New Gas Tax

The BC government has just announced their budget for 2008 and it has a surprise, at least to me. The government is putting in place a carbon tax, which will be placed on fuel or cars and heating. The price will increase over 4 years to be around 8 cents per liter of gas. I guess BC does care about the environment and will give California a run for its money.
I think the tax is a wonderful idea, it will hurt people who use too much gas while allow people who have less get a benefit. The Government will reduce overall income tax because of the carbon tax. I am sure that there are people who are going to be very against it, and I understand and agree with some of them. Taxi drivers and private transit companies are going to be hurt the most and these people should be exempt from the tax. They are reducing the carbon foot print of the nation because each person does not need travel by themselves. One side that will be against it that I do not think has a valid reason is truck drivers. There is many cases where truck could be replaced by other modes of transportation, such as rail. I know that our economy is not set-up for the use of rail any more, but I think it is time to start to change.

The City of London in England has also done a similar measure recently to increase taxes on polluting cars. Cars that enter the center part of London have to pay a congestion tax. As of October 2008 cars the are very fuel efficient will not have to pay the tax, while those that are not fuel efficient will have to pay double the tax.

Both these measures will add another reason to by more fuel efficient vehicles. That and the price of oil went above 100 dollars again today. I personally think that fuel efficiently is good enough reason for me, but what ever...

Elections in Pakistan

Pakistan voted in their parliamentary elections and it appears that the current president is under pressure to change his ways. Pakistan has many issues and most of them are no fault of their own but due to the colonization of the West. In the current election the two opposition leaders have both one over twice the amount of the President's party. This may give them enough political power to even impeach the president, a move I do not expect. The Question is did the death of Bhutto have any major affect on the election, beside not having her as a possible prime minister.

Pakistan, just like most of the countries in Africa, still is influenced by European colonization. The Country of Pakistan is not based on one ethnic group like countries in Europe but based on a common religion. But with in that common religion there are many different beliefs. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is based on how much of Afghanistan the British could control before they had to give up. This causes the some areas to have beliefs more similar to the Middle East while other areas are closer to the Sub Continent of India.
The USA has also had their influence as well. Pakistan is one of the major allies on the 'War on Terror'. This means that the USA wants the current Pres. to stay in power so they are able to continue the world saving friendship. This has caused the US to over look issues that if they occurred in other countries they would be complaining about. This has happened in Azerbaijan, Morocco and Turkey as well.

I believe that the death of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has not had a big impact on the election. But I think this election is happening in a timewill be a turning point for Pakistan, the assassination also occurred in this time of change.

Castro Out, Castro In

Fidel Castro has retired after 50 years in office, sure he was a dictator but 50 years is still a long time to be in office. Many people view him as a only negative person but I believe that he has done many things that make him a positive figure. He has created a health care system and a education system that is unique in the Developing world. Fidel has also protected his countries culture from becoming to American, and when you travel to Cuba there are few Americans that is aways a plus. He will most likely be replaced by his brother Raul who has been in power for over a year now.
The education system that is put into place is going to affect all Cubans when the embargo ends, which will not be soon. Many of the citizens of Cuba have higher education and have supplied the developing world with doctors. Cuba trades doctors for oil and other supplies with Venezuela. When the borders to the USA become open the richer American Cubans will return, but they are less educated so they will not be able to live the lifestyle that they would like. The opening of the borders will cause the American Cubans to lose all of their political power as well. They will stop being political refugees and become unwanted (but needed) illegal immigrants, they will be grouped will all of the other Latinos.
There is not going to be major change in Cuba for awhile, and in turn the USA policies towards it. This means that the retirement of Fidel will be a major event in his life but not in the time line of Cuba. If we want to really change the way that Cubans live on a daily basis we need to change the way that we live and stop using up more resources that we really need. A change in leadership will not fix the larger problem of inequality in the world.