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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-10-18, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2000. PAGE 5. Other Views About the fickle finger of fate Ztie Bonfire of the Vanities, a novel by Tom Wolfe, is the story of one man’s . downfall through incredibly bad luck. In 690-odd pages, Sherman McCoy goes from - being a Wall Street-cruising, Park Avenue dwelling multi-millionaire stockbroker to a disgraced and vilified pauper, facing an endless procession of legal battles. Near the end of the novel, a reporter stops him as he’s going into a courtroom for yet another round and asks him if he has any advice for the public. McCoy looks at the reporter through red-rimmed eyes and says “Yeah. Never, ever fall afoul of the American justice system.” I’m sure Peg Bargon would second that emotion. Ms Bargbn is - or rather was - a quiet, unassuming housewife living in the suburbs of Monticello, Illinois when Life decided to throw her a knuckleball. It started innocently enough, with a phone call from a local PR person for the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton was coming through Illinois on a speaking tour and they wanted to present the First Lady with a little memento. Which is where Peg Bargon came in. Peg makes handicrafts as a hobby - paperweights, shell necklaces, that sort of thing. Would she have anything in her studio that would be appropriate? Peg had just the thing - a handcrafted dreamcatcher - a small hoop decorated with feathers, beads and pebbles, which, accordingCanadian policy made in the U.S.A. The Bank of Canada has been busy lately raising interest rates and every time this happens I get asked the whys and hows of all this. This is not surprising since the word economists use to describe these changes is “arcane” which reduced to simple English means that it is difficult to understand, especially the American connection. This interest rate, called the “bank rate” is used for various purposes but the one in use right now is to cool off the booming economy before inflation gets too much of a start. Since there is a time lag involved in all this, you have to start early (16 - 24 months early) for the increase to do any good. There is, therefore, a bit of guessing in all this although central bankers would never admit to guessing. They like to give the impression of being on top of things, as it were ,and, if there are guesses, they are “educated” ones. To see how effective all this is, let me ask you a question. If you are planning on buying a house or a car or some other big ticket item that you are going to finance, how much would the interest rate have to go up before you would postpone the purchase ? This is the key to the whole central bank action for they want to increase the interest rate just enough to slow the economy down a bit, not stop it in its tracks and cause a recession. The thing is that consumers have become so used to credit, egged on by the credit card companies (Will that be cash or credit card?) that interest rates don’t play the role they used to. Therefore, the central banks have to increase the amount of interest rate hikes over what they used to do. In economic jargon this is called inelastic demand for credit (just in case you hear the expression used). Now the American economy is more overheated than the Canadian one. Unemployment rates south of the border are actually less than four per cent (an unheard of figure in this day and age) while here they are to native legend, can ward off evil spirits. The PR person was delighted; Peg was paid; the dreamcatcher was given to a visibly pleased Hillary Clinton. A happy ending to a minor story. Right up until Peg Bargon looked up from her living room couch a week later to see federal agents coming through the front door, waving search warrants in one hand and pistols in the other. They ransacked her house. They turned her craft studio upside down. They booked her, fingerprinted her, grilled her for hours and even hooked her up to a lie detector. Her crime? Feather-napping. The feather in the dreamcatcher that had been given to the First Lady came from a Golden Eagle. Commercial use of such a feather is a direct violation of the U.S. Migratory Bird law and a felony offense. Sterling detective work - except for the fact that Peg’s five-year-old son had picked the feather up off the ground during a visit to the zoo. Not that the Fed’s believed that. They were convinced they were uncovering a large- Raymond Canon The International Scene just about seven per cent. So Alan Greenspan, the head of the American central bank (and arguably the most powerful man in the USA) has had to try to cool off American tendencies to spend,spend, spend. Now, when he raises interest rates, this makes them higher than they are in Canada. The result? Money flows out of our country in order to take advantage of these higher rates and, you guessed it, the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar drops in terms of its U.S. counterpart. Some people would argue that it is too low as it is, but at any rate the only thing that Gordon Thiessen, our central bank governor, can do is to raise the rate here by the same amount as what was done in Washington. Do we have, therefore, a case of the American tail wagging the Canadian dog? Yes, very much so, but what can you expect when our exports are booming and a full 80 per cent of them head south to the U.S.? The main goal of the Bank of Canada is to keep inflation under control but, if you concentrate on that, it means that you have to, Final Thought Copy your forefathers, for work is earned out through knowledge; see, their words endure in writing ... Do not be evil, for patience is good; make your lasting monument in the love of you. - The Teaching for Merikare scale bird-poaching operation. Well, okay. Mistakes happen and lines of communication get tangled. But how long could it take a savvy bunch of professional law officers to realize that a small-town housefrau who does folk art on the side is not, in fact, a member of some international underground smuggling cartel? In Peg Bargon’s case, five years. And counting. The Feds have not apologized or withdrawn the charges. In fact, by threatening to lay felony charges and put her in jail they’ve managed to pressure Peg Bargon into pleading guilty. So far it’s cost her nearly $15,000 in legal fees and there’s no end in sight. Well, maybe there is. On the advice of her lawyer. Peg Bargon is going after the Oval Office. She wants Bill Clinton to grant her a presidential pardon. It would add a kind of ironic symmetry to the case - since it was a gift to the president’s wife that initiated the nightmare. Of course presidential pardons don’t grow on trees. There’s a lot of paperwork involved. Peg has to fill out some 300 pages of forms in triplicate, not to mention statements, affidavits - about 300 pages worth in all. And oh yes - she’ll need io submit to a ‘background check’ by the FBI. I’ll bet Peg wishes she’d kept that dreamcatcher. She needs protection from evil spirits ‘way more than Hillary does. under a floating exchange rate, let the rate fall (or rise) to whatever level the markets decide it should be. Where do you think the Canadian dollar should be? Before you answer, remember that, if it goes too low, it means all the things wt import cost more and so we are, in effect, importing inflation. Even at 68 cents U.S. our dollar is undervalued. Logic says that it should be somewhere between 75 - 80 cents U.S. so that prices are about the same south of the border as they are here. Right now, as you probably know, that is hardly the case. But there is one other thing to keep in mind. If we follow the current American action in raising interest rates to curb inflation, how do you explain what we are doing at the same time with respect to tax reductions. Both the provincial and federal government are reducing our income taxes (due to heavy voter demand) but all this does is put more money into circulation. This adds to inflationary pressures and offsets what the American and Canadian central banks are trying to do. Which way do they really want it? Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis oi unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate iniormation. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Pease keep your letters brief and concise Bonnie Gropp The short of it A dose of contrition It begins with a tickle, then a scratch, followed soon after by several consecutive explosions. In time, the head will become a pressurized zone of agony, eyes bum like candles, tongue grows thick, coated, mouth dries. With dread you realize the common cold is upon you once again. As a child, falling victim to this ailment was indeed a common occurrence in my life. I seemingly acquired a new one two weeks after ridding myself of an old one. Having later in life been diagnosed with allergies I don’t know how much of this played a part in my sniffling, sneezing childhood, but either way, by the time I had reached adulthood I figured I had suffered enough. While there are literally millions, or is it billions, of cold strains, you can only catch each one once, so it seemed to me I had reached my quota. And yet, I can still count on at least one vicious cold each fall. This year’s arrived with inconsiderate haste and little warning last week. Ironically, it came just hours after a discussion with a friend regarding what babies men can be when they are getting sick. Oh, in my ignorance, it was fun to describe how they wallow in their illness, talking of their affliction as if they alone suffer such agony. Then it was my turn, forcing me to admit that I am not exactly a brave soul either when hit with a nasty cold. Part of this may be that 1 can’t recall experiencing any kind other than a nasty cold, though I suspect it’s more about relativity. I can relate to how badly a cold makes one feel, when I’m the one feeling »t. The first inclination that hits when I get ? cold is anger. Why ihould I fall victim when I am a healthy person who takes care of herself? I try to eat properly for the most part and exercise moderately, but regularly. I get plenty of rest. I do my best, tnougi not alw >ys effectively, to not get over-stre sed. I dnnk enough orange juice to have a Florida grove named for me. And I wash my hands regularly. Yet, there is seldom a cold I miss. As soon as I see someone sneeze in m; vicinity I know I am doomed. It is then that the Why Me Syndrome kicks in. I wouldn’t say I whine exactly, but I certainly roll over and give in to my foe. This time, however, I decided to go on the offensive. Minutes after my first sneeze, I was purchasing some echinacea. Though almost as skeptical of herbal remedies as of chemical ones, I have heard so many accolades about this particular treatment I figured why not. I didn’t have anything to lose except money. Told that the herb would probably not ward off my cold, but would lessen the symptoms or shorten them, I was armed to fight with bravery. However, the day auer the first symptoms reared their ugly head, I was more congested than the 401 at rush hour. Telling a colleague mat I was not particularly impressed thus tar with the wonder herb, I was admonished, “You have to take it before you get the cold.” Notwithstanding the fact that that makes about as much sense as washing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, this was not what I needed to hear Feeling wretched I dragged myself home, finding sanctuary on n>y couch, and sympathy in the form of a hot toady delivered with love by my hubby, a member of that gender I had been so callously mocking just the day be'ore. The cold wasn ■ enough — now I had to suffer doses of contrition ^nd humility as well.