Calling all major investors ...

Image: From BC Child Poverty Rate, Apr. 28, 2017

Calling all major investors ...

   Canada "challenges" you to a duel.

Always read the small print: Correction -- a deal.

The image displayed herein is a snapshot of an "Impact Canada" webpage that shows the word "challenge" being employed by our government as a euphemism for ... well, we can't be absolutely certain, but it shows up 17 times in one very brief government call-out that, apparently, only someone sitting on a huge stack of money is likely to decipher.

I've checked with my pal "Artha" -- if you're a Linux user you'll know about Artha, but Windows captives may not.
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Basically, it's a software thesaurus taking its name from a Hindu word interpreted as: "an attitude and capability that enables one to make a living, to remain alive, to thrive as a free person. It includes economic prosperity, security and health of oneself and those one feels responsible for. Artha includes everything in one's environment that allows one to live. [Like Linux:] It is neither an end state nor an endless goal of aimlessly amassing money.

Artha, being philosophical, interprets the word "challenge" in a number of different ways, but states that it is most commonly used as a noun:
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​To Challenge ~ verb    uncommon
 1. take exception to
She challenged his claims
 2. issue a challenge to
Fischer challenged Spassky to a match
 3. ask for identification
The illegal immigrant was challenged by the border guard
 4. raise a formal objection in a court of law

A Challenge ~ noun    common
 1. a demanding or stimulating situation
they reacted irrationally to the challenge of Russian power
 2. a call to engage in a contest or fight
 3. questioning a statement and demanding an explanation
his challenge of the assumption that Japan is still our enemy
 4. a formal objection to the selection of a particular person as a juror
 5. a demand by a sentry for a password or identification

As an inveterate skeptic, I pretty much "take exception to" the over-use of the dubious word "challenge" in the government call-out -- and if that makes me uncommon ... well, cool!.

What if "challenge" is code for: "Pssst, buddy, wanna get in on a cherry deal?"

Artha says cherry is "a red fruit with a single hard stone" -- and is much too pure in its motives to recognize the term "cherry picking", so suffice it to say that, to certain people in the know, "cherry" means "sweet".

And one big reason that rich people get richer is that they tend to choose "sweet" deals where only the sweetest cherries are picked and, presumably, the rest are left to rot.

Here's an ESL (English as a Second Language) video lesson which explains the meaning of the English idiom "cherry picking" which the tutor explains "is very common nowadays".

From National News Watch (all emphasis by YYC):

• What makes the approach attractive to governments is that it shifts the financial risk from taxpayers to investors who give financial backing to social service providers to test new and successful ways of delivering programs.
• "Government are only obliged to cover investors' costs and profits if the programs work".

Get that? - the taxpayer covers both the investors' costs and their profits - "if the programs work".

What do you think are the chances that the programs will be deemed not to have worked?

Far too often, this is how sweet deals work:

• Cherry Picking: Cherry picking of data means we look for particular data and statistics that help to illustrate our point of view. It can also mean we present data in a certain way which is more favourable to creating the impression we want. Even the same statistic can be presented in different ways to give a very different impression.

Shhhhh ... you're not supposed to suspect that. Just let me take on that karmic burden, eh? (Sorry, I do know that sarcasm is the lowest form of discourse.)

As Canada's Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has made abundantly unclear:

• "It's all part of a broad, social innovation system that ... looks both similar and different depending on the angle through which you look at the system itself".

Yep, you gotta have an angle if you want to take advantage of a "challenge" like this . Artha thinks that particular noun is uncommon.  Perhaps it was at one time. Now, not so much.

Angle ~ noun    uncommon
 1. the space between two lines or planes that intersect; the inclination of one line to another; measured in degrees or radians
 2. a biased way of looking at or presenting something
 3. a member of a Germanic people who conquered England and merged with the Saxons and Jutes to become Anglo-Saxons
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Angle ~ verb    common
 1. move or proceed at an angle
he angled his way into the room
 2. to incline or bend from a vertical position
She leaned over the banister
 3. seek indirectly
fish for compliments
 4. fish with a hook
In the summer they like to go out and angle
 5. present with a bias
He biased his presentation so as to please the share holders

Further from the above-linked National News Watch article:

• A Canadian documentary to be released next month, called "The Invisible Heart," takes a deep look at social impact bonds and raises multiple questions for governments, including the idea of the government paying profits to investors.
• As part of the film, billionaire J.B. Prtizker, who is helping funding the Chicago bond, said that his riskiest capital will create an eight per cent return.

As I'm fond of saying, it's always important to read the final statements in a news item. And I must say, it's refreshing to read one that reveals at least a semblance of objectivity.

​Image: Cherry Picking Results

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