#Politics

I don’t want to go back to how things were before the pandemic. I want better. You should too. Don’t accept a return to what was normal as sufficient anymore. We can have more.

Alongside the illness, death, inoculation, and dread the virus caused, the virus may actually have made us better in one way.

It has reset both our expectations about the lives we can lead and about the world we can live in. Especially where we saw what choices the world and policy makers made to keep the world spinning. The pause it forced on everyone allowed us to see more clearly what our pre-lockdown days lacked and trade-offs we had made, often unwittingly, in our lives and by our policymakers and employers.

OK, have to admit I thought this was pretty clever actually.

And, I’m probably not spending enough time on the internet when my Mom scoops me by sending me this. Thanks Mom!

Besides the fact this is an utterly fantastic animation, you should be scared of the first code weapon that’s successfully struck a blow, destroying centrifuges at Iran’s nuclear facilities. Who’s responsible? Who knows?… but the fact it’s now available for just about anyone to dissect and redesign is something that should be of concern to everyone. Check out the video.

via Flowing Data

The always awesome Rick Mercer telling you if you’re young and Canadian, you need to vote. It’s not just about tuition, it’s about vision and the future of your country.

If anything will scare the complacent Canadian poligentsia into some real policy choices and action this 41st Parliament, it’s a mobilized and directed youth vote. So, get out there and cast em.

I honestly thought this was a joke until it was on the CBC. And hey, how about using taxpayer-funded government resources to fundraise got your party. Remember when elected representatives used to respect democratic principles, their country and the national electorate?

I hope this gets reversed really quickly. It’s a total mockery of the institution of Canadian democracy and an abuse of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Great post on how not to cock up open data and how amazing it is to be even having a conversation about it at all.

1. Argue for it as a numbers game. Not all gov data sets will yield huge value, but some definitely will
2. Cease tinkering around and build something useful as a service
3. Obsessively gather information on what value is generated by people using the data
4. Keep an eye on public servants who might inadvertently share private or sensitive data
5. Mistakenly insisting that Government really should be in the business of publishing everything non-private it can

Great list actually. I really, really need to get down to some of those Gov 2.0 hack days going on in Canberra and Sydney.

Great campaign ad from FalseEconomy.co.uk on how the British government’s severe austerity choices are liable to stall the economy and make the crash worse rather than deal with some of the real issues we could use it to deal with - and also how those measures will unfairly impact the poor and average earners rather than those who caused the financial crash. Great video.

via GetUp’s Oli .

Fascinating article on Germany , long derided as the sick man of Europe for its economy, got a lot of things right and is now the strongest economy in the world (well, second only to China, but hey, the DE only has 82M people vs. China’s 1B).

I do find it interesting as it brings together a couple of themes that I’ve seen recurring lately, the idea of the small, good businesses (mittelstand) which create real economic value even when they’re not trying to do billion dollar IPOs (most vehemently pushed by 37Signal’s DHH and JF) and a lot of what Umair Haque has been saying about America’s toxic economy full of value destroying, rather than creating, businesses being its problem. Too many people speculating, and shifting inflated value around rather than creating it themselves. And the focus on long term strategy for success, rather than short term tactics.

Even as a trained economist, I kind of keep wondering what the hell the Federal Reserve is doing in the States. Makes no sense though imagine they are trying to stave off a similar crisis that we’re seeing in Ireland and that is threatening to spread to the rest of Europe. Anyhow, if you’re confused by the whole thing, there’s nothing like cute cartoon animals to explain it to you. Bit long, but great.

This idea was floated by Third Way in the US, but totally love this idea for Canada as well (hell, even Aussies). Canadians rarely have a clue about where their tax dollars go to provide some of the excellent services they enjoy.

Corn syrup, milk chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, coconut, almond, soy lecithin… any consumer can read these ingredients and their nutritional value on every package of a 75-cent Almond Joy. What is provided to a taxpayer with a $5,400 tax bill? Nothing. For many Americans, the amount they pay in taxes is larger than any purchase they make during the year, but studies show they know almost nothing about where that money goes to. This contributes to ridiculous beliefs, like the view that 20% of government spending goes to foreign aid, for example. An electorate unschooled in basic budget facts is a major obstacle to controlling the nation’s deficit, not to mention addressing a host of economic and social problems. We suggest that everyone who files a tax return receive a “taxpayer receipt.”