Ten years ago I was standing in the middle of an artificially made island in the province of Malaita of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. This island was over 1,000 years old and hand made by coral. Villagers swim down and break coral off the reefs to pile it together and form an island in the middle of the sea. The place is called Lau Lagoon and its history is filled with stories of head hunting, cannibalism, slave trading and colonialism. They moved to the sea to get away from the malaria on the land as well as the bush villagers, that have been their challengers of mutual resources for centuries.
The seven tribes of Lau are sea people and as such, developed a unique form of currency, dolphin teeth. The villagers are gifted with the ability to call dolphins, and bring thousands of dolphins to the shores each year to provide a strong protein source. Dolphin meat is rich and is blood red. As a sign of being able to provide for a family, men in waiting are required to gather 1,000 teeth as a bride price. This represents approximately 10 dolphins which can feed over 100 people. While I was sitting in this middle of the island, the Chief thanked me for coming stating "Not since the 1800s has the white man come to our shores, and after all this time here he is again." What a way to being a business presentation. I explained him my vision of the worth of live dolphins and over the span of 10 years the value of a dolphin increased from $20 to over $142,000 each.
During my stay there I witnessed an incredible event, the arrival of human capital. It was in the shape of a military intervention into the Country by Australia and New Zealand in partnership with other South Pacific island nations. The reasoning was given as peace officers. Yet I observed that their technology and education attributes of their homeland were used to harvest natural resources for an increase in production and well being for their home nations. From gold to tuna, their human capital was able to support thousands of their country men through employment and well being. This experience led me to understand the value and importance of human capital.
The realization of the power of human capital made me realize that the impoverished villagers needs and problems to join the 21st century, was much simpler than has been reported on. Simply what is needed was an investment in human capital through education and technology transfer, for the betterment of the country's citizens. An investment in human capital for the local population would truly ensure the wealth of the Solomon mines of tuna, gold, oil, diamonds and other precious materials of for the country's own survival.
Human capital in action benefits directly those that receive it as an investment. Make sure you invest in some today!
With the onset of the federal election the following information should be known by all candidates and taxpayers alike.
In 2009 Canadians paid $160 million per day ($58.7 billion for the year) in interest on federal, provincial and municipal debt.1 These costs lead to higher taxes and fees, cut-backs in public services and deterioration of public infrastructure. Much of this debt service cost could be eliminated by greater use of the bank of Canada to finance government investments. Because the Bank is wholly owned by Canada all profits on its lending activity go to the government. This means that borrowing from the Bank by the government is almost costless. For years the government borrowed from the Bank of Canada and during that time, contrary to the fears raised by opponents of the idea, run-away inflation never occurred.
By 1975, federal net debt amounted to $19 billion.2 Then the government began to shift more of its borrowing from the Bank of Canada to the private sector, especially chartered banks, insurance companies and other large corporations.3 By March 31, 2010, the net debt had ballooned to $583 billion and interest bearing debt had reached $763 billion.4
The interest cost to taxpayers for the federal government's debt is currently a $29 billion drain on federal revenues. In addition, the use of the Bank of Canada to finance public debt would reduce the influence of large corporations on government policy decisions.
We should only vote for candidates who support the use of the Bank of Canada for the purposes described above.
1. Canadian Economic Observer: Historical Statistical Supplement 2009/2010
2. Canada Year Book 1972-2001 Federal debt and interest payments
3. At March 31, 2010, taken together, these sectors held 75% of outstanding Government of Canada securities, chart 5 Debt Management Report 2009-2010.
4. Dept. of Finance, Debt Management Report 2009-2010, table 2.