Tiny flaw, big fail

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Our little ones

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Abracadabra - love it

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Here are the slides from my presentation to a group of real estate agents today.

Solving the financial crisis and global warming

I rode this morning. It was the usual Thursday morning ride complete with a crash and the attendant postmortem. But it was a chat over coffee that got me thinking.

My mate runs a bike shop. It's successful, as is he, but I could hear the fear in his voice knowing that the full force of the economic crisis is yet to bite. There are going to be lots of job cuts. My brother may well be one of them.

In government there's plenty of hand-wringing and furrowed brows. Unemployment is politically unsavory. So are bank foreclosures. Leaders know that now is the time for serious economic support, hence the $10.4 billion stimulus package recently announced to help families and first home buyers. All good stuff, at least politically.

But I'm wondering why the government isn't doing more to sort out climate change as a major part of kick-starting the economy. Rather than sinking money into unprofitable child care centres and similarly unprofitable auto manufacturers, let's sink money into developing clean energy and infrastructure that reduces the demand for fossil fuels over the long term.

Just stimulating the economy is a short-term fix; politically palatable and achievable inside a single term of government. However, thoughtful, well-crafted economic strategies could provide an instant boost to the economy and go on paying dividends for generations to come. The Rudd government appear intent on doing just that; or at least in part.

Their support of the auto industry includes a $1.3 billion injection into the Green Car Innovation Fund. It's clever strategy and linked to a long view of the future.

Barack Obama's accptance speech - full version

Barack Obama's victory speech