It’s slow on the news front this time of year – that’s why you see so many outlets rehashing the past year or predicting what to look for in 2011.

We’re not going to bore you with our list of the area’s up and coming politicians, or the best dressed crowd, or who the movers and shakers are (maybe there are none) and what they might do.  

It’s also the time of year when politicians give us those rosy predictions and how they will do an even better job of eliminating the deficit this year, blah, blah.

Would it not be nice if they simply told us the truth?

Before believing all those promises you hear in the coming year, do a little math.

For example, I believe few people have any understanding of what $1-billion ($1,000,000,000) is.

That’s approximately how much money the federal government spent last summer  hosting the G8 and the G20, including the building of that fake lake.

Divide $1-billion by the number of hours in a year (24 times 365) and you get $114,155 per hour. So it cost Canada $114,155 per hour in 2010 to host the G8 and G20.

The Province of Ontario had a deficit of $18-billion last year. Multiply $114,155 by 18 and you’ll find that we went into debt at the rate of $2,054,790 per hour last year.

The federal deficit was $50-billion in 2010. Do your multiplying and you learn we went into debt at the rate $5,707,762 per hour in 2010. If that figure is too hard to digest, divide by 60 and you’ll find the debt climbing at $95,129 per minute.

If you could make money that fast, you could retire after reading this week’s newspaper.

The U.S. government had a deficit of $8-trillion or so in 2010. That’s beyond comprehension.

How do you figure any of our governments will eliminate their deficits, not to mention start paying those vast sums back?

In two or three months, we’ll get to see what kind of financial situation Kincardine taxpayers are facing in 2011.

**

A number of people have complained to the newspaper the past couple of weeks about the snow on the sidewalk leading into the post office.

Former Kincardine mayor Charles Mann said it hasn’t been cleared this winter. He was told that Canada Post had contracted the job out.

Maybe the contractor knew we were in for that late December thaw.

**

During December, nasty winter weather struck in many unusual places - the U.S. south, the U.S midwest, Europe. In parts of Australia there have been record rains.

Meanwhile, the Arctic is enjoying weather more than 15 degrees above normal.

Some people actually still believe global warming is a myth. They should take a closer look - perhaps the disappearance of so much of the ice cover in the Arctic (as a result of global warming) has effects elsewhere.

If it does, maybe the Inuit will have the last laugh – a balmy north and a cold U.S.

**

It’s good to be back to work.

Dana and I have been babysitting our 21-month-old granddaughter for more than a week now and babysitting is a full-time job. That’s why young people have children – not people my age.

Anyway it has been a lot of fun getting to know our granddaughter and she’ll be returning to her parents within the week – as long as the plane from Sweden is on time and we can get to Toronto to meet it.

I’m just afraid Annie will like it here so much she won’t want to go back to Regina.

**

I was surprised last week to open the Toronto Star and see the photo and obituary of a long-time Independent correspondent.

Eric Dowd was a fixture at Queen’s Park from the 1960s until Dec. 23. He died Christmas Day, in his 80th year. Eric wasn’t a regular columnist, but we always ran a few of his pieces each year.

I’d spoken to him just a few weeks ago and I knew he was undergoing leukemia treatment but he soldiered on. The funeral was yesterday in Toronto.