You could can see the strain in his face, he can't hide it anymore, even under all that pancake makeup.
He's still trying to pretend that those tanking oil prices won't affect his plans to try to buy the next election, or balance the budget.
Even though he recklessly blew the surplus before he even had one.
But it's just not working, and with every passing day he's sounding more and more delusional.
Falling oil prices will reduce Ottawa's fiscal flexibility but will not prevent the government from posting a balanced budget next year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday.
"You should be under no doubt that the government will balance its budget next year," he said in Quebec City after a local announcement. "We are well within that range. Even with dramatically lower oil prices, we will balance the budget.
Try as he might he just can't bring himself to accept the crude reality.
The 40% dive in oil prices over the past four months is an unprecedented situation for Canada and its impact on the economy will be much greater than thought, CIBC economists predicted Tuesday.
In a report entitled “No barrel of fun: What weaker crude means for Canada,” the team of economists estimated that the real hit to the nation’s growth would be closer to 2%, rather than the quarter or third percentage point earlier predicted by the Bank of Canada.
He doesn't dare admit that the only way he's going to have a surplus rather than a deficit now, is if he uses a chainsaw to cut government down to the bleeding bone...
And that's if the housing market doesn't follow oil prices and the Harper peso down the toilet.
Because those who believe the bubble won't burst once interest rates start to rise, are like him living in DENIAL.
So much for Great Economist Leader and all the suckers in this country who thought he knew what he was doing.
But as if losing the surplus and his credibility wasn't bad enough, now it seems he's also lost the North Pole.
Denmark has presented a claim to the UN, arguing that the area surrounding the North Pole is connected to the continental shelf of Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.
Despite his absurd efforts to claim it for Canada...
Which makes him look more like a hapless buffoon who is making it up as he goes along, than the Great Leader of ANYTHING.
And yes, as I keep saying, the economy was once his strongpoint, but now it's becoming a liability.
Crude reality will eventually shatter even his state of denial.
And his brutish reign is almost over...
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Of course Harper will balance the budget in 2015. He is the master of misdirection and wants Canadians to fuhgettabout the current federal debt of almost 614 billion! http://www.debtclock.ca/
ReplyDeleteHe will balance the budget by further cuts to jobs, programs, and transfer payments to the provinces. Presto! You can be a Great Economist too!
hi David...yes that's what I fear that grubby leader will do, kill even more good jobs and maybe even the CBC. But the good news is that if he does that it will only make his decision to blow the surplus he didn't have look even more irresponsible. So one way or another he will pay a heavy price...
DeleteOh, I suspect he thinks he is so smart that he will be fighting the election as Great Strong Leader, not Great Economist Leader, now that the oil price has tanked.
ReplyDeleteAnd that he would have the likes of Chris Hall at the "Conservative Broadcasting Corportation" or Mark Kennedy or John Ivison at those other Conservative friendly organizations to help rebrand him. They might again write stuff like .... he is so smart, he plays chess while others play checkers, he has already planned several steps ahead of his opponents to checkmate their King, etc. etc. For that, he might even reward CBC with a year end interview where Peter Mansbridge presumably will look very solemn as he asks: Mr Great Strong PM, please share with Canadians your precious thoughts when that big bad terrorist, Bibeau. had rushed into Parliament firing his great big gun and everyone around you was panicking? Of course, being Mansbridge, he will be very good at keeping a straight face, no?
However, The only problem with the strategy of rebranding as Great Strong Leader, I would suggest, is that we, the proletariat, will have the perfect foil ..... namely, ahem, the "closet"
All we would need would be a picture of Great Strong Leader and a picture of a closet and the caption: Fill in the blanks, boys and girls: " When the going gets tough, the tough get going ..... as into a (blank). ;)
hi anon...I noticed than when Mansbridge asked Great Hero Leader about the closet incident Harper squirmed so much he almost fell off his chair. So he can expect to do a lot more squirming before he is finally defeated, because we WILL use that and all his other flaws against him...
DeleteDo you mean to suggest that you actually want house prices to crash? Don't get me wrong, Canadian house prices are somewhere between 10%-30% over-priced, possibly more depending on local market. Vancouver... Let's not talk about Vancouver.
ReplyDeleteBut wanting, wishing for the eventuality of a series of events that will to ruin people's retirements, well-beings, investments etc. to get rid of Harper isn't compassionate, or kind. Or good. It's quite the opposite. If there's any chance I'm not being clear enough, a market correction is unavoidable I think, and possibly with it, an economic catastrophe, but I'm not wishing it on anyone, quite the contrary, I wish it weren't so.
And, I'm not being hyperbolic, with Canadian household debt at such high levels, a sever correction will wipe out all of the assets of a staggering proportion of the population. You seem to be suggesting that you want this to happen because it will hurt Harper, nevermind the little bother of economic chaos. Is that right?
Well, I suppose I should look at the silver lining, as I usually do: 15 minutes post-collapse, you'll become a conservative pretty damned quick. :-) How much food have you stored for yourself?
hi anon....what are you talking about? I don't want any ordinary Canadians to suffer, unlike you I'm not a Con. I don't want any Canadians to suffer not even those in Alberta, and I am very worried what lower oil prices will mean for people in Newfoundland and Labrador who deserve all the prosperity they can have, after being poor for so long. What I am pointing out is that a man who would portray himself a a Great Economic Leader, has led us to a very bad place due to his short sighted policies. He should have used his time to diversify our economy, and control the housing balloon, but he didn't and he has set us up for as you point out an economic catastrophe. Finally, trust me, I could be reduced to homelessness and I STILL wouldn't be a Con...
ReplyDeleteHave you ever actually been homeless?
DeleteSimon, your comment of 9:10 clashes, or appears to clash with your blog post. You say that you don't want Canadians to suffer, but your post has the tone of gloating over a collapsing economy.
This is short-sited: Stephen Harper doesn't control the economy. And he doesn't control say, the price of electricity in Ontario. Sure, he has tremendous influence, and his government can help prop-up the oil sands. But Harper can't stop Ontario from doing everything possible chasing away its manufacturing jobs. There's only so much Stephen Harper can do. He's done what he can, but, it may not have been enough no matter what he did. And, we had to do the rest. We didn't do that, and that. We definitely didn't hold up our end.
But that aside Simon, unless you're prepared, the last thing that you want to happen is a steep correction in the housing market. A steep correction will drive a staggering number of households into personal bankruptcy. This unpleasant reality has a strong chance of spiraling out of control to the point where the economy just falls apart. And that will lead to a lot of people who find that they're very, very hungry. And, it won't be much longer before those same people begin to realize that they don't have anything left to lose. What do you think that mob of people will do next?
hi anon...read my previous answer i hate repeating myself. The gloating is only in your head. I am merely describing reality, but you Cons always have problems with that. You deny climate change, you deny science, deny economics 101 at your own risk...
DeleteYou hate repeating yourself? Have you read your own blog?
DeleteBut thank you for confirming that you are not in fact, gloating. It can be a little confusing sometimes.
Nice attempt to strawman.
@ Anon 9.57 am
DeleteSimon may be too polite to say this but I am not. Why would a crash in house prices hurt these people? They would still have a roof over their heads as long as they can afford to pay their mortgages.
If they have overleveraged the amount they have borrowed, then they knowingly took a huge risk when they bought a house that they otherwise could not afford. Why complain if the risk backfired? No one forced them to buy that house.
OTOH, if they buy a house to speculate and are hurt by the crash in real estate values because they cannot then turn over the house and make a profit, then these people deserve to lose their shirts.
Reminds me of the Cons troll who posted a comment some time ago that he/she would have gone bankrupt if not for the $100 per month that Harper had given for childcare. Same thing. If $100 per month made so much difference, this person could not have afforded to bring a child into this world.
he may "balance" the budget but he didn't say at what cost to taxpayers and citizens of Canada. You can bet there will be cuts to federal services and perhaps even an increase in GST. He will ensure his friends and supporters get their "income split" and the rest of us will have our income split from us, to pay for his foolishness.
ReplyDeleteIf interest rates increase, B.C. will be in real trouble. We have approx. $60Billion in debt and the premier has had her latest photo op and declared they will desecrate more land and built an $8.77 Billion dam and flood land which doesn't belong to them.
The housing market in Greater Vancouver won't take much of a hit because it continues to be driven by outside interests. There are still 35 Million, millionaires in China and a lot of them would like to live in Vancouver and Toronto. If the dollar continues to slide, manufacturing may pick up and oil workers who return to Ontario and Quebec may find employment there. B.C. not so much. Nothing happening.
Canada will be hit harder by this drop in oil prices than Russia. They may be waiting for Putin to fall, but the Russian people have been through worse. Just think back to when the USSR fell and so did their money.
it would be nice to see the back side of harper but I haven't seen him leave office yet, just hoping he will.
hi e.a.f...Nothing can change the fact that the Harperites have done great damage to our economy, by putting too many eggs in one oily basket, and that they have set us up for a potentially catastrophic implosion. They didn't diversify, they failed to produce an industrial strategy or prepare us for the green economy of the future. And they will be made to pay for it....
DeleteSure he can balance the budget by deleting Medicare Employment Insurance Veterans Aid Disabled Persons Aid Student Loans basically by eliminating all federal social services and let's not forget selling off National Parks to the highest bidder then privatizing every other government service essentially destroying the public service like he has already done to Canada Post. Then the con wonks will brag about a balanced budget fool the sheeple who will vote con again because they have been conned. Only after will they learn that they have sold their soul to the devil incarnate Harper Head Con Artist...
ReplyDeletehi mogs...I hate to imagine what Stephen Harper might do when he finds himself in a deficit situation, and starts cutting like a maniac to try to balance the books and give himself a stash of cash to try to bribe voters. The monster buffoon is out of control and must be defeated and caged as soon as possible...
DeleteCaged is good Simon...
ReplyDelete