Hilarious how you equate 'reduce role of federal govt' with 'bunch of old, white people that don't want to pay taxes.'
When in fact 'lowering taxes' accounts for only 6% of the graph.
I don't care much for the Tea Party. To me its great that they choose to organize themselves and speak out against something they don't like. But I'm skeptical on their ability to make real changes.
The fact is that the US government is bloated. Out of control spending, massive deficits, massive debt, social programs going bankrupt, corruptions all around, etc, etc....means that something is VERY wrong.
If you want to compare Obama to Bush, both have outrageous and ridiculous policies. Obama was just caught up in a recession, and choose to try and bankrupt the US faster than Bush and his two wars, cut taxes and spend more approach to economics style did.
Its pretty clear that the US can't sustain their current path. Anyone with a shred of brains that isn't caught up in the 'conservatives such, Jon Stewart is da bomb!, Republicans are evil, Democrats rule' stupidity that often seems to plague this board knows that regardless of whether you think universal health care is important, or social security is important, which they both are, both programs in the US are going bankrupt. And simply turning a blind eye and choosing to be a bunch of partisan hack that are actually naive enough to believe that there is a difference between the Republicans and the Democrats, is never going to solve a damn thing.
Quite frankly its a bit annoying that some people still want to label Sarah Palin, the tea party, and fiscally responsible economic principles together.
Especially considering that the reason Canada is doing so well is because of fiscally responsible regulation that was legislated by one of the most underrated leaders Canada has ever had. Paul Martin. Directly responsible for many changes in the financial structure of the government, he was also a HUGE part in fixing our deficit problem by restructuring and reforming a lot of social services. Did we lose those programs? Did we turn into a libertarian utopia? Did our health care services falter, our government run pension plans go bankrupt? No they didn't. But because of the changes Martin helped make, Canada is one of the strongest 1st world countries today economically.
Don't believe me?
Quote:
Relax. There's no reason to worry about your CPP during these volatile days of wildly fluctuating stock markets and the subprime mortgage crisis.
The CPP is in the safe hands – its $121.3 billion carefully vested on behalf of 17 million working and retired Canadians and for generations to come.
But that wasn't always the case.
Canadians have former prime minister Paul Martin to thank for the restored viability of the country's state-administered pension plan, says Bill Robson, president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute.
"He's (Martin's) never been properly recognized for this," says Robson. "The reforms have worked very well so far."
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http://www.thestar.com/Business/Inve...article/300563
From Wiki.
Quote:
As finance minister, Martin erased a $42 billion deficit, recorded five consecutive budget surpluses, and paid down $36 billion of national debt.
During his tenure as finance minister Martin was responsible for lowering Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio from a peak of seventy per cent to about fifty per cent in the mid-1990s. In December 2001, he was named as a member of the World Economic Forum's "dream cabinet."[4] The global business and financial body listed Martin along with United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as top world leaders.
Also during his tenure as finance minister, Martin coordinated a series of meetings between the finance ministers of all provinces to discuss how to address the pending crisis in the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Consequently, Martin oversaw the creation of a general public consultation process in February 1996 that eventually led to major structural reform of the CPP. The results of this public consultation process were collected and analyzed by the Finance ministry. Eventually, it led to a proposal for overhauling the CPP, which was presented to Parliament and was approved soon after, thereby averting a pension crisis if left unaddressed.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Martin
Unbelievable that the man has never received the praise he should have for his work as finance minister.
And I haven't even started talking about the banking regulation that he was also a big part of.
Similar work needs to be done in the US, but a lot of people aren't willing to accept the fact that they might have to do with less for a while. Canada suffered in different ways because of the cuts Martin made, especially with Health Care funding, but we have bounced back because of it, and like I said are one of the strongest countries in the world economically because of it.
But no, lets keep bitching about those damn tea party morons. Jon Stewart is the da bomb!! Sarah Palin!! Blame Bush!! Obama is a muslim!!
Its sickening.
