Check out snippets from the latest from John Ibbitson. The Google trick is not working at the moment so you can find it on Norman Spector's The Column I Wish I'd Written page. It pretty well sums up things for me.
...In the late 1970s, the economies of the English-speaking nations began to go off the rails. Deficits climbed even as social programs expanded. Government efforts to kick-start economic growth by stimulative spending paid for by higher taxes served only to stoke inflation, while starving the private sector of oxygen, leading to stagflation and even higher deficits. Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney made ineffectual efforts to control spending, for which they were excoriated with the very same language now used against Stephen Harper. By the early 1990s, the fiscal situation was critical. Despite this, liberal commentators, liberal think tanks and liberal politicians continued to insist, as they had been insisting for more than a decade, on expanding social programs and on stimulative spending. "Now is not the time to worry about the deficit," they maintained. Except it was the time. It was long past time. And federal and provincial governments of every stripe -- Liberal, Conservative and NDP -- finally realized this. They all cut spending. They all eliminated their deficits. They all reduced taxes. And the Canadian economy righted itself. It wasn't a question of right versus left. It was a question of right versus wrong. That is why conservative think tanks became more popular than liberal think tanks, and conservative commentators more numerous than liberal commentators. That is why the Conservative Party is more conservative than it used to be, and the Liberal Party is more conservative than it used to be. The entire body politic, with a few cloistered exceptions, has shifted a bit to the right, because that turned out to be a more sensible location.
Comments (13)
Wow is right. I think Ibbitson is becoming a bit manic. They had better adjust his meds. The other day he was talking about the “wheel of history”, grinding the Liberal party to dust and today he is talking like conservatism is some collosus striding across the land, forever and ever, amen. He will start talking about visions of the Virgin next, if he doesn’t get help.
Posted by Greg | June 23, 2006 1:53 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 13:53
Manic? Meds? Pot, meet kettle.
Posted by Occam's Carbuncle | June 23, 2006 2:47 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 14:47
Sinister Greg, I would like to say you can do better than to merely ridicule the author. But you can’t. Reason? Ibbitson is stating the obvious. The great socialist paradise is a myth. The best social program is a strong economy. A strong economy is generally unencumbered by government regulation and excessive taxation. Even Jack pledged not to raise taxes in the NDP election platform and if that’s not capitulation then I don’t know what is.
About the only jurisdiction in the free world that has not awakened to this reality is the People’s Republic of Toronto and its city counsel.
Posted by Dr. Strangelove | June 23, 2006 3:28 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 15:28
Sigh. When no amount of reality will bust through your fantasies it’s a certain sign of insanity. The NDP has always been the party of fiscal responsibility contrary to what rightwing propagandists say. Tommy Douglas for instance, eliminated Saskatchewan’s net debt long before rightwing drunkstitutes came on the scene or conservatives started claiming—which is mostly all they do—balanced budgets were good.
Posted by Robert McClelland | June 23, 2006 5:15 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 17:15
Gee - can someone smell the fart left by that troll?
Posted by Old Jute | June 23, 2006 5:18 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 17:18
Tommy Douglas was in power like 1,000 years ago. The NDP of today is nothing like the NDP of Tommy Douglas. Over the past 3 decades, any thing the NDP has touched has turned to ash.
If you want to ruin the economy, elect the NDP.
Posted by Toronto Tory | June 23, 2006 7:33 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 19:33
I read that lawrence martin article, and I knew it was horseshit when i read it. Ibbitson just explained why.
Posted by Mark | June 23, 2006 9:50 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 21:50
” The best social program is a strong economy.”
..but when the economy demands constant growth, as ours does, it’s just a temporary solution.
Not mentioend was that the sudden introduction of monetarism coupled with the declining US dollar made quite the mess of things. I’m not saying it shouldn’t have happened, but, still, what a mess. Stagflation, unemployment, high interest rates. A lot of social spending was related to dealing with the social problems created by the economic mess.
Posted by Mark Francis | June 23, 2006 10:49 PM
Posted on June 23, 2006 22:49
Robert is willing to lie openly and outrageously. There’s no point reading anything he writes.
Posted by lrC | June 24, 2006 4:03 AM
Posted on June 24, 2006 04:03
Oh come on, deep down we know that the NDP has never departed from the Regina Manifesto’s stated desire to “Destroy capitalism”. After all the only people who vote for the NDP are people who a) work for the government and b) recieve money from the government.
Posted by chris | June 24, 2006 8:00 AM
Posted on June 24, 2006 08:00
Tommy Douglas is like some kind of Superman for the NDP and even one Green Party candidate said he was her role model.
These people ignore ther fact that Douglas wanted to keep health care and social services costs down by killing off the weak and misfits, just like Hitler.
He is the Canadian father of Eugenics- a fact conveniently overlooked by the socialist masses who are valiently seeking a prophet.
Posted by Maria | June 24, 2006 11:16 AM
Posted on June 24, 2006 11:16
Ibbotson is not an economist. Neither am I, but at least I have enough sense to realize that there is more to our deficit and surplus situation than simple tax and spending.
For fun, have a read of:
The Myth of the Liberal Deficit: http://www.bowjamesbow.ca/2003/08/22/themythof_the.shtml
The Myth of the Liberal Surplus http://www.bowjamesbow.ca/2003/08/26/themythofthe1.shtml
Posted by James Bow | June 24, 2006 7:01 PM
Posted on June 24, 2006 19:01
Could you cite a few sources, Maria?
Posted by James Bow | June 24, 2006 7:55 PM
Posted on June 24, 2006 19:55