Apolitical Staples

Place the blame squarely where it belongs - with the voters.

Nah, Harper is just following the “Don’t tax, but spend” policies of the Republican Party. Everyone knows how well that worked out, right?

I’m not sure why they get political science professors for quotes in political articles. They’re expertise is not politics. It’s political theory. There’s a difference, as this article exposes.

I guess they’re seen as authoritative and objective, and are probably more eager to get quoted than actual politicos.

But the insight they provide is almost always of limited use. There’s a reason they’re in school and not actually practising politics. Not sure why journalists don’t realize that.

The thing about all this spending is that I’m not sure how the Liberals or any of the other parties attack it.

The Liberals did this kind of thing before, and much of the spending was in their plans anyhow.

NDP complain about big government spending? In Toronto?

Quebec will get its, so that nullifies the Bloc.

I should also point at that pragmatic politics works for conservatives as well.

What Harper is doing is clearly not ideological, and it helps him politically in so many ways, including strategic considerations and voter sentiment.

Much of Harper’s M.O. has been to nullify potential criticism against him. Paul Wells wrote the book on how Harper did it in the last campaign. He’s doing it now.

When all is said and done, I believe Harper will have re-written the textbook on how to do politics in Canada. Just watch.

At the same time Mr. Denis, who is a Full Professor of Political Science in the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Social Sciences, announced start-up of the “Claude Denis University of Entrail-Reading the Obvious” in downtown Looneyville.

I agree, spending is going way overboard

““Don’t tax, but spend” policies of the Republican Party. Everyone knows how well that worked out, right?”

Coming off the Clinton dot.com market bubble of exuberant excess, Bush’s tax cuts worked out pretty well. The Dow has moved from 7 thousand to 12 thousand and since over 60% of Americans are investors, most have realized tremendous gains. The housing market had similar gains.

The US deficit is working its way down, 3 years ahead of schedual.. .just in time for Giuliani to take the White House and make those tax cuts permanent. Even France is electing a conservative who will cut corproate taxes. Canada will follow suit, even the Dippers would have to get in line with this global economic boom.

Coming off the Clinton dot.com market bubble of exuberant excess, Bush’s tax cuts worked out pretty well. The Dow has moved from 7 thousand to 12 thousand and since over 60% of Americans are investors, most have realized tremendous gains. The housing market had similar gains.

Uh, yeah. Tremendous gains. Maybe not when you factor in interest payments and the erosion of USD’s spending power. But why pinch pennies? Unrestrained welfare spending (and warfare with half of the world) is really an investment in the future, isn’t it?

David Walker, Comptroller General at the Government Accountability Office … painted a very sobering picture regarding the federal government’s ability to meet its future obligations … government entitlement spending is like a runaway freight train headed straight at American taxpayers. He singled out the Medicare prescription drug bill, passed by Congress at the end of 2003, as “probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s.” … The real cost will be at least $1 trillion in the first decade alone, and much more in following decades as the American population grows older … Medicare will consume nearly 40% of the nation’s GDP after several decades because of the new drug benefit. That’s not 40% of federal revenues, or 40% of federal spending, but rather 40% of the nation’s entire private sector output … … future obligations put our real debt figure at roughly fifty trillion dollars … If present trends continue, by 2040 the entire federal budget will be consumed by Social Security and Medicare alone … To close the long-term entitlement gap, the U.S. economy would have to grow by double digits every year for the next 75 years.

Link

It’s always amusing to hear the left screech solely about liabilities as if asset growth was stagnant or in decline.

You know what Stephen Harper’s economics thesis was? The economic cycle of pre-election campaign spending. No shit!

It’s always amusing to hear the left screech solely about liabilities as if asset growth was stagnant or in decline.

The left are not now screeching and have never screeched about the unrestrained growth of the welfare state. Nor is the left the source of the conclusion that the expansion of this asset bubble cannot possibly overcome in 25, 50, or 75 years the entitlements being signed into law by politicians today.

“the expansion of this asset bubble cannot possibly overcome in 25, 50, or 75 years the entitlements being signed into law by politicians today”

what? money for a transit system, estimated start up 4-6 years, suddenly is a commitment for 75 years? or are you talking about the cities’ portions of the gas taxes that the Liberals implemented (and which may not be that stupid of an idea, surprisingly, since the money for transit - usually subsidized for riders - has to come from SOMEWHERE).

What part of MINORITY don’t you get? What part of “fiscal rebalancing” don’t you get? Yikes. And we wonder why conservatives are rarely in power?