Bribing us with our own surpluses
Dear National Post Editor, cc Terence Corcoran,
T. Corcoran with his May 3/06, FB8 piece,"Bring back gov't by deficit" is the only commentator to get it right.
Echoing Manning-Reform's 1993 chant "Liberal, Tory ...same old story" - these 'new' guys are bribing us with our own money!
As Terence says, "trust"or "foundation" it is (over)taxation today for (over)spending tomorrow - sort of like reverse-Keynesianism.
Let's face it, the Rt Hon S Harper's party (while 900% preferred, in my view, to the principle-free Liberals) is as "provincialist" as the Bloc, except HIS province could actually separate (it enjoyed central Canada's largesse pre-Leduc, but who's got the ambition to remember that - or to consider 'what-if' the tar sands become uneconomic).
What we need is a double-check on the "democratic element" of our gov't system (chosen by 30-40% of vote-casters), some superior administrative body or entity that could take "the long view" federally (as Ontario did with its "Towards 2025" study and M.Bouchard's collection of Quebec-patriots did with their private "Clear-eyed Vision"). (ed. surely the 1867 framers MUST have thought of something to forestall 'power corrupts ...')
We cannot pretend that $34-40 Billion annually to service the federal ~$600 Billion (Gross not Net) interest-bearing debt and ~$15-20 Billion between the provinces servicing ~$225 Billion is sustainable!
I don't care how much you criss-cross transfer from taxpayers to Ottawa to provincial treasuries to bond desks to hide the reality ... $3-5 billion a year in debt reduction is NEVER going solve our most fundamental fiscal problem - it's on the balance sheet NOT the operating statement.
The PMO, the Finance dept and the (populated with exactly the same folks) Treasury Board are never going to deal with it, they'll just keep bribing us with our own (overtax generated) surpluses.
T. Corcoran with his May 3/06, FB8 piece,"Bring back gov't by deficit" is the only commentator to get it right.
Echoing Manning-Reform's 1993 chant "Liberal, Tory ...same old story" - these 'new' guys are bribing us with our own money!
As Terence says, "trust"or "foundation" it is (over)taxation today for (over)spending tomorrow - sort of like reverse-Keynesianism.
Let's face it, the Rt Hon S Harper's party (while 900% preferred, in my view, to the principle-free Liberals) is as "provincialist" as the Bloc, except HIS province could actually separate (it enjoyed central Canada's largesse pre-Leduc, but who's got the ambition to remember that - or to consider 'what-if' the tar sands become uneconomic).
What we need is a double-check on the "democratic element" of our gov't system (chosen by 30-40% of vote-casters), some superior administrative body or entity that could take "the long view" federally (as Ontario did with its "Towards 2025" study and M.Bouchard's collection of Quebec-patriots did with their private "Clear-eyed Vision"). (ed. surely the 1867 framers MUST have thought of something to forestall 'power corrupts ...')
We cannot pretend that $34-40 Billion annually to service the federal ~$600 Billion (Gross not Net) interest-bearing debt and ~$15-20 Billion between the provinces servicing ~$225 Billion is sustainable!
I don't care how much you criss-cross transfer from taxpayers to Ottawa to provincial treasuries to bond desks to hide the reality ... $3-5 billion a year in debt reduction is NEVER going solve our most fundamental fiscal problem - it's on the balance sheet NOT the operating statement.
The PMO, the Finance dept and the (populated with exactly the same folks) Treasury Board are never going to deal with it, they'll just keep bribing us with our own (overtax generated) surpluses.
posted by Walk a Kb or Two in my cassins | 7:32 am
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