Friday, April 15, 2016

Rona Ambrose Makes a Fool of Herself. Again.



If she wasn't such a heartless Con one might almost feel sorry for Rona Ambrose, because it's all going so horribly wrong.

She doesn't know what she's doing, the Harper PMO is jerking her all over the place. 

Despite her best efforts to destroy Justin Trudeau he just keeps getting more popular.

While she hangs limply from her puppet strings.

And to make matters even worse, she's just made an absolute fool of herself. Again.



Because yes, believe it or not. Now she's claiming that Stephen Harper's son Ben, knows more about economics than Trudeau.



For having written this anti-deficit tract, or sophomoric essay.

Ever since the financial crisis of 2008, the advocacy of deficit stimulus has become increasingly fashionable. Big Banks, international organizations and governments seem to be joining in recurring calls for fiscal action. In Canada, the slowing growth of the past year is behind the new federal government’s plan to “kickstart” the economy with billions of government “investment.” 

But like a defibrillator applied to a patient who hasn’t experienced a heart attack, fiscal stimulus used improperly has negative consequences. The resurgence in Keynesian economic thinking is leading the Canadian and world economies down dangerous paths well mapped out during previous misadventures.

Which is so tedious and unoriginal, I felt I needed a defibrillator applied to my head after I finished reading it, to avoid going into a coma. 

And might as well have been dictated by his father...



The Great Economist Leader who ran seven eight deficits in a row, and led this country to the verge of financial disaster.

But then what else can we expect from the hapless Droner?

When she herself has been screaming that spending money to stimulate the economy is bad, and deficits can BURY us....



Only to have the governor of the Bank of Canada make her look like a absolute idiot.

More good news for Justin Trudeau. The Bank of Canada has effectively given its seal of approval to the Liberal government’s big-deficit policy. 

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, central bank chief Stephen Poloz said the government’s decision to run $29-billion deficits this year and next will more than offset the negative effects of a slowing world economy, a rising Canadian dollar and low oil prices.

The net effect, he said, is that he now expects Canada’s economy to do better this year than the Bank had predicted in January.


Give young Ben a lesson in the complexities of Keynesian economics.

Citing the late British economist John Maynard Keynes, Poloz said the decision to run deficits means Canadians don’t have to rely on the central bank alone to keep the economy above water. In his words, the “mix of policies” has become more favourable.

Make it clear that like his father, he is no real economist.

And make the rest of us wonder whether they may have to lock up Ben's Twitter account again. 



The formerly public profile for @Ben_S_Harper, Harper’s 16-year-old son, shows him posing in a school hallway with a girl, wearing what looks like onesie pajamas decorated with hot dogs. 

The only description in his profile is “Ottawa.” After the Prime Minister’s Office was contacted for comment, the profile was locked. An official speaking on background said the office did not know about it.


So he doesn't embarrass himself, by posing in his hot dog pyjamas.

Or get his economic information from Jason Kenney and Joe Oliver.



Who as we know are no real economists either...



But then Ben is young, and if he studies hard he may yet become some sort of economist, and get hired by the Fraser Institute.

And the real question is what are we going to do with Rona Ambrose?

And who will spare her from further embarrassment?



And yes, we really did dodge a bullet.

And so did the economy...

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22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you do young Ben a disservice calling that thing sophomoric - clearly it is freshman grade.

jrkrideau said...

Come now, what do you expect from Ben Harper? I am not being disparaging but I think that he is I think he's probably 3rd or 4th year and the essay was obviously chopped by the Citizen. At least I hope even Commerce students are expected to write more than 1 page essays. I just hope the original essay was a bit better.

I wonder if the Queen's Economic or Commerce faculty are all freshwater economists. That parum opus of Ben Harper's makes it look that way. As a hint, Alan Greenspan (sp?) who presided over the last meltdown of the world economy was freshwater.

Ambrose has outdone herself here. Kudos to her and whoever planted that essay in the Citizen.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Harper is deluded enough to think that there could be a Harper legacy in Canadian politics. Young Harper would be better off staying out of his fathers's mess, judging from comments in media on his essay, Canadians have no interest in his opinion. Ottawa Citizen was reckless in publishing this essay written by a third or fourth year uni.

TS

Anonymous said...

If his pose in that dumb looking shirt is his attempt to look like a white gang-banger with the hand thing, he is even more pathetic than his idiot dad with the "top selling" hockey book and the "finesse" in economics.
What, with heil harper's grandfather being so mentally capable, it must run in the gene pool or sumpin'...
Nice to see the nuts don't fall far from the tree after all.

Unknown said...

Bets Harper jr. did not think of writing this op-ed on his own. The son of one ex PM criticizing the economics of the son of another ex PM. That was supposed to be the point I guess. Give me a break! The reform/alliance/Cons are pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Only 16 and he's already looking like his douchebag father. And that shirt, is that the family seal emblazoned on it.
Is it me or is the girl with Harpo junior look creepily like Lisa Raitt say 80 years ago?
It is so refreshing that with Harpo senior hiding out with his tail between his legs, we now have Harpo junior to kick around. Pinch me I must be dreaming.
JD

Anonymous said...

This horrid essay swerves all over the economic map and is totally unintelligible.

I think Rona was a third, anonymous author of this terrible attempt at macroeconomic analysis. It certainly has gleanings of her intellectual torpor.

Will Post Media now be beating the bushes to find the progeny of other failed Conservative politicians, so they too can provide samples of their turgid prose for publication?

Ben's (or Steve's?) scribbling is a very good example of when you do not understand a complex issue, you should keep both your mouth and pen still.

Cranky Hank said...

As a retired prof, I can attest to the wide range in quality of student essays and projects. A few were of the highest quality and would be given serious consideration in the workplace; many were of poor quality due to inadequate research, weak argumentation, or failure to identify and address the issue. Sadly, too many fell into the category of the Harper and sidekick effort - the result of the proverbial overnighter to produce the required number of pages or words just in time to meet the submission deadline. The effort which has the Cons clucking with glee suffers from oversimplification or generalization of Keynesianism, failure to understand even the rudiments of the theory, fabrication of historical facts and bald assertion that Keynesianism was the predominant economic theory for the majority of the last century when this was clearly not the case. Granted, Keyne's General Theory is a very difficult read, but that is no excuse to make shit up about what it is or is not.

jrkrideau said...

So Hank,
You mean it's not an A standard essay? :) It does look like the results of an all-nighter.

e.a.f. said...

Guess some one thought if the father had been P.M. and the son followed in one party perhaps the other party might be good to go. they might want to check what the other Conservative P.M.'s son is doing. P.M. material, not so much.

running the deficit was/is the right thing to do. The Canadian dollar has slowly been rising. the budget, which runs a deficit, will help Canadians through tough times. its better than what the NFLD government just did, added $3K worth of taxes to most working people's bills and then slashed budgets and services. We will see how that plays out. Alberta on the other hand, like the federal Liberals decided people came first. there would be no cuts to the important things and no increase in taxes.

Over the long haul, these deficits will be dealt with. Rona just comes out and makes these announcements from some sheet someone gave her to read. Perhaps her next job can be as a "newscaster"

Simon said...

hi anon...well I only called it that because Ben is a sophomore. In my first draft I called it a high school essay, but I changed it because I didn't want to hurt his feelings... ;)

Simon said...

hi jrkrideau...I didn't expect much from Ben, if you look at his Twitter feed he seems mostly interested in basketball. But I am a bit disappointed to see that he is such a hopeless Con. I always tell my progressive friends to try to act like Cons in front of their children so hopefully they will rebel and become good progressives. ;)
But seriously, I really can't believe that the Citizen would print that nonsense, and Rona really did outdo herself....

Simon said...

hi TS...if Harper thinks any part of his legacy is going to survive he is deluded. And although I tried to be as gentle as possible with Ben, he better not try that again or I will be merciless ;) I actually happen to be a great admirer of John Maynard Keynes who was a most interesting man in many ways. He was said to be able to judge people by just looking at the hands, and was very disappointed when he wasn't to negotiate the Versailles agreement and the entire German delegation turned up wearing gloves. But yes, I agree with you, the Citizen exploited Ben for no good reason...

Simon said...

hi anon...well he is young, and it's not his fault that Harper is his father. But as I said above I am a bit disappointed that he is turning into an idiot Con. Let's hope he can grow out of that before he's totally ruined....

Simon said...

hi Pamela...yes I would like to know how that whole arrangement went down. And like you I'm suspicious. Somebody arranged that farce and they did not make Ben look good. He might feel good about it now, but in time I think he will realized that he was just used...

Simon said...

hi JD...yes it's the Son of Harper come back to haunt us. And it is a bit like the Son of Dracula. On the other hand I must confess I rather like that hot dog shirt, and would wear it myself, but NEVER in public... ;)

Simon said...

hi anon...yes it was a horrible essay, and I'm not kidding when I said that I felt exhausted after reading it. It struck me as an undergraduate paper that had been heavily googled, and no doubt edited by Big Daddy. I've read Harpo's master's thesis and it was equally turgid...

Simon said...

hi Cranky Hank...I think you sum up the situation well. It does look like an overnighter, and his assault on Keynes was crude in the extreme. It was just a caricature, and something you might expect to read at the Ayn Rand Club. And the only reason I wasn't harsher on Ben is because he is still a kid, and he still has a lot to learn....

David said...

http://operationmaple.ca/the-stephen-harper-non-answer-generator-part-7

134. "Ben and Rachel's favourite Conservative slogan? Well, (smiling) actually there's two slogans. They each wrote one at Harper Youth camp."

Ben's slogan: "On December 7, 2015 let us glorify the 12th anniversary of national liberation and Conservative Party founding as revolutionary, auspicious event noteworthy in the history of Stephen Harper's Canada!"

Rachel's slogan: "Long live the great victory in the war against ISIS, Russia, and eco-terrorists!"

Simon said...

hi e.a.f... the Cons are still beating the deficit drum, even though they left the Liberals a statutory one, and no serious economist is suggesting that an austerity program would help anyone. Rona should not have encouraged the Citizen's exploitation of such a young and obviously know nothing student...

Anonymous said...

Now the Cons are going to get their knickers in a knot and screach about the nasty progressives' persecution of their kindervolk.

Anonymous said...

JT gets a standing O for explaining the difference between regular computers and quantum computing.

http://gizmodo.com/everyone-should-be-able-to-explain-quantum-computing-li-1771397386

Meanwhile, somewhere between Vegreville and Vegas: All indications are that Harper believes typing is the Devil's work.