The Deficit Hangover

[Slava]

I don't know where the fiscal conservatives are these days, but they aren't in the federal government. I can feel this turning into a rant so I'll just hit the high points with a few quotes on the matter:

First our esteemed Prime Minister during the 2008 election campaign- "We will not be running a deficit. We will keep our spending within our means. It is that simple." Sounds good. Too bad I suppose that it wasn't that simple!

Well here we are and yet again after another election campaign full of bad policy, and the government now cannot eliminate the deficit as promised. This is blamed on the bad economy of course (easy target). So have there been the spending cuts that they were going to find? The opposition parties criticized the plan during the campaign and it fell on deaf ears, but we're going to be in deficit for another year at least and pile $30B more onto the federal debt as a result of this mismanagement. My favorite line though was this comment- "Let me be clear. We will not be bound by ideology when it comes to keeping our economy strong and protecting Canadians, their financial security and jobs." Phew! Can I just suggest that we elect all future governments with an ideology to keep the economy strong? What brilliant insight, and thank you for sparing us from your true ideology of which I can only assume involves harming the economy, and doing nothing to protect Canadians. It really is a welcome change.

Well the real reason I felt the need to start this thread is here :http://www.dec-ced.gc.ca/eng/media-r...11/11/287.html

Like its not enough that they can't balance the books. Now the federal government is investing money into a micro-brewery in Quebec! How ridiculous. Maybe some time we'll have an actually fiscal conservative party to vote for. Apparently we didn't get one this time around.

[blankall]

...but the economy actually is bad....

[Azure]

Governments waste money all the time. Does that justify what they're doing? Certainly not, but it is fact, and I don't think we'll ever eliminate it.

At this point the economy seems to be taking another down turn, so I don't think they can cut spending. My problem is the 'new' spending like the dumb crime bill that we'll be paying for the rest of our lives, and not only with money too.

Can they balance the budget? I think they can. But how many people will bitch when they do?

Personally they should be cutting around $5 billion out of the budget every year until it is balanced. I don't care how its done either.

[burn_this_city]

Since when is a really ####ty world economy an easy excuse?

[Ozy_Flame]

Count me as one of those who think the multi-billion dollar contracts handed out were a good thing. It has more to do with the economy than the military, but I think Canadians benefit from projects like that, even if the contracts are localized.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Since when is a really ####ty world economy an easy excuse?

Not sure if you're serious.

####ty world(US) economy is keeping our economy from generating more jobs and more growth, therefore increasing tax revenues, therefore making it a hell of a lot easier to balance the budget.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Count me as one of those who think the multi-billion dollar contracts handed out were a good thing. It has more to do with the economy than the military, but I think Canadians benefit from projects like that, even if the contracts are localized.

Plus, its not like we won't benefit from spending that money as taxpayers.

Stimulus that actually works. And it'll work for 30 years.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Azure

Not sure if you're serious.

####ty world(US) economy is keeping our economy from generating more jobs and more growth, therefore increasing tax revenues, therefore making it a hell of a lot easier to balance the budget.

Which is what I was trying to say.

[Bunk]

Only governments not running operating deficits - municipal. Legislated to do so.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Since when is a really ####ty world economy an easy excuse?

Originally Posted by Azure

Not sure if you're serious.

####ty world(US) economy is keeping our economy from generating more jobs and more growth, therefore increasing tax revenues, therefore making it a hell of a lot easier to balance the budget.

Well considering that the unemployment rate has continued to drop over the past year it seems like a red herring at best. People are working. Businesses are making money. Almost every expert would say that Canada will not have a recession on the horizon, and even for a US recession odds are it won't happen (about 70/30 in favour of no recession). Frankly the issue is that they were supposed to be able to cut $4B per year and can't do it.

[Azure]

I absolutely agree. 4 billion per year should be doable. They have no excuse at all and quite frankly I'm sick and tired of a so called conservative government being as fiscally conservative as the ndp.

[SebC]

The Conservatives got us into this mess BEFORE the recession hit. Spending ballooned and the wrong tax was cut (GST). The deficit is structural, not cyclical, and that's what's scary.

[octothorp]

The deficit rag, oh yeah the deficit rag,
Those budget gaps can be a twelve-digit drag,
I'm telling ya, that's the deficit,
They really made a mess of it,
That's the deficit rag!

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Only governments not running operating deficits - municipal. Legislated to do so.

Which municipalities aren't running deficits?