Close, but no cigar
My message to the ‘conservative’ Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government: close, but no cigar. Your ‘conservative’ budget doesn’t cut the mustard.
It’s easy to criticize Obama — a known socialist over his ridiculous, irresponsible policies. When you’re criticizing a man like Prime Minister Harper who was elected to govern as a conservative it’s tough. Has the Right completely lost hope in responsible budgets? This budget was presented as a manifesto of fiscal conservatism, but leaves me as confused as an Amish electrician.
Now, I know what you’re thinking — if this was a fiscally conservative budget there would be cuts to spending. You’re absolutely correct, the government has cut a whopping $17.6 billion from the budget! Oh yeah, that’s over five years though. The government has succeeded in cutting $3.5 billion per year in spending, from a $280.5 billion budget. Despite this, they are still running a $56 billion deficit in the first year, and $165 billion over the next five years.
Just for fun, let’s apply the government’s fiscal formula to your household:
Assume you are $90,000 in debt with annual expenses of $50,000, if the government were managing your finances, they would have trimmed a whopping $620 per year from your expenditures. However, despite that $62o reduction, they would be adding approximately $10,000 to your debt. Furthermore, they would plan for you to run a deficit for the next 5 years, adding to your debt load, and thus increasing the amount you’re paying in interest, each year.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise in a country where healthcare is paid for by the government and where the military is still using World War II sleeping bags in combat, but people labeling this sorry excuse for a budget as being “conservative” would be similar to labeling Che Guevera as a peace-maker…not even close! Every time a child is born in Canada, they have a $15,000 debt that they’ve inherited from the government, with no politicians stepping up to the plate to pay any of it off. I say it again — time for a Canadian tea party!
Tags: Budget, Canada, Conservatism, Stephen Harper, Tea Party
March 9th, 2010 at 1:04 am
I’ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:24 am
not gonna lie…this makes me proud to be american…though obama isn’t that much better
March 9th, 2010 at 1:25 am
@shibby: Agreed
@Jamie: Thanks a lot, that’s always nice to hear amidst the obnoxious hatemail from the left I tend to receive!
March 9th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Andrew, I’ve learned a lot during my short time involved in politics, and criticizing good people isn’t the best thing you can do. This is a TWO year stimulus plan, not 1. So the REAL Budget is NEXT YEAR. I think you’re being a little too hard on our Conservative government and I think you should rethink your position.
All the best,
Maz
March 9th, 2010 at 9:36 am
You give Andrew too much credit, he cant rethink a position he doesnt think about. He just picks the most right wing idea and says its right. Andrew is just a Rush Limbaugh wannabe who thinks being further right is a contest and somehow your manliness increases the further out you go. Anyways, according to his math in this diatribe, any family with a mortage cant afford to buy a car so i dont give much weight to anything that comes out of his mouth. But I’m sure they could afford to donate to Andrews tea party of nutters.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Y2Bray, I agree that criticizing good people should be avoided. However, even the best of people do stupid things at times. Unfortunately, I feel that if people who voted for him (as I did) don’t speak up, then this will only continue. I don’t want to see PM Harper thrown under the bus, but some changes do need to be made. You say that the “REAL Budget” is going to be next year’s but there will still be a $40 billion deficit.
@Darren: This is the attitude that got John McCain nominated. It’s nothing to do with going as far to the right as possible. It’s simply that conservatism is the prism through which all issues should be approached. Conservatism, when put to the test, will ALWAYS win. Why should I be ashamed of being a conservative? As far as your car analogy, if a family wants to do that then that’s encouraged. However, keep in mind that people should NOT be buying things that they know they can’t afford. Also, if you are going to make a big-ticket purchase such as a car, you should at least be able to have the additional money to put towards it in years following. Please tell me where the logic is in continuing to add to debt with no attempts to pay it off?
March 9th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
The comparison between household spending and government spending is, to put it mildly, wrong-headed–as any economist could tell you. It’s just not the same thing.
Charles Johnson had it right about your particular brand of conservatism, Andrew:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/35243_Why_I_Parted_Ways_With_The_Right
This insanity will eventually run its course, and conservatism–as a viable, important and intellectually rigorous political philosophy–will return. The current mish-mash of Christian fundamentalism, impoverished Randian nonsense, conspiracy theories, rank misogyny, vile bigotry and anti-science ignorance can’t be sustained (young voters in particular are fleeing e.g. the GOP). Inasmuch as you cheerlead everything that is destroying conservatism from the inside you will find yourself, in a few years time, dissapointed and disillusioned.
Having a real (and realistic) conservatism as counter-point is important. Goldwater is a good touchstone, politically. Robert Nozick, on the political philosophy side. It’s practically impossible to be a libertarian or conservative, as I am, in your company. With friends like these, who needs enemies on the left?
People like you are destroying the right.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
To Charles Johnson and the rest of you pseudo-conservatives who would destroy the movement (See: 2008, John McCain campaign) “those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.”
-Ronald Reagan CPAC 1975
March 9th, 2010 at 8:51 pm
[...] Strictly Right » Blog Archive » Close, but no cigar [...]
March 10th, 2010 at 10:44 am
thats just sad truthfully
March 10th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Andrew, The plan to decrease 17.6bn is a start. It’s about the principal that the government should spend less money and therefore need to tax less. You seem to think that cutting spending is the only way to reduce our debt. Increasing the economic output of Canada is the best way to reduce the Canadian government debt.
Our saving grace will be natural resources. When the world economy gets back to full speed you’re going to see a barrel of oil increasing back towards the prices we saw before the recession, and then it might go up further (unless a cheaper source is found). What this means for Canada is that more business is encouraged in the oil sands as well as in Newfoundland. More business, even at the same tax rate or less, will get this country out of debt. (the idea of taxation on these industries is another topic, but in the current system this is what is going to happen)
I am not saying that fiscal conservatism is unimportant; but if Harper radically cut spending in amounts much greater than what he did, he is risking losing a minority government. It is more important that he works towards a majority government and continues to deregulate the economy one step at a time.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
lol you guys are hilarious. You allege that you and only you are good conservatives and trash pretty much anyone else. There is a lesson for you to learn in this, when you seem nuts compared to everyone else, you probably are. One more point, it used to be a stedfast principal of the Reform movement in this country and in fact in the US too that “thou shall not attack a fellow conservative”. I guess thats a principal you dont really cling too so highly
March 26th, 2010 at 12:44 am
Why is it that all you guys seem to know how to do is call each other names? Making demeaning statements about each other does not count as debate. I have yet to read anything in this blog that resembles an idea. I’m considering my positions and have yet to read anything that would be appealing from the right.