Quote:
The Bumper Sticker that Haunts Us
By Frank Atkins
In early April, 2009, two of my colleagues (Herb Emery and Ron Kneebone) wrote an interesting article that was published by the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. The title of this paper is “Will it be Déjà vu all Over Again?” In this paper they examine the parallels between the economic conditions of the 1970s, the 1980s and those of today, and review Alberta’s response to the earlier episodes. It is well known that in the 1970s and 1980s we experienced the usual boom and bust of energy prices. During the boom periods the government found it very difficult to restrain spending. After the crash of energy prices in the mid-1980s the Getty government went into several years of deficits. This was followed by the early Klein era where we experienced deep cuts to spending.
The School of Public Policy paper was released in anticipation of the Alberta budget which was delivered on April 7, 2009. In this budget the government projected a deficit of $4.7 billion for fiscal 2009-2010. The déjà vu of the title refers to the fact that we just experienced another boom where we failed to restrain spending, and we are now faced with another energy price drop......
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http://www.businessincalgary.com/index.php?page=49
This is an interesting article that reviews the reactionary provincial budgeting mentality of the last 30 or 40 years in Alberta. Frank Atkins identifies some mistakes that appear to be repeating as a result of short-term planning.