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THE RURAL VOICE
Mabel
's Grill
"Boy I see this privatization thing
sure pays off," said Dave Winston as
he sat down at the table the other
morning. "I mean the government
sells Highway 407 to some private
company and in only a couple of
years the value has shot right up."
"Yeh, I
wish the
government
had some
farmland it
could sell
me," said Cliff
Murray. "If I
could make a
gain like that
it might be the
one way to
keep going."
"Kind of
makes you
wonder about
Ontario
Hydro, doesn't it," said Wayne
Bruce. "I mean they sell the Bruce
nuclear plant off to somebody at a
fraction of what they paid to build it.
I wonder how much it will be worth
in a couple of years?"
"That's the way it goes when you
get government out of it," said
George McKenzie. "You let real
businessmen run a company and its
value just naturally goes up."
"Sort of like that Enron company
in the States," said Wayne, winking
slyly to Dave. "Good businessmen
like that can make a billion dollar
company out of virtually nothing. Of
course they also made virtually
nothing out of a billion dollar
company again."
"The thing that kind of surprised
me is all the fuss there was when
they caught those business students
cheating at Simon Fraser Univer-
sity," said Dave. "People talked
about expelling them and all that but
I kind of thought they should all be
nominated for the title of 'most
likely to succeed' in their class."
"Maybe that's why farmers should
take MBA courses," said Cliff. "I
keep hearing about some farmers
who are taking them and I can't quite
figure out why but maybe we should
all be taking lessons on how to beat
the system. It's gotta be better than
the way things are going."
The world's
problems are
solved daily
'round the table
at Mabel's
"Maybe we all need an MBA,"
said Wayne. "I mean how else do
you figure that the American
economy is in trouble and the
Canadian dollar goes down against
the American buck. The more trouble
they're in, the worse our buck goes
down."
"Don't knock it," said George.
"The sick loonie may be the only
way we can make money on corn and
soybeans this year."
"Then there's Argdhtina being in
trouble so it's hurting Canadian
farmers but Brazil right next door is
benefitting and their currency is
going up. Figure that!" said Cliff.
"And this guy at the farm
meetings who's saying we all might
as well close up shop because Brazil
is going to put us out of business
with all their land that can produce
three crops a year," said George.
"Oh those damn farm meetings,"
said Dave. "Paying 50 bucks to hear
somebody tell me I have to 'embrace
change' if I want to succeed," said
Dave. "Seems to me I've been
changing faster and faster and
succeeding less and less."
"And the things they always want
you to change are the things you're
making money on," said Cliff. "Like
getting rid of marketing boards."
"I'd sure embrace change if it
meant changing to five -dollar corn
and 10 -dollar soybeans," said Dave.
"Yeh right! You're not going to
get the kind of change that gives you
more. The guys who want changes
are the big guys who want you to get
less so they can get more," said
George.
"Yeh, they're the guys who'll be
glad if Brazil takes all our production
as long as the prices go down," said
Cliff.
"But wouldn't you like to be able
to plant three crops a year?" asked
Wayne.
"Not if you're losing money on
every one of them," said Dave.
"And wearing out your equipment
three times as fast," said George.
"Not to mention it would play hell
with your curling season," said Cliff.
"Yeh, I guess our one hope's these
guys knock themselves out planting
and harvesting three crops a year and
we win by default," said Dave.O