HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-10-20, Page 5OPINION?
The Citizen welcomes
letters to the editor.
They must be signed and
should be accompanied
by a telephone number
should we need to clarify
any information.
The Citizen reserves the
right to edit or not print
letters,
PLEASE try to limit
letters to 300 words or
less.
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1993. PAGE 5.
A dismal
ending to
a Harley tour
Here's an interesting little news squib in
my daily paper — it says that a chap in the
town of Skien, Norway is so infatuated with
American motorcycles that he has legally
changed his name to
— Harley Davidson.
Imagine loving a hunk of machinery so
much that you name yourself after it.
I don't think I'll tell my pal Rick about this
story. Rick had a wee bout of lovesickness
over Harley Davidson motorcycles, too. But
I think he's over it.
In fact, I think the merest mention of the
name might send Rick into a relapse
involving toilet bowls, dry heaves and some
very nasty language.
It all happened last year when Rick had a
brainwave.
Those of us who know Rick have learned
to head for fallout shelters whenever Rick
has a brainwave. This is a guy who took a
flyer on Moscow real estate just before the
USSR broke up.
This is a guy who bought shares in Canary
Wharf just before the Reichman's bailed out.
Ukraine
an economic
mess in spades
While most of the attention of late has
been focused on Russia and the political
gyrations of Boris Yeltsin, the next-door
Ukrainians have been having their own
crises - any number of them. While what
passes for Parliament in that country has just
decided to have national elections next
March followed by a presidential one in
June, the country is in even worse shape
economically than it is politically. It is
anybody's question what it will be like by
the time these elections roll around.
To say that the economy is in a mess is
putting it mildly. Part of the problem has
been a struggle between President Leonid
Kravchuk and Prime Minister Leonid
Kuchma but this has been solved to a certain
degree by the latter Leonid opting to step
down. Now Mr. Kravchuk will have no
opposition in his attempts to rescue the
country from financial ruin but, given the
size of the task, that is no small matter. For
openers he has decided, with the help of
Parliament, to enter into some form of
economic pact with other former members
of the Soviet Union although, given that
these other members are in no great shape
either, the nature of any benefits from this
union is yet to be seen.
What is taking place today should come as
no surprise to those who have been watching
the country. Like many countries, including
Canada, too many people have been
cushioned from too any falls, but unlike
Canada this has come only as a result of
printing additional money with an intensity
seldom seen in that part of the world. Not
surprisingly one of the biggest problems is
This is a guy who puts money on the
Toronto Argonauts.
"It can't miss" said Rick.
Yeah, well. Still, Rick said his Harley
Davidson caper was a natural gold mine.
The idea was to buy a vintage U.S. cycle in
Canada, ship it across to Europe, tour the
continent for a couple of months, then sell
the bike at an obscene profit and float back
to Canada on a mattress of hundred dollar
bills.
"It can't miss" said Rick. "Europeans,
they're crazy for Harley Davidsons. They'll
pay 30, 40 grand for them, no questions
asked."
As usual Rick was about half right. He
bought a Harley in Canada, shipped it at
great expense to Rotterdam and proceeded to
ride across the continent.
He didn't get very far. The bike broke
down. Again and again and again. It broke
down in Holland. It broke down in Belgium.
It broke down in Germany and France and
Andorra for crynoutloud — which is so small
there's barely room to ride a motorcycle,
much less break down.
But Rick didn't really mind all the
breakdowns.
Because it was raining anyway.
And sleeting and misting and fogging and
generally being the worst European summer
in a quarter of a century. It was so cold and
so wet that nothing ever dried out.
Especially if you were camping.
inflation which is currently running at the
rate of 50 per cent a month. Just imagine
prices going up that much in Canada in the
space of 30 days and you will see how
fortunate we are with our 1.7 per cent a year.
As a result of this the currency is all but
worthless; nobody wants to save and, if they
do, it has to be in another far more stable
currency or in a commodity that is likely to
hold its value.
When your currency is all but worthless,
how do you finance production? Only with a
great deal of difficulty and, as a consequence
of this horrible monetary policy, output in
the nation's industries has taken a deep dive.
The situation has gotten so bad that Mr.
Kravchuk actually sat down to talk to Mr.
Yeltsin about the possibility of the Ukraine
selling its share of the old Soviet navy to
Russia in return for the latter cancelling the
debts owed to it by the Ukraine. Thrown in
for good measure would be the Ukrainian
port of Sevastopol on the Black Sea. This
used to be a major base for the southern
Russian navy which liked to patrol the
Mediterranean during the Cold War.
How much, however, is a navy worth?
Figures on the Ukrainian one range from 330
to 16 billion so you can take your pick as far
as prices are concerned. Even if the Russians
end up granting the Ukraine a generous
figure, it will be only a proverbial drop in
the bucket as far as the Ukraine's debts are
concerned. The government still wants to
boost subsidies as well as other spending
sharply but this can come only at the
expense of printing yet more money.
The Ukrainian equivalent of John Crowe
wants understandably to cut back on
spending, not increase it, but he does not
have the autonomy that Mr. Crow enjoys
and thus his desire may turn out to be little
more than that.
Canada has a large Ukrainian population
and some of them have gone back to help
out their beleaguered homeland, as have
Which Rick was. Between motorcycle
breakdowns. It's okay, thought Rick,
shivering and cursing and handing over his
Mastercard for the umpteenth time. "It's
okay because once I get back to Holland I'll
unload this two-wheeled albatross for 35 or
40 grand and fly back to Canada first-class
on the Concorde."
As with most of Rick's plans it didn't quite
work out that way. Oh, he eventually
chugged into the outskirts of Rotterdam on
his wheezing, smoking bike. He found a
Harley lover willing to pay $20,000, not
$40,000 for the bike. Rick was all set to
shake hands when the Dutchman said "Of
course der vill be also tax."
Tax? What tax? Well, it was a Dutch
government tax, specifically created to stop
foreign would-be entrepreneurial hot-shots
like Rick from cleaning up. In the case of
Rick's bike the tax would come to 9,000
guilders.
Which meant that Rick would be selling
the bike for $2,000 less than he paid for it.
Rick's back home now. The Harley sits in
a crate on a dock in Rotterdam, destination
unknown. Rick doesn't think about it much
any more.
Rick's more interested in this new scheme
involving computerized vineyards. You see,
he met this guy at a Harley shop in
Marseilles who told him that for an
investment of just a few hundred thousand
francs...
, ........ • .. ........
others from the States. What can they do,
however, when the economic discipline that
they know here is next to worthless there
since nobody, from President Kravchuk
down, has the will to carry the essential
reforms to their logical conclusion.
There are even some people in the country
who express the desire to reunite with Russia
because they are of the belief that in the long
run they will enjoy more prosperity than if
they remain independent. I think they are
whistling in the dark; if it is one thing that
most Ukrainians want, it is to be free of
Russian dominance, even if it means
experiencing a text book example of how not
to manage a country's economic affairs.
The
short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
Time to think
with our heads
It was one of those lazy, summer days,
meant for exploration. The air was fresh, the
sky blue and the energy level of two 10-
year-old girls high.
I was visiting at the country home of my
cousin and we had, as youngsters will,
quickly tired of what we were doing. We had
been warned against travelling too far from
the house, though I can't remember exactly
why, but temptation in the beckoning fields
lay before us as welcoming as a fire on a
bitter winter's day.
And besides, what could possibly happen;
we were children.
Well, while the details of the day are a
little hazy thanks to the passing of a few
decades, I do recall being chased by a beast
of some kind, climbing a fence, my cousin
falling, and spraining her ankle. This left us
in a bit of a dilemma because while the town
mouse could find her way to the nest from
any street, I was lost on the country mouse's
turf.
Anyway, as I'm here to write this, it's
obvious that the day did end satisfactorily, if
not necessarily happily; we were both in a
good deal of trouble upon our return. Susan
managed to limp back with a helping arm
from me, so consequently I was able to find
my way. Had her injury been more severe,
however, our ignoring the warnings could
have had more tragic results.
Face it, when you're young who wants to
be told that something fun isn't good? The
other day I overheard on the news that a
school in the Toronto-area has asked its
students to refrain from kissing for the next
two weeks due to an outbreak of meningitis.
My thought was 'Better break out the
vaccine, quick!'. Considering the fact that
many teenagers are still having unprotected
sex, or worse yet are promiscuous, when
AIDS is a very real, very frightening reality,
I find it unlikely they'll be deterred from
kissing.
We expect this sort of invincible attitude
from teenagers; after all they have their
whole world before them and have not lived
long enough to learn how full of surprises
their lives will be. But, unfortunately it's not
exclusive to kids. Adults, who supposedly
are old enough to know better, often don't.
Worldly as we may believe ourselves to be,
when a morsel too tempting presents itself
we don't always have the common sense to
remember that many treats come with a
price.
During a discussion with friends last
week, we touched on the subject of infidelty.
One woman, who knew of her ex-spouse's
dalliances, expressed her concern. Little
wonder, considering that one of the
terrifying realities of AIDS, is knowing that
no matter how careful you may be, someone
else can ruin your life. Whether or not you
believe people are meant to be monogomous
is irrelevant now; it comes down to just
being a decent and sensible human being.
Being human is being fallible, being weak
and making mistakes, but when your
mistakes cost others they are not as easily
forgiven.
This past Sunday the Walk for Life in
Toronto raised hundreds of thousands of
dollars for AIDS research. But the best cure
is prevention, which we can begin to achieve
if we don't let pleasure overshadow good
judgement.
Unlike the two youngsters lured by the
ideal of fresh excitement we had better start
thinYing with our heads and ponder what's
perhaps ahead before we pursue a whim.
Arthur Black
International Scene