Won'tFitVille
Our youngest kid, littler e., realized something yesterday.
Which is that there is a real world tempation for some kids to hop on a Skytrain without paying every once in awhile.
Why?
Because when she got off the bus and headed to the train station yesterday she realized that it was going to cost her another dollar, on top of the transfer she originally bought when she stepped on the bus, to get out to Richmond with her friend.
Which is fair enough, I guess.
As long as you are a kid with an extra dollar in your pocket.
Both ways.
Of course, if you are a kid who has to cross both arms of the Fraser that extra bit jumps another dollar each way.
Which is when the lightbulb went off for littler e...
Just like it did for Lotuslandian city councillor Andrea Reimer not long ago.
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Later, when we were talking about how this is going to work once those $200 million dollar turnstiles are fully operational, e. was irate when she found out that her bus transfer would be worthless at the train station and that she would have to pay for a full fare all over again if she paid cash instead of using the card that is going to cost her an extra six bucks to 'rent'.
'Why?' she asked.
'Well, let me explain,' I said...
At the end of my explanation, which was a stripped down version of all the stuff you can find here, she only had one thing to say.
'I hate the cronies!' she exclaimed.
I thought about my response for a moment as we drove home in the dark after dropping Bigger E. off at the airport for her trip back to New France.
Why did I hesitate?
Because, and I am being totally snark-free here for the moment, I try my best not to use words like 'hate' with my kids.
In the end though, I decided that that I only had one thing to say as we floated down off the Arthur Lang and headed east along Southwest Marine.
'Me too,' I replied.
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Speaking of the cronies...
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The above is that reworked version of a Phil Ochs song that Bigger E. and I recorded awhile back...And, in case you missed it, a most interesting conversation broke out discussing, amongst other things, Mr. Ochs' strained relationship with Mr. Dylan over at Rod Mickleburgh's place the other day.
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2 comments:
'I hate the cronies!'
Even when you put aside the not-inconsiderable problem of cronyism (of having requests for proposal tailored so allies of key local pols will win the bid), the report discusses how in many cases, the needs of the local entity are so specific that there aren’t enough candidates to provide for real competition. And as we’ve discussed repeatedly with privatization, the agreements often have provision that vitiate whatever competition might have existed at the outset, such as automatic renewals and pricing provisions that guarantee profits.
The good news is the public seems to be waking up to this scam.
Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism
Thanks Anon--
Extremely glad to have something I wrote trigger you to go to something from the indomitable Ms. Smith.
I completely agree with the first paragraph cited. In fact, it describes pretty much every major 'project' undertaken from the start of the Golden Era (see, for example, BC Rail) right through to the latest from Snooklandia (the now to be highly subsidized Casino-Industrial Complex).
Here in Lotusland, however, I do not agree with the second paragraph because, in large measure, the PR hordes are running up the score against a cream puff-filled (and sugar smacked punch-drunk) punditry.
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