs and alcohol?

Instead of giving your money to beggars why not give the money directly to charities? Here you can think that the money is going to your cause and really making a difference.

Reading this article I found myself agreeing that too often we don’t know where our money is going to with charities and we see glitzy balls but what is really reaching the public? I know that there are some charities who do this already but I really feel that with the internet there is no reason why charities can’t completely divulge their financial information. Revenues, expenses, where the money actually gets deployed. Heck add to this an independent study showing that the money was fairly being distributed on the ground level and you would have confidence in the charity and be willing to give more!

If all charities did open up their books would we be having a fiasco like current one over the spending of British MP’s? Maybe someone in the free press wants to look into this!

“The helicopter gunships hovered low over a crowded street, where people had gathered to celebrate an annual festival, and opened fire with machine guns and rockets, according to several accounts. ”

I am lucky to be out of the country! Here is the link to the full story.

I may be safely at home, but I can’t help but think of the new friends and new family that I have left behind… I am torn between joy to see the ones I love and agony for the suffering that is life in Nigeria.

I was fortunate to be spoiled on my trip; everyone went out of their way to make sure that I would never have any difficulties. Some places where I went I was treated like a rock star who could do no wrong. A special thanks goes to Francis, my brother and friend. Modestus, our driver extraordinaire who found ways to be there for me even on his days off. The Registrar, Peter, who worried about me and made sure I was looked after. Father Bosco, never wavering in his faith that good things were coming out of our work. To each of them and many more do I owe many thanks for making my adventure incredible. I wish that they will all be there to witness their country change.

At home my family and friends gave me tons of support, and everyone at work were encouraging. In some ways it felt like I had a guardian at home in Ben Agbonkhese; when ever I had any problems or wanted to meet new people he was there.

I was never alone while I was on the road. If there is any benefit or change that comes from my journey the people who got me there deserve the credit. I hope that for now they will accept my heartfelt thanks.