Thursday, January 26, 2012

Stephen Harper's Horrible Day at Davos














It was without a doubt the most grotesque spectacle the Davos Cozy Capitalist Club had ever seen. As they sat there in their silk leather pajamas watching Stephen Harper pose as an economist.

Bragging about the stability of our banking system, while forgetting to tell them that if it had been up to him and his Reform Con cowboys our banks would have been deregulated, and in worse shape than those in Europe or the United States.

Bragging about his job creation prowess even though the Canadian economy hasn't created any good jobs for the last six months. Despite all those juicy tax breaks for big corporations.

Lecturing the Europeans about their debt problems, when he turned a surplus into a massive structural deficit. And Canadians are drowning in household debt.

Ballooning household debt has made headlines in recent months, and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has warned it is the No. 1 domestic risk to Canada's economy.

At the mercy of a housing bubble that he helped create.

In the first half of this year (2008), as the subprime mortgage crisis was exploding in the United States, a contagion of U.S.-style lending practices quietly crossed the border and infected Canada's previously prudent mortgage regime.

And now there's no money for anything except prisons, and fancy jet planes. So what's his solution? Make the old work longer. So hopefully more will drop dead before ever collecting any money.

In December, the National Post reported that there was internal debate within the government about increasing the age of eligibility for the other major element of the public pension scheme - Old Age Security - from 65 to 67.

Make sure they build a pipeline to get Alberta's dirty oil to market, by intimidating their opponents, and sabotaging the process by appointing their friends.

The federal government disassociated itself on Thursday from an embarrassing official policy paper that said the country’s independent energy regulator, now studying a controversial oil pipeline, is in fact a government ally.

And of course, slash government to the bleeding bone.
















The Conservative government is confirming what it’s been hinting at for weeks: Spending cuts in the upcoming federal budget could be twice as deep as Ottawa’s original target.

Because making Alberta rich and killing government is all they care about. Even if it drives the rest of the country into a recession.

Oh boy. To think that so many Canadians thought the Cons were good money managers.

Never were so many so dumb. Never was a Canadian government so corrupt and so foul.

And of course... Oink. Oink.

Never were the piggies so greedy...



h/t Dammit Janet!

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:49 PM

    I would suggest that its not just Alberta making money off this. A lot of people from the East Coast come here and benefit as well.

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  2. And doing a damn good job of it Simon!! Keep up the good work - expose expose expose!! I'll spread as much as I can as far as I can!

    Don'cha just luv how the prick takes credit for Paul Martin's work on the banks?? The man is a despot!!

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  3. @ Way Way Up - 'making money' OR 'earning a living' - let's make that distinction first!!

    BTW, according to my research, there are approx. 50,000 Americans currently working in AB re oil ....... hmmm, why aren't they Cdns??? eh? (not an argument, but a question)

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  4. Anonymous10:08 PM

    I make money to earn a living.....just to clear it up.

    As for the Americans employed in the oil sands, more power to them. While I can't say there are 50 000 Yanks in town here, we are a multi-cultural bunch with people all over the world. I know this flies in the face of those who merely want to paint us as a hick town, but no worries, the secret is safe with me.

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  5. But u didn't answer my question! and BTW, glad u r making a living!! 'why' are they not '50,000 Cdns' instead of Americans? (nothing against the US, but, doesn't Canada need the jobs??

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  6. The Tar Sands are the answer to all our problems evidently!

    From First Nations poverty to the national unemployment rate.

    Let's rally against the foreign special interests with their deep pockets and their Canadian puppets and poison the prairies for jerbs!

    Or are the Tar Sands just one more blight that is going to have long-term destructive consequences, like all of harper's other blunders?

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  7. hi Way Way Up...I'm not criticizing Alberta, I'm criticizing the Cons for favouring Alberta with their economic policies, while allowing our manufacturing base to be hollowed out and exported to other countries. By not doing anything to counter the so-called Dutch Disease:

    http://moneyterms.co.uk/dutch-disease/

    A national government should act like one, instead of playing favourites...

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  8. hi cheena...I'm glad you liked the post. At this time of fragmentation and short attention spans I think it's important to try to prevent facts from disappearing down the memory hole, and even more important to try to show the big picture.
    The problem is in the age of Twitter people don't like long posts, so trying not to miss the forest for the trees is getting harder and harder. As for the Cons taking credit for what the Liberals did yes that is outrageous. But what really made me laugh was when he told the Davos crowd that his Porky Action Plan had been "well targeted." When I heard that I immediately thought of Tony Gazebo Clement and ;practicall fell out of my chair laughing... :)

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  9. hi Thwap... I wish people would understand that Harper's economic policies are not only bad for the planet, they're taking us back to colonial times when we were hewers of wood and drawers of water. Putting all our eggs in the notoriously unstable commodities basket, and leaving us at the mercy of others.
    It's disgraceful and humiliating and it will lead us to economic disaster. Then of course I think that so many Canadians think that Harper is a good money manmager and I don't know whether to laugh or vomit...

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  10. Hey Simon - couldn't agree with u more! and I do use twitter, but prefer being able to tell what the thread is about w/o having to pg down 5 times!! Well, he is a despot, no doubt about it - however, I do think he underestimates Cdns ... there is only so much us 'nice polite' ppl will take and i think he's just about there.... we do plan on being at the parl. bldgs may 5 - and we live on Vanc Isl.... I'm picturing another mass rally like the one to keep Que in ... Lord, r u old enough to remember that?? LOL....

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  11. Anonymous10:45 AM

    Cheena!, I'm afraid I can't answer your question as I don't make immigration policy. Personally I don't care where a person comes from.

    Simon, I agree with you that there shouldn't be favorites. I find it funny though that for years the East was favored over the West and now that the tables are turned Ontario and Quebec whine. Evidently, there are people there unfamiliar with the NEP and the animosity it created here. I love Ontario, truly, I mean I did grow up there but I suppose pay back can be a real bitch sometimes.

    Thwap, I'm not sure why you so feverishly wish to tie Harper to the oil sands. He didn't put them there. I guess its the fault of Wa-pa-su for bringing the oil sands to the attention of those White explorers.

    And oh, ya..quick geography lesson for ya......its called boreal forest here, not prairies. Keep trying though

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