Jets 27, Bills 11

I like Chan Gailey. In his post-game press conference, he personally took responsibility for the Bills poor offensive performance yesterday and downplayed the ability of the Jets defence to disguise coverages and blitz packages and to stuff their running game - especially early on. He thinks that he should have stuck more with the run in the first half until they had success. He also said that his team was just not physical enough on either side of the ball. Rian Lindell was physical. The kicker saved a touchdown on a return and injured his shoulder in the process.

The AFC East is a log jam at the top this morning after the Giants did us a huge favour by beating the Patriots in New England. The Bills, Jets and Patriots are all at 5-3 and each holds the tie-breaker over one of the others and does not hold it against the third. Kind of like rock/paper/scissors. The Bills now hit the road for three straight games, starting in Dallas next week. They have bounced back after losses both times before. But not on the road. As big as the Jets game was, it is now history and the most important game of the season, as always, becomes the next one.

I have not commented on the Greek debt crisis or the soon to be Italian debt crisis, neither of which should be confused with the US debt crisis or the Canadian debt situation or the state of any other country with a debt to GDP ratio which looks unsustainable. I haven't commented because I have not felt that I had any useful or unique insight to offer. It seems that Greek society has developed a systemic attitude which attaches little value to the idea of individual contribution for the greater good. I have read that a large percentage of Greek citizens are small business owners or are self employed and that they under-report their income to avoid paying their full share of income taxes. Various entitlement programs (like government pensions), however, are valued and heavily relied on.

Ok, I don't claim to know the origins or the history of the situation in Greece or Italy but, based on what I have seen closer to home, here's my perspective: Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the political culture in the US began to shift toward a mistaken belief that taxation was generally a bad thing - something to be reduced, minimized, phased out. The story went that lower taxes encouraged economic activity which would then increase tax revenue in the long run. This theory is widely repeated today. Just watch the next Republican presidential debate and you'll hear it. We heard it from Mike Harris in Ontario. We hear it from the current federal government in Ottawa. We hear it from Rob Ford in Toronto. Taxes kill jobs. Taxes are bad for business. Well, sometimes business is bad for people.

We have reached the point that any proposal to introduce new taxes or increase existing ones is considered to be political suicide. The fact that the programs which our governments provide are becoming more expensive seems not to matter. We haven't seen anything yet. As the demographic rabbit (in the form of the baby boomers) moves through the snake, healthcare costs will increase exponentially. My parents, for example, are in their 70's and, like most of their peers, are keeping the pharmaceutal companies in business. But they don't pay for the drugs themselves. They are covered by something called the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB). Were it not for the ODB, they would be paying thousands every month for drugs. What will the cost of the ODB be in 10 or 20 years? How will we pay for it? If it isn't with higher taxes, then I have absolutely no idea.

Last week, Rob Ford's Executive Committee was reviewing options for the sale of city assets like Enwave and Toronto Hydro. The reason? They are trying to address the massive budget shortfall. Ford said to reporters after the session: "We can't put this on the taxpayers". Really? Why can't we?  I'm willing to pay my share. As a citizen of Toronto, I was willing to pay an extra $60 to register my vehicle but Ford ran on a promise to get rid of that program "because citizens were not seeing value in it". I don't know where they were looking. Maybe we can sell High Park to a developer. Or turn Old City Hall into a boutique shopping destination. At this point, it's all Greek to me.