EDITOR,
Most people are either bored or perplexed by math in school. That is unfortunate, for math affects our daily lives and not doing the numbers ends up costing most people a lot more while others profit from the apathy.
When someone is honest enough to express considerations like mentioning the Dutch Disease, they are ridiculed because most people cannot do the math.
Similarly, the austerity programs proposed by Mr. Harper have less to do with math and more to do with the ignorance of it.
There are people making a lot of money by transferring their costs to government and getting away with it just because no one checks the math.
Here in Britannia, there are two development proposals on the table. With each, we would be well served to do the math.
Macdonald Development wants to develop lands that are in flood and debris-hazard areas, calculating tax dollars for the improvements costs! Do the math. How does that benefit the public?
Taicheng proposes to apply for a higher density for their proposed development. I did the math, 4,000 units, even at a modest $250,000 per unit, totals $1 billion! How much of that can be fairly required for public infrastructure?
Robyn Allen, a retired Whistler resident, did the math on the Enbridge proposal (http://vimeo.com/41340665) and clearly demonstrates that this only makes money for the proponent at the expense of the taxpayer, even without an environmental incident!
Margaret Kennedy, a German architect/economist, calculated that 40 per cent of the cost of all goods and services are due to interest! We don't need commercial banks to create public money, the Bank of Canada did it successfully before the early '70s.
Boring as math is, let's give the mathematicians among us a better social status or sharpen our own pencils.
Ralph Fulber
Britannia Beach
