Summertime Blues

Posted on 6 July 2011 by Erik Hare | 17 Comments

July means many things. The kids are off, the weather is hot, and somewhere between those two facts you can hope the lawn is being mowed regularly. But for those of us who are into economic stats, July is the start of a new quarter – the sleepiest quarter of the year, despite a tremendous number of summer jobs. Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.

It’s a good time to check in and see how we’ve done in 2011 so far and where we think it’ll go from here. The short answer is “Meh?” but the long answer is a much more definitive, “Meh, don’t expect much”. I’ll explain …

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Founding Fathers

Posted on 4 July 2011 by Erik Hare | 20 Comments

Most nations emerged slowly from the mists of time, perhaps with some legendary figure like King Arthur to mark when their history might as well begin. Others have a hero like Fr. Hidalgo, who stood up and said it was time for a new nation. Ireland had two heroes, de Valera and Collins, destined to become rivals. Many nations like Canada formed gradually as their parent nation slowly watched them grow up.

Not the USofA. We are a nation that, nearly uniquely, has a collection of “Founding Fathers” who had their own roles, intellects, and egos. That makes their lesson more difficult than other nations but even more critical. They only can be spoken of as a group to the extent that they learned to put their differences aside and force themselves to be something greater than they were as individuals. When that message is forgotten something deep at the heart of our nation is lost as well.

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Canada Day!

Posted on 1 July 2011 by Erik Hare | 10 Comments

Today is Canada Day, the celebration of Canadian independence on July 1st, 1867. More or less, that is, because Canada became a nation slowly over the next 115 years. It was a peaceful and orderly transition that fit with a people that are generally … peaceful and orderly. We should celebrate by all rising for their national song:

Dum da-Dum da-Dum!
Dum da-Dum da-Dum!
Dum da-Dum da-Dum!
Dum da-Dum da-Dum! …

Whoops! That’s their second national song. But they get tired of people from the USofA singing “O Canada”, and only that part of the lyrics, as just about the only thing from this great nation. It’s time we give them their due as a people that are more than just the very nice people who live next door. No, once they lace on the skates, they aren’t usually very nice at all.

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