Economic performance

[dmlfarmer]

If you ignore all the fear mongering and negative campaigning by the conservatives in this election campaign, the one positive they are flogging is their economic performance. I have heard repeatedly how Canada has come through the recession better than most other nations thanks to the Conservative economic action plan. So then can someone explain to me why the CIA world fact book reported Canada’s 2010 public debt to GDP ratio at 82.5%, the 14th worst ratio in the world?

The Economist newspaper agrees and has a very interesting world map that allows you to compare debt to GDP ratios of most countries and according to the map our public debt to GDP was even higher that the US in 2010. http://buttonwood.economist.com/content/gdc

The Globe and Mail, Nov 18. 2010 lists Canada’s public debt at 1.26 trillion which results in a debt per person of $37,121 and reported that this is $2,000 per person higher than Ireland’s debt per person.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation website reports Canada’s 2010 public debt was 82% of GDP and much worse than the US ratio of 58%. http://taxpayer.com/blog/06-10-2010/global-debt-clock

And global finance magazine has a great website that shows the same thing. http://www.gfmag.com/tools/global-database/economic-data/10394-public-debt-by-country.html#axzz1Jf3gDLYl

We have seen downloading of federal debt on provinces and municipalities which gives the impression that Canada is in good shape. But adding all the government debt together certainly changes the picture. And it really makes one question Harpers repeated claims of how good Canada’s economy is.

[jensend]

it's part of government to put out propaganda that you're living in the best country in the world. every country does it. the soviets did it and a lot of the population believed it at least for a while. americans are told everything in their country is the absolute best and not many of them do enough travelling to learn otherwise. harper and flaherty told us how strong canada was all the time trying to keep the economy from slowing down dramatically while spending boatloads of money.

[agstar77]

The only thing that is keeping our economy going is the rising cost of commodities, not the governments spend till you drop stimulus program.When the dance is over we will have to pay the bills, not stevie.

[Fransisco]

I agree, Harper has been way too loose with handing out public money.

But the thing about that is when Harper was throwing out handful's Ignatieff was jumping up and down saying he should be using a shovel. When the shovel came out, Ignatieff went nuts and starting going on about how it should dump trucks full of money.

There are all sorts of things Harper has been doing that I'm not keen on. Like increasing the size of government. The problem with Ignatieff is that he wants to do even more of the things I disagree with.

[gregpet]

So what are the other parties solutions to these problems?

[Fransisco]

According to the Liberal redbook its to grow government and raise tax's.

Nationalized daycare anyone?

[cottonpicken]

When the housing bubble pops and cmhc starts paying
banks on defaults the federal deficit will be mind
boggling.

Does anybody else find it odd,that tax payers are on
the hook for loans made by are banks?

Does anybody understand the size of our mortgage
market?

[FarmRanger]

Minority governments are notorious for overspending. Unfortunately Harper isn’t immune to this fault either.
And then there is the NDP and left wing Liberals who want to spend pots of money, but say they will simply increase taxes corporations to pay for it. Either they are dishonest, or stupid, or quite possibly both.

If a Canadian corporation makes profits, there are only 3 things they can do with that money.

1. Pay more to shareholders and employees, who will pay taxes to the Canadian government.
2. Reinvest it in their business (including hiring more employees) to become more competitive with other businesses in Canada and around the world. The purpose of which is to generate more taxable profits in the future.
3. Have their profits taxed away before they can pay shareholders and employees, or to reinvest for future profit generation. Tax business too much and governments reduce the overall taxes they receive.

I can’t stress enough the fact that Canadian business creates wealth for the benefit of their <b>tax paying shareholders and employees</b>, which ultimately benefits us all. Increase the corporate tax burden too much, and they will be unable to remain competitive with foreign produced goods, leading to Canadian corporations eventual failure and disappearance. If that happens, I guess NDP leadership can high five each other (like they portray Harper doing with corporations in their idiotic TV commercial). Unfortunately, it will be the rest of us who will end up being poorer.

It’s far better to feed the goose that lays the golden eggs, than butcher it.

[rockpile]

Cotton, the last numbers I saw (March 2011) peg the
CMHC liabilities at a number higher than the Federal
deficit. And you omitted the CPP/OAS unfunded
liabilities as well. NO MORE USELESS SPENDING,
PLEASE!