Some annotated notes from my copy of the Canadian Student Review, aka publication of passable quality by the Vancouver-based right-winged facists - er, I mean, the Fraser Institute:

• Thorn, Thomas. “Breaking the cycle of financial regulation” Canadian Student Review Spring/Summer< (2009): 6-7.

  While financial regulation is necessary, it is not a sure cure for problems that plague today’s market. Investors run risks they are unaware of when they are convinced that companies are bound by well-enforced regulations. New regulations are constantly being propped up after heinous scandals, in an effort to mend the problems, yet if regulators do not stop “fighting the last war” and proceed to approach regulation differently, financial markets will continue to slowly lose efficiency.

• Gervais, Patrick. “How effective are GST cuts?” Canadian Student Review Spring/Summer< (2009): 8-9.

  By common sense, tax reductions should focus on taxes that impose the highest marginal efficiency cost, which for consumption taxes (GST), is only $0.10 per dollar compared to $0.45 for corporate income tax and $0.30 for personal income tax. The amount of revenue lost from GST cuts would be made more efficient when applied to the reduction of income taxes. Trumped by politics, anyone?

• Vermeulen, Courtenay. “Things folks know that just ain’t so, Why it ain’t so…” Canadian Student Review Spring/Summer< (2009): 10-11.

  “When welfare is associated with a low cost or high benefit, it will experience higher demand. If welfare is more generous than a low-paying job and is unlimited, the incentive for people to work and eventually achieve upward financial mobility is diminished.” By the simple economics of opportunity cost, we can see that as opposed to the common belief that making welfare less generous creates more poverty, this acts in the exact opposite way.