Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
We probably don't even disagree on much here. Its just that I'm not sold on the Wildrose as some great panacea to fiscal restraint and conservatism. I think that they got lucky in terms of timing and the recession and its easy to take shots at the current government at this point. No government can entirely stop a recession from having any effect, so no matter what they do you either (a) promise you would've done more and avoided the pain entirely or (b) say the government did too much and that this has prolonged the pain.
Its a good political strategy, but isn't enough for me to give them a vote.
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I think the problem here between you, bizzaro and myself here is not so much moral, analytical or even policy driven, but rather you have a much greater faith in the ability of polticians and the civil service to do their jobs and provide said services. I think that the mere fact that it's WAY WAY WAY easier to spend more money than to show restraint the default position should be that Government is something that should always have to justify itself for every dollar it spends all the time. Viewing finances any other way in this province is going to lead to utter collapse when the commodity cycle eventually collapses.
Kaynesian economics does not work because the nature of democratic government doesn't allow for saving when times are good for what got spent for when times are bad. What ends up happening is that the government departments that were created during the 'Stimulus' spending phase continue on or have to be wound down at great cost. The reality in Alberta is that we should have a massive Heritage Fund, a balanced budget, per capita spending inline with other provinces, and services that match other provinces as a result of the buttload of cash we take in vis-a-vis O&G royalties and the offshoot increases to personal and business incomes. And don't bring up an 'Infrastructure deficit' BS arguement many spendhappy wonks talk about. Take a trip to Ontario, Quebec, BC, et al and tell me their infrastructure needs are less on a per capita basis, in fact when you view their crumbling interchanges and bridges it might be apparent that their infrastructure needs are actually greater than ours.