Partisan Economis

[dmlfarmer]

This morning Nobel winning economist Paul Krugman had an opinion piece in the New York Times entitled Partisan Growth Gaps.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/opinion/partisan-growth-gaps.html?emc=edit_th_20151102&nl=todaysheadlines& nlid=50975083

He questions why there is the perception that Republicans are better economic managers than Democrats when in fact the opposite is true.

His article prompted me to compare Con and Lib governments economic record in Canada. And the same thing is true here too. While the perception is that Cons are better economic managers, in fact since 1922 until now the stock market returns have been 3 times higher under Liberal governments than Conservative governments in Canada (6.8% vs 2.2%) according to an article in Oct 13, 2015 Financial post. And if we look at economic growth rates the Liberal PMs Martin, 2.71% Chretien 3.32%, Trudeau 4.28%, Pearson, 5.43%, St Laurent 5.7%, and King 6.24% is much better than the Conservative PMs Harper 1.77%, Mulroney 2.51% Diefenbaker 3.78% and Bennet -2.34% (Huffington Post article May, 2015) Even the Journal of Economics found Liberal economic management has surpassed that of Conservative governments.

Krugman's article is an interesting read and applies equally well to Canadian politics. Just replace the names Republicans and Democrats with Conservatives and Liberals.

[mustardman]

I've always thought the that "Fiscal Conservative" was an Oxymoron. Lol

[burnt]

"I've always thought the that "Fiscal Conservative" was an Oxymoron. Lol"

Rather like "Liberal ethics..." Lol

[cottonpicken]

I dare you to google -"Paul krugman trillion dollar coin alien invasion"

And then tell me what he has ever said has any relevance.

[stonepicker]

Dml, maybe you could pass your info and stats to our MB. democrats, they seem to be lagging behind . Not sure why.

[stonepicker]

Not sure how you got 6.8% avg. is this new style math?

[Oliver88]

Will left wing government is most likely to have a credit rating downgrade this year?
A) Alberta
B) Ontario
C) Manitoba
D) All of the above

I'll stay in Saskatchewan I think.

[dmlfarmer]

Stonepicker: 6.8% STOCK MARKET RETURNS is not my number it is a figure published by the Financial Post in October.

Nor is it an average of the other numbers. Those are THE CANADIAN GROWTH RATES and those come from a MAY 2015 Huffington Post article

You can make snide comments about my "new math" but had you actually read what I wrote you would have seen that not only were these not my figures, but I based my thoughts on two different measurements from two different sources. No where do I even talk about 6.8 percent being an average!

Oh and by the way Stonepicker and Oliver, I challenge you to show these stats are wrong rather than just attacking me for posting something you disagree with!

[dmlfarmer]

I am well aware of the trillion dollar coin idea and I want to make a couple of points. First, the coin was not Krugmans's idea. It has been around since the late 90's and is credited to a number of people - none of them Krugman.

Second Krugman merely endorsed the idea at the time the Republicans were debating shutting down the government by not raising the debt ceiling - an equally stupid idea. After all, the US Congress had put the country in the position of not raising taxes enough or cutting spending enough to balance the budget so the debt ceiling had to go up to pay the bills which were already due.

CP you say you play poker - that is what Krugman was doing. He was exaggerating a hand that technically could be played to defeat the hand the Republicans were betting on.

I am not sure if these are Krugman's own words on the coin but they were quoted as such: "it's a silly, arbitrary and yet still technically legal and effective solution to a silly, arbitrary and yet still technically legal dangerous problem".

[stonepicker]

Yes i had to reread to get straightened out, and these numbers are relevant how? Looks to me this country has done well under both liberal and conservative rule, and in the past i don't think there was a lot of difference between red and blue, and really who cares. The party that does the best job of putting the country ahead of they're personal interests is the party i want running the country. And again send your info to the mb. ruling party please.

[biglentil]

Sure when the Liberals crack the money tap wide open the stock market will go up.

[cottonpicken]

Ok DM,I've been following this stuff a long long time and I really really hope your right i want to be wrong especially about myself and this.

[chuckChuck]

Harper ran a lot of deficits. Bailed out the auto industry. He presided over an energy and resource boom not of his making.

The capital outflows are a result of low oil prices which are not set in Canada.

Germans have almost a 20% VAT. Compared to 10% in Saskatchewan, 5% in Alberta. Germans have a lot of well funded social programs and are the strongest economy in Europe. With high employment.

The US has lower personal taxation and higher corporate taxation.

Many Canadians have no savings, spend more than they make, waste alot of money and are one paycheck away from serious problems.

So alot of the arguments about taxation and government spending need careful and thought full analysis.

[ado089]

Perhaps there is a lag between fiscal policy and economic outcome?

[cottonpicken]

Lol,germany is pretty far from ok,they are also joint and severe with the rest of the eu,kind of like how saskabush is with the rest of canada.