Although the story focuses primarily on the actions of Wall Street and U.S. policy makers, it actually opens up in picturesque Iceland. See Iceland deregulated their banks, that’s where our story begins. The banks, left to their own devices they quickly racked up debt to the level of more than 40 billion euros. Then, quicker than you can say “profit,” the whole thing crumbled. The currency of Iceland, the króna, lost more than half its value. People across Europe lost significant savings that had been held with the Iceland bank Landsbanki and their subsidiary Icesave. Unemployment had tripled within Iceland.

What caught my eye however is the fact that months before a consulting firm perused the bank books merely a few months before the collapse… and found nothing wrong. In fact their report was enough to earn these banks as ‘AAA’ investment opportunities, the most secure investment rating available.

That consulting company was KPMG.

Now, if you’ve been following the budget situation in Toronto, that name might seem familiar. Ah, yes, the same firm, KPMG, is deciding what should and should not be cut from the Toronto budget.

Pardon me, but why the hell are we taking advice from a company that couldn’t recognize a bank clusterfuck that was about to bring a country’s economy to its knees?

They have also been accused of fraud, assisting tax evasion, and bribery. But hey! They are also one of the top employers in Toronto!

How the hell is that not a conflict of interest? The people claiming what should, can and can’t be cut from the budget are possibly financially motivated. Then even if a team was carefully selected from employees who live outside the Toronto area; KPMG still pays taxes in Toronto and could be affected by raising rates! *facepalm* *facepalm* *facepalm*

This is not acceptable behaviour from so-called professionals, and Toronto City Hall continues to look more and more like a three-ring circus.

Well, with gas prices these days.

Lower taxes and no service cuts. Isn’t that what Mayor Rob Ford promised us? We could have it all, we just needed to cut “the gravy”?

Did anyone actually believe it? Or did the suburbanites simply blow their gaskets over bike lanes? I’m still not quite sure.

What is sure: Ford promised tax cuts while still delivering everything that people expect from their government. Guess what? It’s not possible, and I cannot think of a situation where it has ever been possible.

So far the services that have been thrown up for cuts are Toronto Environment office, small local zoos, park maintenance and snow removal. The best part of this one is that the consulting company, KPMG, basically admits that by asking the city to raise the snow clearing minimum to 5 cm they will increase the city’s liability.

KPMG says the city could wait for more than five centimetres of snow before clearing parking lots and pathways, although there would be increased risk of “slip and fall claims.”

By the way, that sound was lawyers salivating. And really, why pay now when you can pay later? With interest.

Get the city out of providing day care and subsidized spots, and sell-off long term care facilities for seniors. Even though reports state that private companies provide a poorer standard of care overall.

Then 300 firefighters and 22 fire trucks could be removed from serving the city. This is in addition to predicting that more than 500 police officers will need be laid off to meet the budget constraints. Hope you’re saving that money you would have paid for that $60 car registration tax because chances are your home insurance rates will be going up with a reduced fire force. One that was apparently already under-financed.

Survey director Mike Currie said it’s hard to say for sure without knowing specifics, but it’s logical that a cut to staffing that big would affect insurance rates. The actual grading process is complex, he said, involving 500 variables — with staffing being one.

“But generally, you could make a fairly accurate statement: When you see decreases in the investment in fire protection, then you typically see fire insurance grades (get worse) and property insurances rates probably go up,” Currie said.

In 2002, the Fire Underwriters Survey sent a warning to the City of Toronto that failure to replace aging firetrucks would affect its safety grade.

Keep that in mind while you’re waiting for the fire department and watching your home burn down.

But hey! We are somehow finding $200,000 to remove bike lanes from Jarvis street! Don’t you feel better now?

I don’t.

Sure sign of a deviant

As a student I always had a way of writing that teachers seemed to adore. I could enhance the tiniest minutiae, create interesting connections and reference the most mundane aspects in a way that made them seem fresh and exciting.

Personally, I called it bullshitting.

Politics, however, always has a way of humbling me about my ability to bullshit. It seems that simply walking into a place of legislating causes one’s ability to bullshit to increase threefold.

A representative from NOW Magazine tweeted some of the action at Toronto City Hall while there was discussion about the “graffiti problem” in Toronto. It included these comments from a  Crime Prevention Association of Toronto spokesperson.

Funnily enough “nowtoronto” later stated that the comment was probably intended to be “on school desks,” as if that were actually the problem here.

No. The problem here is that someone actually associated with a crime prevention (however narrowly) somehow thinks that marking up a desk with pencil lead is somehow a one way ticket to being a criminal element.

Perhaps it’s because I would draw on the desk when I ran out of paper and the only time I’ve picked up a spray paint can was a poor attempt at varnishing a wooden table. Maybe it’s because I can’t think of too many people that didn’t draw on their desk at least once or twice. The only thing that came to mind when I read that comment was “What part of your ass did you pull that one from?”

Then I thought “Hey, you never know!” Maybe there is some cutting edge research that shows that us delinquent desk doodlers do commit more vandalism. Or maybe we already have poor values and therefore have no respect for school property. Let’s check this out!

Yeah… no… there was nothing. Google couldn’t even really provide a link to anyone else making just making an unsubstantiated claim that doodling = future graffiti vandal. There is no suggestion whatsoever that desk doodles leads to drawing on the precious landmarks we call alley walls or highway underpasses. Just completely, and pretty pointlessly, made up.

Of course this whole thing just kind of assumes that teachers think it’s totally awesome when kids draw on desks and do absolutely nothing to prevent it. Does it even need to be said that kids are probably already getting in trouble for drawing on desks?

What is most upsetting about these comments is that they were said within walking distance of a horrible rape in 2007. The two victims were attacked in their York University dorms while they slept by two men who bypassed security. Perhaps they looked ‘slutty’ while sleeping in their own beds?

The officer was forced to apologize for his words but the police service doesn’t seem to be changing their backwards tune:

Toronto Police Services spokesperson Meaghan Ray says that they do not provide should-nots to avoid sexual assault, but rather provide a detailed list of the time and place of sexual assaults so women can adjust their behaviour.

See, women just need to adjust their behaviour. I guess I’ll be waiting a long time for them to finally admit that it is the rapists who are the problem.

Thankfully a few decided to change the conversation in a big way. Bring on the SlutWalk!

SlutWalk will take place on Sunday April 3rd. It is a walk of solidarity. To support the right of individuals not to be oppressed by their sexuality. To support the right of individual to not be harassed or violently attacked based on who they are, where they are or what they choose to wear. To take back the word slut as someone in control of their sexuality.

I urge you to support the cause and follow SlutWalk on Facebook or Twitter.

Piggy Bank by pasukaru76

Toronto’s proposed budget for 2011 was released yesterday. Unfortunately despite Ford’s promises that there was a lot of waste (aka gravy) to be trimmed, it seems that there was little to actually be found.

The Ford team was only able to find  $57 million to trim. Which, personally, if you found me an extra $57 million in my budget I would be ecstatic, however I’m not a city. Fifty-seven million dollars is less than one percent of Toronto $9.3 billion budget. This small amount does not produce a balanced budget. To do that, the piggy bank is going to be smashed open.

There will be $706 taken from the city’s surplus; leaving the coffers completely empty. Now I’m pretty sure if your financial plan for the next year included draining all of your family’s life savings, you would have someone in your life to say, “What the hell?” So why does Ford think it’s a good idea?

Yesterday it was also reported that the TTC would be forced to raise fees. As of today it looks like that will, thankfully, not be happening. Right now, however, there are service cuts scheduled to reduce and/or remove late night and Saturday/Sunday service for 48 different bus routes.

Ford has apparently stated that he is not happy with this outcome. I would feel sorry for him, but his unhappiness is derived from his own sense of over-confidence and pride. There are many people who warned that this would be next-to, if not, impossible. It’s not that people don’t want to buy what Ford is trying to sell. All the services I love with lower taxes? Awesome! It’s just not possible.