Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Joe Oliver, Stephen Harper, and the Great Con Economic Meltdown



As you know, I believe that we need a Con like Joe Oliver as our Finance Minister at a time like this one, like a drowning man needs an anvil. 

I think that he's just a puppet of the PMO, that Stephen Harper pulls his strings, and tells him what to say.

And that Oliver is so hopelessly incompetent and so out of it, one really has to wonder whether he's all there. If you know what I mean.

And of course this doesn't help. 

Finance Minister Joe Oliver is tempering his optimistic outlook on the country's economy, saying it's too early to tell whether Canada has slumped into a recession. 

"The numbers aren't out yet," Joe Oliver said Tuesday in Vancouver. "When the numbers are out we'll see what they have to say."

Oliver's comments Tuesday marked a shift in his position. Oliver rejected the possibility Last Friday when the Bank of America Merrill Lynch suggesting Canada was in a recession.


One moment he strongly denies we're in a recession, the next moment he's not sure. But still claims that he's SURE the economy will make a strong recovery. Even if that might happen AFTER the election. 

So we're just going to have to trust him on that one.

Even though the economy is contracting, our trade deficit is ballooning. 

Canada’s merchandise trade deficit widened to the second-largest on record in May, more evidence that weakness that started with an oil shock has extended beyond the first quarter.

Oil prices are falling, and the loonie is tanking.



The loonie continued its tumble on Tuesday in the wake of plummeting oil, a robust US dollar, and less than inspiring PMI data. The Canadian Dollar slid as low as 78.27 US cents at 10:05 am before leveling off to close at 78.68 cents, down .0035 cents or another .44% from Monday’s close.

Along with Stephen Harper's poll numbers.

And yes, it's true, Great Economist Buffoon Leader and his desperate followers now have a new/nouveau story or alibi.

Once they told us we needed to keep them in power, because the economy was strong thanks to Great Leader's steady hand on the wheel.

Now that the economy is heading south they're claiming it's all due to external factors and not THEIR fault... 



But we STILL need to keep them in power because we need that steady hand on the wheel, or those steady feet on the tightrope, more than ever.

And because if we'd listened to the NDP we'd all be going down with Greece !!!!




As you can see in this brand new attack ad from the Con Ministry of Propaganda and Disinformation.

Which is of course absurd, and can can only help remind Canadians that's what's happening in Greece, and what's happening to our economy, have one big thing in common: the failed policies of austerity.

While the NDP reminds us that most of our economic problems are due to the Con's own incredible incompetence.

New Democrat finance critic Nathan Cullen said the downturn is the product of the Conservative government. "When anything good happens the government claims credit, when anything bad happens it blames some overseas situations. 

"The reality is a lot of the concerns in the Canadian economy have been of the Conservatives' own making. Their fixation on oil and their lack of ability in diversifying the Canadian economy left us very vulnerable to any downturn."

And that we do indeed need Stephen Harper's steady hand on the wheel.

Like a drowning man needs an anvil at a shipwreck...



And the best news? 

As scary as the threat of another recession might be, it couldn't be a bigger blow to Harper and his Con gang. And it couldn't come at a better time, with an election on the horizon.

He spent a billion dollars of OUR money on his porky propaganda to try to brainwash into believing that he was a Great Economist Leader. And it turned out he wasn't.

He'll never recover from that blow.

And it will help us destroy him...

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25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember when Harper and the media ridiculed Thomas Mulcair for warning about the Dutch disease. So who's the smartest economist then?

e.a.f. said...

If Joe doesn't know what the state of the Canadian economy perhaps its time for him to find a new job.

The "R" word isn't being mentioned by the Cons, but on last night's news and business reports, there appears to be a problem in China with their stock markets and their economy. if China catches this cold, Canada is going to have a big bad flu. Harper signed so many trade deals things simply aren't being manufactured in Canada. these trade deals haven't done Canada any good. With the demand for raw materials in decline, of course we are having a problem. Its so bad in B.C. the B. C. Lieberals and Christy Clark are almost giving away LNG to Malaysia.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the delusional plan to turn Canada into an energy super power similar to Russia and Saudi is failing big time. Am happy the wheels fell off before the Cons managed to do irreversible damage but concerned in this era of instant fixes that we may jump at the nearest lifeline and not take the time to to feel our way back from the edge.
RT

Liberta said...

While I agree that austerity is never the solution, we have to examine some of the reasons Greece is in such trouble. With many public servants retiring at extremely young ages with guaranteed pensions, and the apparent unpunished tax evaders, something was bound to crack.
I believe that anyone who works and pays into a pension fund should obviously receive their rightful pension upon retirement. But what is an appropriate age to collect a FULL pension?
Any economy will eventually tank if expenses always exceed revenues. A fair taxation system that stimulates employment and spending will be able to support reasonable social assistance and emergency response.
When unemployment is so high and so many Greeks take early retirement (75% receive pension before the age of 61 - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33382046), the pension funds are unsustainable.
Unfortunately, the Greeks will suffer austerity- it's just that they will have more control over it...

David said...

Video:

Statistics Canada says business spending will decline this year for the first time since 2009, Terry Milewski reports (July 7)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/is-canada-heading-for-a-recession-1.3142486

David said...

Even if the June figures (not yet released) show Canada is technically in a recession, Oliver and Harper will just say Canada it doesn't really matter, the economy will be worse off if the NDP or Libs form government as both will raise taxes.

Anonymous said...

I suggest that you get your facts right before you print such untruths. They are not giving anything away. They are likely expecting to be paid with any body who wants LNG. BTW BC is my home province and the only ones complaining are the NDP. Where the most corrupted party was the NDP
.
Sorry Simon but that is the real truth. BTW I love your stories and your blog. Regards, Irene

b_nichol said...

Oh yeah, it was all snorts and giggles until Industry Canada determined that, in fact, 33 to 39% of the manufacturing sector losses were due to "Dutch Disease". I haven't heard a peep from the cons since then.
Imagine that.

Noah Patterson said...

The simple reality is that the Harper government put our entire economy into one big oily basket, and now the bottom is rotting out of that basket, and our economy failing as a result.

We did not need to make our currency a petro dollar, we could very well have diversified our energy portfolio and taken advantage of the very long-standing opportunity for Canada to become a global leader in clean energy science and development. But Harper turned his back on that (as the previous Liberal and PC governments had done for years), and we're all now paying the price (except Con MPs with their golden pension parachutes and oil execs stashing away their money in off-shore tax havens).

The Cons are going to be doing a lot of hand-waving, pointing overseas and generally trying to distract us from the above simple reality.

Anonymous said...

and of course you're not just another right-wing troll bullshitting for heil harper and commandant clarke

David said...

Excellent summation, Noah!

jrkrideau said...

True.
However, a) the austerity program the Troika is imposing clearly does not work and b) who were the idiots who lent all that money to Greece? Any one who could count to 10 without taking off their shoes should have seen the problem but lots of international banks loaned the money, clearly forgetting things like Argentina. Of course the Argentine mess was a long time ago and most bankers knowledge of history probably ends at who won the Superbowl (US bankers) or the World Cup (non-US bankers) in 2000 or so.

If the international banks had not been greedy, or had done due diligence early on, Greece probably would have started cleaning up its act years ago. Instead they were as stupid as bankers often are or craftily figured out that, as happened, cronies in Brussels would bail them out.

Then the EU bails out the banks and turns into credit collection agency.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 2.17 pm or "Irene": Note that I am not Anon 5.01pm but another Anon. I see Anon 5.01pm had already called her/him out before I had the chance.

I see Irene the Cons troll is back spreading "her/his?"manure. After she accused me of shooting off my mouth about Paul Martin calling the treatment of the First Nations as cultural genocide, I had provided the link where Martin actually said that. And it was a CBC link too but perhaps it was understandable as Cons hate the CBC, so they likely don't read anything there.

No reply from "Irene" or at least an admission that she/he had made a mistake (I would have accepted that as we all make mistakes, eh)? And, just as before, here "she/he" is telling you how much she loves your blogs, but "she/he" has to tell the truth, as always. LMAO.

e.a.f. said...

Ah ha, the NDP the most corrupt party, surely you jest. Now A. 2:17 p.m; Wasn't it Gordon Campbell who got arrested on a DUI. I do recall the RCMP raiding the Leg. buildings while they were working on a drug case and that was morphed into a sell B.C Rail scandal. Like who sells a railroad that was making money to their bagman for a billion? Only a B.C. Lieberal.

The LNG, well you obviously haven't read the fine print on that contract with PETRONAS. Do remember B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty for the last 14 yrs. in Canada and the only province without a poverty reduction strategy. the schools were to be brought up to modern earthquake standards and then last yr we hear Christy saying we don't have the money until 2030. We who live in an earthquake zone. So its o.k. to let all those children be killed. that is more than corrupt. That is sick.

We had the el gordo lie about the GST/HST/PST. we have "queen of the photonopness" who wanted to close a bridge to do yoga and who were the corporate sponsors? We have the mess called Translink, where the 2 CEOS because one can't do the job, earn more than twice what the New York CEO sub way system makes. We have P 3 hospitals. We have care homes where they charge the government some lovely rates, fire the staff, tell them they can come back to work for $12 an hr. when they were making $18. We had 86 people die in Bby General in 2 1/2 yrs due to dirt and germs and the "investigation" was stacked with Lieberal insiders. Report: all is well.

Then we have the B.C. Ferries debackle. Hired el gordo's friend, Hahn for a million a yr while he drove the corp into just this side of bankruptcy. All the boards of directors for government entities are filled by B.C. Lieberal insiders. If you look at how much they donate to the B.C. Lieberals you will notice that is about what they are paid by the provincial government led by of course, the B.C. Lieberals. If you need to know more about the "financial" fun and games in B.C. just read Norm Farrell, Northern Insight. He uses the government's own figures. He has some really good stats on how the natural resources leaving the province have gone up but the amount of money coming in has fallen by billions each yr. So have a nice day in good your B.C. because I don't know the B.C. you live in. I know the one I live in has low wages and high rents and a starter home in the city of Vancouver will cost more than a million, if you get lucky. Where children die in foster care and the government still stands around with their fingers up their nose, not to mention they put a Conservation Officer on suspension because he took two baby bears to a shelter instead of killing them. You see a bullet is 75 cent and the drive to the rehab centre is a few dollars more.
Don't even get me started on Legal Aid because B.C. has this tax on legal services and it all goes into provincial coffers while the government defunds Legal Aid saying they don't have the money. yes and how many million goes up in the air each yr. $20 Million or $50 Million.
Now if you want corruption, there is the small matter of money laundering through the casinos in B.C. when the RCMP started investigating, suddenly the unit was disbanded.

Sorry Simon I went a little off topic, but living in B.C. is not easy for a lot of people and A. 2:17 p.m. hasn't been looking at the government budget too closely

David said...

But the most depressing thing I heard on CBC's Power & Politics today was that the Cons could STILL win the election with only 28 per cent of the popular vote--what they have now, according to the founder of threehundredeight.com

David said...

On the July 8 edition of CBC's The Current, listen to the section: Who is responsible for Greece's debt? The part about debt forgiveness reminds me that in a Jubilee year (mentioned in the Bible), all financial debts that a person had were forgiven by the lender. This way a person could start fresh and be debt free.

Steve said...

The TPP trade deal is a bigger horror than Harper. We cant vote it out. It will destroy the family farm, raise the price of food for Canadians, and make people like Peter Pocklington richer.

Simon said...

hi anon....yes I remember all too clearly. It seemed obvious to me that the Dutch Disease was a problem, and how the Cons got away with claiming it wasn't for so long, is something I'll never understand...

Simon said...

hi b nichol....no you're right the Cons have been as mute as carp. But of course now the damage is done. The lower dollar should be helping our manufacturing industry, but because there's so little of it left it's not having much of an effect. But then in all the years they have been in power the Cons have never even bothered to come up with an industrial strategy so what do we expect?

Simon said...

hi RT...as I mentioned above what this country needs is a new industrial strategy that works the oil industry into a larger plan. We need to be be preparing for the economy of the future or we will be left behind. The writing is on the wall and only the Cons can't or don't want to see it....

Simon said...

hi Liberta....look I don't disagree that Greece has made many mistakes in its past, and definitely needs to make some reforms. But Greece got into trouble after the 2004 Olympics, and dug itself into a hole, with the help of greedy bankers, that it was not able to dig itself out of. What is needed now is to combine sound economic management, with debt relief, and a measure of forgiveness...

Simon said...

hi David...As I mentioned in my post, I don't doubt that the Cons will claim that now that they have wrecked the economy only they can fix it. But since both Mulcair and Trudeau are fairly fiscally conservative themselves, I don't think they will get very far with that argument....

Simon said...

hi Noah...yes I agree with David that does sum up the situation well. The Cons put all our eggs in one basket, big business in this country has never shown any imagination or creativity, we went for easy money, and now we're all paying the price...

e.a.f. said...

Peter Pocklington just avoided going to jail again. How nice for him.
TPP isn't doing so well in the U.S.A.
Jon Stewart had a great segment on that last night, about how the Republicans were for it, some Dems. not so much. TPP is not going to work for the average person in North AMerica. it will work for corporations but that ain't people. Oh, I forgot the U.S.A.'s Supreme Court did say corporations were people. silly me, forgetting something like that. I just always wonder why, if corporations are people they can't go to jail.

cheena1 said...

Well you certainly hit the nail on the head - over and over again, and good for you!! I live in BC too, and find it the same as you - IMO, the BCLibs are cpc's in costume! She (CC) has been taking marching orders from #HeilHarper for ages! My Gawd, it's so obvious in everything they do! This LNG deal sucks, and I hope that enough BC citizens will make enough noise to either shut it down, or change the deal drastically!
How can it be good for this province when CC is guaranteeing no tax hike for 25 years? In the meantime tho, they are going to poison our water with their fracking. So, just out of curiousity, what the hell are we supposed to do when we run out? I mean, between the vast amts fracking uses and Nestle paying that huge price of $2.25 per million litres, how can it never run out?? And then, Nestle's sells it for approx. $2.50 per 1/2 litre!!! Boy, what a swell deal that was eh? This LNG business is about as smart! IMO,. we should start the recall process for ms. photo-op, asap!