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The Rural Voice, 2006-07, Page 14The world's problems are solved daily 'round the table at Mabel 's. "Well, I see the politicians have shut down'Parliament and they've all gone on vacation," grumbled George McKenzie the other morning. "Yeh, we're at our busiest time of the year and they're getting holidays," said Cliff Murray. "I thought we'd already given them a holiday when we all got so busy with our summer work that we couldn't hold any more protests," said Dave Winston. "Yeh, you know they were just holding out knowing that once we got busy they could have peace without spending any money for a real risk management program," said George. "I see they've got money for new Mabel's Grill helicopters and supply ships and big airplanes," said Dave. "Which is why they can't find money for us," said Cliff. "Well if the government can't afford a risk management program, maybe we could get this guy Warren Buffett to give us some help," said Dave. ` I mean if he can give away $37 billion, it would be relatively cheap to help us out." "I suspect if we really want risk management we'd be better off if we all sold our farms and gave the money to Buffett to invest," said Dave. "I mean you've got to be a pretty smart cookie to make — what's his total worth? — $44 billion?" "Yeh, you sure don't make that raising cattle," said George. "The problem is that if we all decided to sell the farm and give the guy our money, who'd buy from us?" said Cliff. "There are only so many city people you can convince they need 100 or 1,000 acres as a weekend place." "There's always a catch, isn't there?" said George; A Division of Ultimate Linings Specializing in Sprayed -on Bedliners • Permanent bonding seal against water, rust and corrosion. • Adds to truck resale value. • Available in a variety of colours. • Semi skid resistant surface keeps cargo secure and allows for easy loading and unloading. • Great insulator and soundproofing qualities. • Environmentally safe: 100% solids with no V.O.Cs or C.F.Cs. • Resistant to common chemicals including chlorine, automotive fuels, diesel fuel, paints, salt water and much more! T-ROY'S TRUCK TOYS & ACCESSORIES - "2 A T" 8454, Road 165 Ph: (519) 291-9108 RR 1, Listowel N4W 3G6 Fax: (519) 291-5974 10 THE RURAL VOICE "Doesn't it kind of kill you that this guy, no matter how brilliant he is, can sock away this kind of money just for handling paper while we produce food people can't do without and we're lucky if we can pay our bills," said Dave. "And the politicians and the city press don't see anything wrong with that," said Cliff. "They figure if we can't make it, tough!" "But where are you supposed to turn to find the markets?" wondered George. "I mean everybody told us to export and there sure hasn't been much money in that." "Yeh, and Mom used to tell us to eat our vegetables. 'There are children starving in China'," said Dave. "But now China is exporting food here cheaper than we can produce it." "And looking at the people in this country you can't expect them to eat much more than they are now because they're already overweight," said Cliff. "The one thing that might help is if they legalized marijuana," said Dave. "Well," he explained he saw everybody looking at him strangely, "people get the munchies when they smoke marijuana, right, so it might create a new market." "You ever noticed," said Cliff when he stopped laughing, "that so many people who are all in favour of free trade, don't have to worry about free trade in how they make their living? I mean you can't hire a lawyer from India? You can't hire an accountant from China." "Yes, and even if you bring them overr here they'll end up driving a taxi cab because the professional governing bodies won't recognize them," said George. "You can't get cheap Third World politicians to fill the jobs here either," said Dave. "Well of course, it would be difficult because you couldn't understand what they were saying," said George. "And what would be so different than now?" wondered Dave. "What I want is government bureaucrats to be outsourced to some Third World country," said Cliff. "I mean wouldn't you like to see Jim Wheeler replaced by someone who was earning two bucks an hour?"0