HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-11-28, Page 5Arthur Black
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1990. PAGE 5.
Nightmares
of the future
In our worship of the machine, we have
settled for something less than a full life,
something that is hardly even a tenth of
life, or a hundredth of a life. We have
confused progress with mechanization.
Lewis Mumford
Do you remember the machines they
promised us? You’d have to be a certain
age to recall them -- say, 40 or over. I used
to read all about them in “Popular
Mechanics.” That magazine had a near-fe-
tish about the “automobiles of the future”.
Time and again the editors would devote
full cover stories to rhapsodic predictions
of just how wonderful transportation was
soon going to be. Graphic artists were
commissioned to sketch Star Trekkish
metropolises bristling with futuristic hives
and domes, all interlaced with translucent
walkways and moving sidewalks. Whizzing
through the air in all directions you could
see the “automobiles” of the future -
compact saucers really, about the size of a
mid-size American car, but capable of
travelling overland or through the air. Each
Gold in the
doldrums
BY RAYMOND CANON
On one of CFPL-TV’s “Morning Break”
programs we looked at the three gifts
which the wise men brought to the baby
Jesus - gold, frankincense and myrrh. If
my memory serves me correctly, we got
through the last two in short order and
turned our attention to gold.
It was in great interest at the time, given
the uncertainty which existed in the world
and was on its way up to $1,000 an ounce.
People were even taking out second
mortgages on their houses in order to buy
gold, believing that they were going to
make a killing.
Those who did buy a lot of gold turned
out to be rather disappoint
ed in that, after reaching that dizzy height
early in 1980, it turned back down to
something less than half that. That is
precisely where it has stayed just about the
entire 1980’s and, since it pays no interest,
those investors who held on to their
holdings have little to show for it.
Still the fascination for gold continues.
People see in it the ultimate hedge against
inflation and other forms of economic
instability and thus, when Saddam Hussein
sent his boys marching into Kuwait and the
U.S. responded by doing likewise into
Saudi Arabia, the gold buff swung into
action. While I had no Middle East
potentate phone me up to get my valued
advice, although some Canadians did,
investors all over the world who got back
into the gold business again must once
more be more than a mite disappointed
because this time, at least up to the time of
writing, the value of this commodity has
not shown more than a blip or two
upwards.
To cite on example, when Iraq invaded
Kuwait, the value of gold rose from about
$400 to $450 an ounce but, as soon as there
was any hint that diplomacy, and not the
military might play the leading role in
solving the crisis, the metal lost most of
that gain in less than a week.
Canada, as one of the larger gold
producers in the world (we are jousting for
third place with the Australians), is in an
of the cars had a plastic bubble of a cockpit,
and in that cockpit you could usually see a
grinning, middle-class nuclear family of
the future, out for a care-free weekend
spin.
I used to moon over those articles in
‘‘Popular Mechanics” back in the late
’50’s. They always assured us this fantastic
world was just around the corner. We’d all
be flitting about in jetcars well before the
turn of the century - by 1980 at the very
latest.
Well, it’s 1990, and I often think of those
decade-overdue Jetcars as my hopelessly
old-fashioned, terminally pavement-bound
Toyota noses into the morning rush hour
traffic going to the city. I’ve usually got
plenty of time to think, because there’s no
rush at all in my rush hour. I’m fused into a
miles-long traffic jam that’s going no
where.
Still, it’s a chance to work out some great
finger-drum solos on the steering wheel
while I listen to the car radio. During the
really bad traffic jams I even get to read a
bit of the morning paper.
Which is where I came across the story
about Paul Moller and his M200X.
That’s the rather un-catchy name Paul’s
bestowed on his invention. There’s a
photograph of him in the M200X that
accompanies the newspaper story.
I would have named his invention
differently.
I would have called it The Jetcar.
interesting position in that prospectors
have made a number of significant finds of
the metal during the past decade or so.
When it comes to selling gold coins as an
investment, our Maple Leaf coin, marketed
by the Mint, is in first place, having taken
over from the South African Krugerrand.
However, since the price is relatively low,
some of the less efficient mines have a hard
time even breaking even and for this
reason production of gold has tended to
drop off, not only here but in other
countries as well. South Africa, the world’s
largest producer of gold, is running into
production problems due partly to the
quality of the ore while the Australians
could see their output be reduced by as
much as two-thirds. What the Soviet Union
will do is, as usual, problematical.
For this reason, with production levell
ing off or even falling, supply and demand
are more or less in equilibrium and should
remain so unless, and this is a big unless,
Other views
An unfortunate example
The shocking news Friday (Nov. 16) of
the freak accident resulting in the death of
a five-year-old girl from Listowel makes
one thing absolutely clear -- any type of
accident can happen at anytime.
The strange mishap transpired when a
mother left the family car idling in a
convenience store parking lot and ran in to
buy some incidentals. In the car, patiently
waiting for her return, was her five-year-
old daughter. Accidentally, the girl knock
ed the gear shift into reverse and the car -
idling very high because it wasn’t warmed
up yet - spun backwards. The girl in her
attempt to get out of the speeding vehicle,
fell out the door and was subsequently run
over by the out-of-control car. She died less
than two hours later. How often do we see
this? It happens every single day, every
where. You do it. I do it. We all do it. And
how many times have the police, or other
law enforcement agencies, warned us of
such potential disasters?
“It’s like having a little loaded gun
Because that’s what it is, alright. Ten
years late and not quite as swanky as the
“Popular Mechanics” artists conception,
but it’s a jetcar, and Paul Moller, a
professor of aeronautics, is in the cockpit,
hovering about ten feet off the ground
while newspaper reporters take pictures.
The M200X is only the beginning, says
Moller. His California company is already
working on a model that will carry four
passengers at 500 miles per hour as high as
30,000 feet and as far as 800 miles on a
single tank of gas.
Just as “Popular Mechanics” predicted
back in the ’50’s!
So how come I’m not excited?
Perhaps it’s the price tag - Moller says a
copy of his M200X will cost about the same
as a helicopter - and that’s a lot for a craft
that so far has only managed to hover
about 30 feet off the ground for less than
three minutes.
Or maybe it’s the realization that Jetcars
will only make driving worse, not better.
It’s bad enough being stuck to the
pavement, worrying about tanker trucks
coming up your tailpipe and muscle cars
passing you on a hill. Can you imagine
being out for a romantic drive with your
Sweet Patootie when suddenly the blood
drains from her face, her eyes bulge like
Westinghouse 60-Watters and she shrieks:
“Yuppie on his earphone at 12 o’clock
high!”
You go ahead Mr. Moller. I’ll sit this one
out.
something happens in the Gulf area to set
the world’s nerves on end. If that takes
place, we could see the price of gold shoot
up just as it did about 10 years ago. Don’t
forget that the Middle East, along with
Asia, contains the largest private market
for gold. Gold purchases there have been
climbing over the past three years to offset
the decline in demand elsewhere and any
real sign of instability would see buying go
right through the roof.
In reply to a question one time, I replied
that the total amount of gold in this world
would take up only one football field to a
depth of five feet. It is truly remarkable
that such a small amount of one metal can
play such an influential role in the world
today just as it has over the past centuries.
As we pointed out in the Morning Break
program to which I referred, it was, after
all, one of three choices of the Wise Men
but, unlike the other two commodities, it is
still very much around.
hanging on the wall,” Mitchell Police Chief
Chuck Zehr said in describing the incident.
“All it takes is one shot ...”
So true.
The incident made national headlines
because of its freakish nature. It is tragic
that an innocent child had to die to reaffirm
the dangers of anything involved with
motor vehicles and children. However, the
thing that makes it so tragic and so
newsworthy is the realization that it could
have happened to anyone. - Mitchell
Advocate.
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Letter
from the
editor
Is Ontario
behind the world
or ahead
BY KEITH ROULSTON
The fall of Margaret Thatcher last week
puts into question the common dogma that
the world is moving to the right of the
political spectrum.
When Ontario elected a “socialist” NDP
government in September, one prominent
New York newspaper suggested Ontarians
had been asleep and hadn’t seen that the
world was moving in the opposite direc
tion. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the
democratization of Eastern Europe, even
the turmoil in the Soviet Union proved that
socialism was dead and the world was
moving to the right, the paper said.
But is it? Britains, tired of the right-wing
agenda of Mrs. Thatcher made it clear in
public opinion polls that she didn’t stand a
chance of being re-elected, leading her
Conservative caucus to rebell and call for a
leadership vote.
The pillar of right-wing thinking in the
western world is gone. In the U.S.’, George
Bush who inherited the halo of Ronald
Reagan has found his popularity sinking as
people began to see the holes in the
wonderful world of “supply-side” econo
mics. We all know about the popularity of
the Tory government of Brian Mulroney in
Canada. The latest poll says he could get
only 14 per cent of the vote if an election
was held today.
Mrs. Thatcher’s rise and fall illustrates
the situation of right-wing governments.
After long years of governments that tried
to solve the ills of society with new
regulations and government programs,
people got tired of laws and taxes and
when someone like Margaret Thatcher
came along preaching government re
straint and deregulation, it sounded good.
In Britain people also admired her courage
in facing down powerful labour unions.
She wanted to revolutionize Britain and
get it back on its feet again. She wanted to
instill in people a competitive fire instead
of having them worry about security (sound
familiar?). To some extent it worked as
people were able to buy government
housing when they’d never have been able
to own a house before.
But as time went by, even as the
government cut social programs and sold
off crown corporations, the government
deficit grew instead of being reduced
(sound familiar?). Inflation is more than
double Canada’s and unemployment is on
the rise. There are 80,000 fewer hospital
beds than when she became Prime
Minister and 750,000 people vyaiting
medical care.
She brought in a new tax that was
violently opposed by the public (sound
familiar?). The poll tax made rich and poor
pay virtually the same amount - about
$1,000 a year. The theory of the right wing
governments of Britain, U.S. and Canada
has always been that if the rich get rich
enough they’ll spend enough money to
keep the rest of us going and we’ll envy
them their wealth so much we’ll work our
heads off to move up the economic and
social ladder. What Britain ended up with
is three million unemployed with fewer
social safety nets to protect them in the
hard times ... the same as we’re getting
here in Canada.
Ontario, far from being behind the
times, may be ahead of the times. Voters
are showing that though they flirted with
the right wing they still care about the
issues that led to those social safety nets
being put in place. We still want to see the
poor looked after. We still care about the
environment. We like our government-run
health system and many people apparently
like the idea of government-run car
insurance. In short, maybe it’s the Thatch
ers and the Mulroneys and the Bushs that
are out of step.