[kenmore]

Why not just bankrupt us? The torys had no plan and had their heads up their ass when the recession was coming. Remember stevie makes you wonder saying we had nothing to worry about? lol... well if you think a carbon tax or a rise in the gst is worry some ,,, wait until things start to improve.. if the torys are in power.. hang on to your paycheck if you aren't on welfare by then..

[stokes]

Robair Robair:

Agreed, but according to stokes any unexpected revenue should be returned to the taxpayer, even if the country is still in debt.

That is exactly what I believe, govrnment is supposed to have very smart and capable people working for it, so any surpluses should be minimal and not billions and billions of dollars. Every penny should be accounted for whether it is coming or going. It shouldnt be a big surprise at the end of the year that there is a lot of money left over so if they provide a fiscal update that money should be taken into account or they collecgt less tax.

[Robair]

stokes stokes:

Robair Robair:

Agreed, but according to stokes any unexpected revenue should be returned to the taxpayer, even if the country is still in debt.

That is exactly what I believe, govrnment is supposed to have very smart and capable people working for it, so any surpluses should be minimal and not billions and billions of dollars. Every penny should be accounted for whether it is coming or going. It shouldnt be a big surprise at the end of the year that there is a lot of money left over so if they provide a fiscal update that money should be taken into account or they collecgt less tax.

The country is not on a fixed income.

[stokes]

With all of the people who work in the finance department,it still should not come as a surprise when there is more money than needed. They dont need to budget all of it at once but fiscal updates that account for extra money would be nice.

[Robair]

stokes stokes:

With all of the people who work in the finance department,it still should not come as a surprise when there is more money than needed. They dont need to budget all of it at once but fiscal updates that account for extra money would be nice.

It sure seems to be suprising the hell out of them when there is LESS money than needed!

[stokes]

Again my point is that whole department is fundamentally flawed and cant count anything besides their own pay cheque.

[Robair]

stokes stokes:

They dont need to budget all of it at once but fiscal updates that account for extra money would be nice.

Oh and another thing, if the country is still in debt, there is no "extra money". If you owe 12,000 on your car, and tomorrow you win 10,000 on some scratch ticket, you don't have 10,000 dollars, you have -2,000.

I think I might be a tad more fiscally conservative than yourself. Ralphbucks were justified, Alberta was debt free. But the GST cut during good times was retarded. I don't care what the surplus was, the economy was red red hot and the surplus was a fraction of Canada's debt.

Don't agree with me? Most economists do.

[Lemmy]

Robair Robair:

I think I might be a tad more fiscally conservative than yourself. Ralphbucks were justified, Alberta was debt free. But the GST cut during good times was retarded. I don't care what the surplus was, the economy was red red hot and the surplus was a fraction of Canada's debt.

Don't agree with me? Most economists do.

This economist agrees! When you have a screaming economy and you lower taxes (especially a consumption tax), you do 3 dangerous things:
1. You encourage people to spend, which creates inflation;
2. You discourage people to save, which creates consumer debt and less preparedness for when the bubble bursts;
3. You reduce government revenues which COULD have been used to pay debt or squirrel away for the next recession (which, in this case, hit like a hammer faster than anyone expected).

I've been rattling on about this here for months, but the current Conservative budget WILL cause this recession to hang around a lot longer than it should have and MIGHT make it much worse than it ever would have been.

[Robair]

Lemmy Lemmy:

1. You encourage people to spend, which creates inflation;
2. You discourage people to save, which creates consumer debt and less preparedness for when the bubble bursts;
3. You reduce government revenues which COULD have been used to pay debt or squirrel away for the next recession (which, in this case, hit like a hammer faster than anyone expected).

1 and 2 are excellent points, 3 is what I've been preaching.

You're an economist Lemmy?

[Lemmy]

Robair Robair:

You're an economist Lemmy?

guilty

[DerbyX]

Lemmy Lemmy:

Robair Robair:

I think I might be a tad more fiscally conservative than yourself. Ralphbucks were justified, Alberta was debt free. But the GST cut during good times was retarded. I don't care what the surplus was, the economy was red red hot and the surplus was a fraction of Canada's debt.

Don't agree with me? Most economists do.

This economist agrees! When you have a screaming economy and you lower taxes (especially a consumption tax), you do 3 dangerous things:
1. You encourage people to spend, which creates inflation;
2. You discourage people to save, which creates consumer debt and less preparedness for when the bubble bursts;
3. You reduce government revenues which COULD have been used to pay debt or squirrel away for the next recession (which, in this case, hit like a hammer faster than anyone expected).

I've been rattling on about this here for months, but the current Conservative budget WILL cause this recession to hang around a lot longer than it should have and MIGHT make it much worse than it ever would have been.

[saturn_656]

Robair Robair:

Agreed, but according to stokes any unexpected revenue should be returned to the taxpayer, even if the country is still in debt.

Can't help but want a little break from being taxed out the ass to pay for the debt caused by the irresponsible financial policies of the generation before...

[Robair]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

Robair Robair:

Agreed, but according to stokes any unexpected revenue should be returned to the taxpayer, even if the country is still in debt.

Can't help but want a little break from being taxed out the ass to pay for the debt caused by the irresponsible financial policies of the generation before...

regardless of who racked it up there is a debt to pay.

Like any other job you can stand there and bitch about it, or you could make like a farmboy from SK.

At any rate, the current plunge back into debt is happening now. This generation. Easy to do eh?

[saturn_656]

Robair Robair:

At any rate, the current plunge back into debt is happening now. This generation. Easy to do eh?

Going into a deficit because of a recession is a bit more understandable than racking up the credit line just because you can.

[Proculation]

In 2 to 3 years, we will loose all the effort we made on the debt for 12 years... Thanks Harper !