Today, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the federal deficit will balloon to $50 billion this fiscal year, more than $16 billion higher than he predicted in January.
His scapegoat - higher Employment Insurance Payments (uh, when you increased benefits, and were aware that job losses were going up.. what did you THINK was going to happen).
His scapegoat - lowered GST rates and lower income tax rates.
His scapegoat - bailing out the auto industry.
Look - the last thing I want to do is give Michael Ignatieff a boost - Lord knows I've made my position clear on his vain and insecure motivations to lead this country.. but that doesn't give our current government a free pass.
To be "conservative" in my mind requires that we be fiscally responsible and moderately libertarian. Others may disagree, but to me, conservatism is not about pressing religious beliefs on others, is not about increasing police and military power - it's about two things:
a) Keeping the hand of government off of my shoulder;
b) Keeping the hand of government out of my pocket.
Clearly, these principals require refinement - government requires a degree of coercive power to assure freedom from criminal activity and to maintain order, and to operate a society, a certain degree of tax is required, including a need to maintain a modest social safety net with reasonable health care and support for those truly disadvantaged.
However -
I see nothing "Conservative" about bailing out auto manufacturers.
I see nothing "Conservative" about suddenly increasing Employment Insurance because more people are unemployed.
I see nothing "Conservative" in our government's refusal to take action on revising our federal Human Rights legislation to assure that free speech is not on the endangered species list.
And I definitely see nothing "Conservative" in our current government running up the largest deficit in Canadian history.
Memo to Stephen Harper:
Stop trying to avoid criticism and trying to appease the pollsters and just do what you, in your heart, believe is the right thing. And if Canadians are too stupid or myopic to realize it's in their interests, let them vote you out. Soon enough, they will beg to have your party back.
Better to die with your principals than to live without them.
3 comments:
You are suggesting that PMSH stop the scapegoats,
deny Canadians benefits,
don't create jobs with projects that are a federal responsibility,
and tax the hell out of us who still have a job,
to cover lost revenues to pay for the bills that don't stop, no matter what:
nurses, doctors, firemen, police, boarder guards, diplomats, parliamentarians wages, building heat/light/utilites on govt buildings, Crown corps and all the wages of civil servants
THERE IS NO WAY TO AVOID A DEFICIT without raising taxes, which kills jobs, which means more taxes...
From the 2009 Budget document:
2007-2008 Revenue - 242.4 Billion
Program expenses - 199.5 Billion
2008-2009 Revenue - 236.4 Billion
Program expenses - 206.8 Billion
2009-2010 Revenue - 224.9 Billion
Program expenses - 229.1 Billion
Hard to spin that wilson, but points for trying. I'm guessing Jim 'Checkbook' Flaherty and Steve 'Principles' Harper want that 30B back they blew in 2007.
Biggest spending gov't in the history of Canada,
Significant program cuts over three budgets: $0,
Departmental Efficiency Reviews: Zero,
Per-Dept Budgetary reductions: $0,
Reduction of civil service: Zero.
Harper is going to lose and it's because of crap like this and those of you still in the CPC that allowed this crap to happen.
Spin it however you want but it's a waste of time. This Fiscal conservative doesn't care about lesser evils, it's all the same evil. I'm a numbers person and it's a binary set solution. 1 == no deficit; 0 == deficit.
The only difference between these Liberals and those Liberals is that those Liberals are thieves. Given thirteen years in gov't these Liberals would be thieves too.
Cheers,
lance
Wilson - reducing the GST was of no benefit to the economy and was a political move. I'm not suggesting that there was some magic way to avoid a deficit, what I'm suggesting is that, knowing a deficit is going to occur, we act prudently as possible within that framework.
"Stimulus spending" is a joke. Spending money to make money won't work. Retaining a solid banking system, maintaining a solid business climate, maintaining a business-friendly governing framework will - in time, bring us back to prosperity.
Aside from the GST, which is more or less business neutral because of input tax credits - I'm also not advocating a tax increase.. I'm saying, in a bad deficit situation - don't compound the problem by spending money for no good purpose.
Better to institute an employment tax credit for job creation than to throw money at "stimulus projects".
I appreciate your support for PMSH Wilson - but to me, good conservatives tell the Emporer when he's dancing naked.
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