Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderball
Politically unstable as in the political whims of the province are not stable, and that they would be going from being pro-business laissez-faire (with already massive regulation) to an even more hands-on, punitive political jurisdiction. No one is talking juntas and coups here... but politicians playing economist means an unstable business environment. Period.
As for the rest of your argument... talk about a straw man argument. Yes, its all the evil oilpatch's fault for the increasing numbers of homeless... seeing as they are providing thousands of jobs for people who run the gamut of education from nothing to PhD for better than average pay? Homelessness is a societal malady, not an industrial one.
The primary reason this boom has devastated Alberta is due to political incompetence and a severe lack of foresight. Ralph Klein cut the hell out of the budget with the mentality that oil would never again breach $20/bbl. Something anyone who has even walked by a Hubbard curve would say is temporary, because supply is finite and prices will naturally increase... and they did over 5 fold from mid 1990s lows. Therefore, rather than building schools, hospitals, roads, LRT and encouraging TOD when the local economy was weak (and laborers NEEDED work) and putting less emphasis on debt reduction until the economics improved (then sitting back and paying off the debt)... they eliminated the debt (by slashing healthcare and education to the bone despite persistent population growth), and are now competing with private enterprise to catch up at a severe premium... so new developments, oil and gas projects (which are paying for all these overbudget improvements) and private construction are all progressing at a snail's pace. Condo towers and new communities are being delayed because there aren't enough crews. "Cause they're all in Fort MacMurray??" Sure, but what about the ring road, new CBE building, Rockyview expansion, Lougheed expansion, Children's Hospital, Glenmore Trail, etc.
Government projects decades overdue sucking up a ton of labor... and they are paying handsomely for it.
The result? Housing shortages and inflation.
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First the authors of the report include 3 economist so your point of the politicians playing economist are clearly false. Second governments across the world have been able to increase the government take significantly in the past four years yet the government's take(including the federal income taxes) have remained the same turning Alberta from one of the least competetive royalties and tax regime to one of the most generous from a period of ten years.
Let's imagine the subsurface oil & gas resources weren't own by Alberta, but by private owners (such as in the US). Would you argue that if these owners push for the best price for their resources would you argue that they were jepordizing Alberta. Or would you think that by pushing for the best price(and the oil & gas companies only agreeing when they believe they make a profit) they would in effect pushing the market to the market equlibrium?