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Canada's Fucked!
Harper admitted today that we are going to have a deficit next year and that the country is already in a "technical recession." So yea, we're officially screwed until America's economy comes back which won't be for at least 2 or 3 years. Hopefully I can find a job after I graduate this semester :cry:
Comments
this means more more people will be committing crimes to pay their bills
The main problem is that so much of our economic activity is tied into America, so the real question is...how did people still vote for W. the second term in a row
harpernomics?
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, fuck Harper. He tried to replace our financial system (which is actually easing the effects of the Wall Street meltdown) with the American ones.
And the dog whistle sounds, and a bunch of people will go vote for him and his MPs again because they actually believe that after 20 years of governments repeatedly cutting back on staff and spending, there's still any fraud and fat in the system to cut!
... or that there's any tax left to cut. News flash! Tax rates were as high as 80% in the top bracket in the 1950s and 1960s! Today the highest combined federal-provincial marginal tax rate is somewhere around 43 to 45%, and even that's gone down by ten percentage points compared to the early 1990s when it was more typically around 50 to 55%.
Today the Canadian government takes in around $200 billion and spends that and a little bit less. If we had the same size of government as we did in the 1960s that figure would be more like $300 billion today. Not exactly world-shattering, but that extra $100 billion a year would let us retire the national debt in one term of government.
Think about it.
I have to ask you people, what's wrong with a recession? Answer it for yourself, I already know my answer.
Harper now presides over the highest spending government in Canadian history, having increased federal government spending by 15 per cent.
$19.2 BILLION in pre-election spending between June and September 2008.
A $13-billion surplus blown in just 30 months and now on the brink of deficit.
The opposite of recession is economic growth, which obviously to many people, is good for one reason, rises in your standard of living.
Take the main benefits of an economic growth and turn them upside down, you get recession. Little job creation, underconsumption, deflation, foreclosures.
Note, in order for the last 4 things to happen, you need overproduction, overconsumption, inflation, and people buying houses they can't afford. These 4 things I mentioned are results of speculation, logically, you don't produce, buy products or houses unless you know you can pay for it (now or later, usually later), when you can't, well, shit hits the fan. Production and consumption drives economic growth, when it's sustainable, meaning you can afford to buy the stuff with the money you own.
It's a popular panache these day to blame everything on Bush Jr, but this problem, yeah, you can definitely blame on it Bush Jr. Based on historical trends, a major recession was suppose to hit in 2001-2002, but Bush Jr. not wanting to suffer the fate of his father, had Fed Chair Alan Greenspan dumped the interest rate so low to prop up massive spending binge to prevent a recession, and you get economic growth.
Bush Jr isn't stupid, he just doesn't give a fuck about anyone else but himself. The false economic growth under his first term was so that he can get reelected for a second term. When the big problem surface in 08/09, he doesn't give a shit, he's outta office.
Under Bush's watch, USA had the biggest spending spree in history at both household and federal level in the negative range (spending more than you earn). I would say this wouldn't happen if Gore was elected, but hey, he was, the rich Bush backers aren't letting that happen, they don't want a environmental hippie in office.
IMO.
Several arguments to why a recession is a good thing:
1. Realistic market values for everything you want to buy.
2. Consumption level back down to earth.
3. People saving money instead of spending endlessly, meaning: paying down your debt.
These arguments can tell the exact motives of why a recession is supposedly bad. The realty, retail, manufacturing, auto, credit card, and the media (whose incomes are advertising dollars from these industries), they are the loser, and the average person, he/she will do fine, if he has a saving and realistic budgeted spending habits, if not, there's always the welfare check. Yeah, Harper is a real fiscal conservative alright, what happened to spend less and tax less ideal of the conservative huh?
Also, even if you have been saving up and living within your means, you can see your wealth shrink as inflation starts to grow. Our economy is dependent on consumption of goods and services, so once people cut back on their spendings, our GDP will decline. As our GDP decline, the value of our dollar will as well. The government will then most likely starts to print more money to make up for the loss, which will further inflate the valule of our mint.
Essentially, a recession means a decline in social welfare.
I don't study economics, but these are the things that I've gathered from what I've read so far. Take it with a grain of salt if you will, but it's how I see things.
EDIT: I just saw your post. 1. Not necessarily. As our GDP decline, so will the value of our mint. Meaning that we have to pay more to make up for the loss. It's starting to happen with groceries in the states.
2. True.
3. Hmm...this depends. As you mentioned, people overconsume, which means they're living beyond their means and become financially unstable. Chances are, these debts will never be paid off.
What you are describing is an economy on a brink of depression. The cascading stop at some point, based on how the monetary and fiscal policy is run from the federal level. A recession is a deflation in price, not inflation. GDP =/= value of currency, it's not that simple. Both of which renders your point moot. If any leader has any sense of basic history, printing out more currency is stupidity. 1. Prices go down in a recession, a recession is furthered when people keep waiting for the prices to go even further. When groceries increase in price, it's still inflation. It takes an inflation (and among other things)to led to a recession.
3. Non-payable debt will be written off, overconsumers will not be able to borrow, they will learn to save.
Happened to a friend of mine just a few days back - bam, lost their job just like that, and it's close to Christmas, too. :omg:
http://www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/arti...icleID=3043596
The lending practice of Canadian institution is regulated compared to the Americans. "Don't need to disclose my income and I'm approved for $700,000 no down mortgage, sweet." How could any sound person not see this coming?