Stephen Harper and the End of the Great Economist Myth

Well it must have been a grim scene in the PMO bunker last night. For years the Con propaganda machine has tried to brainwash Canadians into believing that Stephen Harper is a Great Economist Leader.

The steady hand on the wheel, steering us to prosperity, the only leader who knows ANYTHING about economics.

Even as he put all our economic eggs into one oily basket, decimated our manufacturing sector, flooded the country with foreign workers, drove down wages, and failed to come up with an industrial strategy, or create enough jobs.

But today that absurd myth finally fell apart, after the Great Helmsman's boat collided with the hard rock of reality. 

The Harper government was slapped with grim reminders about the broad economic and political implications of low oil prices Tuesday as experts delivered a fresh round of dire warnings about the potential fallout. The bad news included a projection by one of the country’s biggest banks, which predicted the rapid fall in oil prices would transform the federal government’s long-promised 2015-16 surplus into a deficit.

His oily gamble has failed catastrophically. His tarry love affair with Greater Alberta is now threatening to drag the whole country down. 

And to make him look even more incompetent,if that's possible, he's also the genius, or the Con artist, who blew the surplus before he had one... 



As well as blowing a giant hole in his chances of winning the next election.

Politically, the red flags threaten to complicate the Harper government’s efforts to present itself as a stable steward of a strong economy in the leadup to a federal election that’s currently scheduled for October.

Whatever Oily Joe Oliver says:

“While threats to the global economy loom — including falling oil prices — our Conservative government’s plan for the economy is working,” he said in a statement.

Who hasn't sounded more ridiculous, or more out of it, since he invited us to drink the water from the tarry ponds...



And must either think we are fools, or be suffering from dementia. 

But of course Stephen Harper is now desperate, and probably quaking in his boots as much as he did when he hid in that closet.

Because he MUST balance the budget, even if he has to fill his bribe bowl with the blood of jobs killed and services slashed to the bone.

And he will try to buy the next election, as this ad released last night by the Con propaganda machine makes only too clear...



Because now it's come down to this: he may have led us to economic disaster, but he will pay Canadians to vote for him.

And it's not too hard to figure out where this one is going...



And the question is does that mean, as John Ivison suggests, an early election?

Certainly, the temptation to break the October fixed election date must be nearly irresistible. Stephen Harper’s pitch to Canadians is that he is best positioned to provide them with physical and economic security, at a time when threats to both are on the rise.

But it is the tumbling oil price, along with the economic uncertainty it heralds, that has persuaded me that the Great Opportunist will risk the charge of rank hypocrisy and break his own election law again.

Before things get even worse. The stock market tanks, or the housing market implodes.

And the good news is that it doesn't really matter when that election is called, as long as we are ready. 

Because the myth that has sustained him for so long has finally been shattered.

He was no economist. 

He was no Great Leader, 

And the mad emperor had no clothes...



He's walking around in his underwear. He's never been more vulnerable.

And we are going to destroy him...

Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.