eh… have any of your bright lights considered pointing out to Canadians that the Prime Minister is a frickin’ ECONOMIST??? and that as such, he perhaps has a better understanding of the relative risks facing our economy than say, oh, I don’t know… a sociology professor?
Update – part of a release that just landed on my desk;
Economist vs. Sociologist
Prime Minister Harper has a graduate degree in economics; Stephane Dion is a European-trained professor of sociology. Prime Minister Harper has a proven track record of cutting taxes and balancing the budget; Stephane Dion is proposing billions of dollars in carbon taxes and reckless new spending. Stephane Dion still hasn’t paid off his leadership debt, missing two years worth of repayment and reporting deadlines. If he can’t manage his own finances, should he be trusted to manage Canada’s?
The last one should be a campaign ad.
SDA gets results!
Thanks for that, Kate. I just finished reading the newspapers and the same thought came to me. Thought maybe I’d send off a few emails to the editors.
Now if someone could just yell it from the rooftops.
He’s a what?
Don’t they ALL have to be crooked french lawyers by some act passed by Louise Real or something?
As an economist I do support higher consumption taxes vs income taxes as being less harmful to the economy. But lets be clear they harm poor people more.
As to do all the economists agree equate to do they all support the Green Shift? NO. Read the last line in the article.
And read this article that shows even the economist who wrote the Green Shift, Jack Mintz, doesn’t think it will work.
Oh and Lipsey is well remembered by most of us Canadians who studied economics in Canada. He’s also remembered by us for getting his rear end handed to him by libertarian free market nobel prize winning Economist Milton Freidman, and never recovering since.
(I even had Lipsey around when I was studying).
thank you. i’ve been wondering the same damn thing!
thank you. i’ve been wondering the same darn thing!
And my brother who went to Ryerson Polytechnical at the same time Taliban Jack was teaching there sent me this anecdote: “I had Jack Layton as a teacher at Ryerson U. and even in a class dominated by Liberal and leftist types, Jack was never taken seriously. The height of the year was when Jack showed us a Marxist cartoon reel (30 minutes) with a communist rat explaining to us how bad capitalism was and how great Marxism was. We roared with laughter every 15 seconds, and a much-embarrassed Layton gave us all shit at the end of the class for not considering other views; to which we all laughed again. Much hilarity, esp. in the pub later.”
Let me first say I support Steven Harper before someone uses that attack line.
One thing you must realize is that economists can only think in terms of dollars and cents, NPV, rates of return, etc.
They have no ability to include human factors in any of their reasoning. If I got mouths to feed, bills to pay, etc, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Therefore, I’m cashing out immediately. Makes no difference if the market goes up again (it may not) and i have to preserve what i have left.
This is why you have runs on banks, stock markets crashes, etc.
The left opposition parties have been having some success in convincing voters from the dummy community that Harper is responsible for a credit mess in another country. Unfortunately the inaccurate and inflammatory spitballing of Dion/Layton/Duceppe/MSM from the sidelines is now reflecting in the polls.
Kate, your are totally dead on in your contention that the CPC tall foreheads have, for some incomphrensible reason, been underplaying Harper’s strong cards as an economist and decision maker.
Dear Tory War Room: Release the platform and take the gloves off! Your guy has huge creds to deal with just such a situation as this. And if not now, when?
To paraphrase Kate, when this election is over, Harper should go into his war room and fire them all.
As someone who has contributed financially to the CPC, I’m more than annoyed that they’ve wasted my money in the way that they have.
Harper has a degree in economics but he is no economist. In fact, Harper has a very lacklustre resume with very little real world experience. Most of his working life has been spent in political office. He’s never had to make payroll or be an enterpreneur. That is probably why he doesn’t get what is happening to Canadians.
So as far as the platform goes….with the current economic crisis south of the border, what do people think it will consist of (broad strokes, of course)?
JCL
Well, aa… Dion and Layton are university profs who also have a lacklustre resume and absolutely no real-world experience, Elizabeth May who has been little more than an activist for her entire life, and Gilles Duceppe who was not much more than a union organizer. I guess you could say Duceppe has a little real life experience.
All in all, I’ll take the economist, thank you.
“He’s never had to make payroll or be an enterpreneur. That is probably why he doesn’t get what is happening to Canadians.”
Well, that applies to Dion and Layton as well. It also applies to me, and millions of other Canadians.
So your comment really is absurd and illogical. You’ve just stated that he’s exactly like most Canadians, and then come to the conclusion that this means he doesn’t know what is happening to Canadians.
Think it through next time, aa.
Save your breath. As one liberal ex-friend explained to me when I tried to get him to read some economics (esp. of the Austrian variety): “economics is merely the science of exploitation ….” (or words very close to that).
Sadly too, modern economics is not your grandfather’s economics. It has fallen under the sway of faux-science — econometrcis; the delusion that human behaviour can be quantified and predicted by numbers.
There is a good thing going at CTV, ‘Campaign promises so far from 4 major parties’ they show the good economical promises of the Conservatives, which should appeal to the grassroots ‘kitchen table’ kind of people. The ‘buy me’ price tags of the ‘Deep Pocket’ (now that’s your pocket folks) Liberals are in the hundreds of millions with some billions thrown in as good guesses; but it’s billions all the way with the NDPs
Unfortunately, the average retard which makes up the group we refer to as the “swing voter” doesn’t care about facts. They don’t care about talent. They don’t care about results.
What these half-wits want is a warm fuzzy. They want their leaders to stand up with crocodile tears in their eyes and make a believable showing of empathy. That’s why we have so many sociopaths as prime minister. They can fake empathy better than honest people.
The “swing voting” retards don’t want cold, hard facts thrown at them. It just makes them feel like the morons they are – and even morons don’t like to feel like morons.
I don’t think pointing out that Harper is an economist will have any positive effect. If you care that your leader is an economist and not a sociology professor, you are already a conservative supporter and are not going to change.
Kate:
Agreed, but it’s irrelevant. Most Canadians know almost nothing about economics, but are simultaneously convinced that there isn’t an economist alive that knows more than they do. This explains why people like Suzuki can get away with utterances like “Stop listening to the godd*mned economists!” and the only feedback they get is smirks of approval from an adoring audience.
Disclaimer: I have a degree in Econ and another in Finance. I stopped interacting with people who wanted to talk to me about either of these areas a decade or so ago. There was no point.
Garth
I am just wondering where all the coin from the war chest is going, because it sure ain’t ads!!
Now, taking for granted that I do not watch CBC, CTV or Global I may be missing them, but on History, Space and Discovery there is a NDP ad EVERY commericial segment during prime time. I notice them as I fast forward through (h/t to the inventor of the PVR).
Not that the ads are very well thought out. Kind of pointless for Jacko to be attacking Harper. The CPC is not taking votes away from him. The libs and tree huggers are.
I sent 3 emails to the CPAC Goldhawk show stating that harper was an economist…none got read. Guess Harper supporter emails are on his throw away list.
He prefers to read the red-necked neocon Harper bashing views on air.
AtlanticJim:
Yeah, I’ve noticed the NDP ads too. Discovery Channel’s being absolutely saturated with them — I guess it’s all the AGW crowd that watches the channel and which the NDP war room thinks are a naturally receptive audience for the NDPs.
As my 14-year-old niece would say, whatever.
read what Preston Manning wrote in mondays G&M
Economist VS Academics
He tags each leader extremely well & points out at the end of his article who do you want leading your country into an economic downturn.
“He’s never had to make payroll or be an enterpreneur. That is probably why he doesn’t get what is happening to Canadians.”
This is such Bullcrap, I had a beer with dearest Steve in Winnipeg years ago, he seemed very down to earth. He was in charge of the national citizens coalition for years they do have a payroll to make.
Does Dion who doesn’t even know how to eat a hotdog know what Canadians ie “we the people” are like. Who uses a knife and fork to eat a hotdog Dion thats who. Can you see him having a beer? Out of a bottle? Like real Canadians would.
bryanr without a link probably not. Can you tell us how it ends?
It isn’t the best time to admit you’re an economist.
I’ve been “making payrolls” for quite a few years, a couple of times by not exactly “legal” means. It gives a person a much different outlook on the economy. That’s why I supported Belinda Stronach during the leadership race. She had some great ideas for small business, and tax in general.
Can you imagine the disaster if Stronach had won the leadership? I ask myself often how I could have been so blind. You just can’t use one issue to define a leader. It’s a job that requires leadership skills, not specific job skills.
DP,
Even Belinda’s dad couldn’t bail the whole economy out.
What’s your point? That a silver-spoon underacheiver who has a very similar pre-government CV to GWBush would have done better? Come off it. Having Daddy put you in charge of the family business (while letting the VP’s actually run the place) doesn’t make you more qualified to run a soup kitchen.
Unfortunately, the ‘chicken littles’ who don’t have a clue about how our system works and the very ones who would ensure we hit rock bottom are always out fanning the flames to make a few points. …And the one guy who understands we have (along with Australia) the most stable ‘Central Banking’ system in the West, get’s blind sided by the paranoia. Maybe by election day people will understand that ABC equals the FOUR CLOWNS with Duceppe (massive corporate welfare), Layton (punitive corporate taxes), Dion (Carbon (NEP) Tax), and May (Massive Carbon (NEP) Tax) ready to sink us with their ignorance.
Unfortunately, unless you are a conspiracy theorist who happened across the silly film Zeitgiest and believe 9/11 was an inside job, most people haven’t got a clue how our banking system works. I recommend the Bank of Canada site to study their history and then you can go to http://www.mises.org and google ‘gold bugs’ to get some stinging analysis. Basically the central bank prints ‘fiat (out of thin air) currency’ laundered by the banks who then print additional money by ‘fractional reserve banking’. In the US we had unregulated ‘investment banks’ leveraging out with goofy structured debt to ridiculous levels and their banks weren’t only somewhat constrained by regulation. … And you had false price signals in Real Estate with ‘deductable interest’ and a pseudo-government agency underwriting (owning) mortgages in a loose manner due to pressure from politicians (as seen on youtube and posted here) since at least the Clinton years. None of that sillyness occured here. Our mortgages are insured by a government agency and our banks have a conservative culture and are regulated more closely.
I guess that Harper and the CPC are now reaping the rewards of turning their backs on their supporters (the west) and sucking up to Quebec.
I am conservative and was a reform supporter. Harper managed to alienate me his first day on the job.
He put the future of the CPC and Canada in the hands of Quebec and look what it got him.
As I said in an e-mail to the Weasle Martin when he lost. ” BYE_BYE ASS HOLE”
“enterpreneur”
Not sure what that is, aa. Is it a person who invents new ways to enter a room?
Tony W
So you’re a Dion supporter then? Reform didn’t get to impliment its agenda cause it didn’t get elected. You have to win to pass your laws.
To win, you MUST compromise. You can’t FORCE your agenda down on the public. You have to run policies which are popular enough for you to win with. That is why Harper has done what he has done.
If you think a fire-and-brimstone conservative would be PM you’re delusional. Even Alberta is run by the centre-right – not the far right.
The stupidity and infantilism of Canadian voters has always been extraordinary. But now, with the world economic ship sinking, most Canadians apparently think the best policy is to pump water into the bilge. It truly beggars the imagination.
postscript:
I just caught the tale end of a piece on CTV’s news channel of Layton with the ‘Deer in the Headlights’ look unable to answer hard economic questions related to his ridiculous platform.
Did anyone catch this clip? I think it was after a function in Vancouver.
warwick- read the whole thing. I admitted I was wrong in thinking stronach was a good choice. The point is that Harper’s background as an economist is not a good selling point, especially now.
It’s been proven time and time again that technocrats should not govern. They’re too close to the issues. Leaders need an overview, and the ability to listen to opposing views. An economist could face some very tough questions right now, and would have no way to deflect them without looking guilty.
Sorry dp, took that the wrong way. I’ll learn to pay more attention (especially as I’ve been known to slag the reading comprehension of others…)
Mea culpa, mea culpa!
Several commenters have already zoomed in on the dismal campaign being offered by the Conservative party.
I’d follow up and suggest that the campaign itself is chasing voters away in that it’s so limp and uninformative. The last weeks worth of drivel has had even ME questioning what we’re letting ourselves in for; damn good thing I hate the Liberals…
Harper is coming across as someone who really doesn’t have his heart in it; sleepwalking, in fact. Where are all the Cabinet ministers?
In campaigns past, they’d have been out on the campaign trail boosting local candidates, promoting the party platform (we have one?!), engaging the electorate. My compost pile has more appeal than this campaign.
I would agree that other than running aggressive (and in my opinion fairly cheesy) ads criticizing Dion, whoever has handled the campaign so far has done a dismal job.
The message of calm competence, of sound planning, of an intelligent PM who is aware of all issues and making reasoned decisions, is not getting through.
My only question is why? If Stephen Harper is as smart as we all believe he is, does not not see that his message is not getting through? Is he not smart enough to hire the right people?
I believe this is a symptom of the same idiocy that led to the disastrous Conservative Party web site. It’s like a bunch of amateurs are running the show.
Why not buy tons of TV time (with all the money the CPC apparently has has) for a 1 minute commercial to combard the airwaves with Harper talking about the current crisis, his vision, his experience, and the ludicrous notion that Elizabeth May can quote OECD reports to him that criticize his handling of the Canadian economy.
DaninVan you are right.
Example: during the debates Harper spent most of the time staring and answering to the table, and I was amazed that none of his so-called advisers told him to look at the camera after the French debate.
He went and did the same thing in the English debate.
Such an incredibly obvious thing yet no-one on his team spotted it.
I have always maintained that Harper’s biggest weakness is his lack of good advisers and good handlers.
It is possible that the CPC’s internal polls are getting different results? After all, for the last couple of elections, the mainstream polls have been quite inaccurate.
Regardless, I hope that the CPC will attempt to more forcefully push their message in this final week. Maybe a blitz of advertisement combined with a strong statement regarding the current economic problems.
The Tories should revive the pre-election ads where Iggy tells Dion “We didn’t get it done.”
and Dion says “Dis is not fair.”
It’s time to take off the gloves.
Exactly, Kate. The CPC should have an ad that basically says: The Economist, The Socialist, The Political Scientist… which one do you want to govern the economy? Vote Stephen Harper.
I also saw this interview last night and I couldn’t believe that finally someone did in depth research about the association of Ayers and Obama and concluded that there is a lot more to the story that Obama is claiming. What was incredible is just ten minutes before on the same channel, the ‘truth squad’ looked into the ‘terrorist’ claim and declared that there was nothing to the story. If Obama wins the election, there are going to millions of people who are going to be disappointed to find out that Obama doesn’t walk on water or perform any other miracles. I see a lot of trouble happening there because of his inexperience and shady past. I can’t believe that people can be so blind. That’s scary.
The Conservative economic platform sounds really promising. It’s based on tax sheltered savings as an investment base. What a concept.
And the liberals countered by promising jobs and investment NOW. yap, yap, yap.
I think Harper is going after the center votes. How many of us out their that are thinking that in this downturn economy that it is wise to wait it out. We see the panicky attack “the sky is falling” syndrome. They already know they have been had on the GHG bs. The cost of living has rose dramatically in the last 2 years.
They do not want higher tax’s, they do not agree with what the US has done. 850 billion dollars added to their national debt. This is what the last bailout, what about before.
Harper has run the minority government, has payed on debt, has run surplus, has cut tax’s. Harper is going to cut excess programs.
Harper is going to reach these people by voting day.
Merle- If it has time to sink in.
Warwick
You should read and comprehend before responding. I assume from your response that you think religion plays a part in my comment, I don’t believe in religion.
I believe that Canada died on 28 June 2004 when they elected a known thief.
Harper had a chance to resurect Canada from the ashes, all he had to do was keep his word.
Canada RIP
didn’t say anything about religion.
i merely ascert that expecting a perfect government only helps the liberals.
From down here in PA it is evident that the Republicans, excepting Sarah Palin, are bone-stupid and lazy. Not surprised to hear the same about the Conservatives. Stephen Harper is the only competent person they have.
We can rail and rant all we wish, nobody’s listening. The MSM have control of this election and it’s all about how the Liberals can get to power. To accomplish that they will play gotcha games with the balls tossed to them by assholes like Bobsy Rae. He’s running in a riding where they vote brain free Liberal, he has time to dig the depths for dirt. They love him. They love to also trot out Buffoon Williams as they did yesterday to tell Canadians to vote for anyone but a Conservative. If that’s not meddling in our democratic process, I don’t know what is.
Harper will be lucky to get a minority because of all the lies being spread by all the Opposition which the MSM proliferate with sneers.
If that happens we know for sure the people are as Lizzy May said, stupid.
If Harper doesn’t make it, Canada is in for one hell of a ride. Can anyone seriously imagine McCallum being finance minister? Or Rae who bankrupted Ontario? Or Ujal Dosange who buggered up BC as NDP Premier?
DaninVan hit it on the head. This has been a lifeless, uninspiring CPC campaign, and their poll numbers keep slowly drifting downward as a result. It doesn’t help when they do mind-bogglingly stupid things like (a) announce the arts cuts so close to the election and (b) turn around and reverse them with a week to go!
I’ll echo the sentiment that if I didn’t hate the Liberals, I’d be damned to figure why I should bother voting Conservative based on this sorry excuse of a campaign. Their entire strategy seemed to be “Dion’s a wimp and the Green Shift sucks.” The Liberals adapted by getting the likes of Rae out there and shutting up about the Shift. The CPC has looked flat-footed ever since.
The war room needs a major cleanout after this debacle.
Having looked at the polls today, I’d have to say that a Dion government with Jack Layton holding the balance of power is a real possibility. Momentum is in Dion’s favour now, and there’s only a week to go.
For the most part, Harper’s team screwed this one up royally. Harper spent most of the campaign denying that he’s a conservative and agreeing with every major point of principle that his enemies put forward.
The MSM did their part to throw so much mud that no one could tell where the PM was anymore.
Ian; I’d go farther and suggest the same for the PMO. That’s gotta be where the dead wood is(?)…
Why is the taxpayer being asked to pay, house, and feed 317 people whose input is obviously not valued enough to allow them free rein in talking to their constituents, and the Public at large?
Why do we even bother with this electoral charade?
We could save MILLIONS by just cutting out the middlemen/women and turning the governance of the country over to the folks who manufacture opinion./sarc off
The CPC announced the platform today and the NDP receive the airtime on CBC at noon. The CBC minions have entered the beyond stupid territory. Also, Bush goes on the exposed CFR MSM minions to calm the market over the green shaft sections of the bailout-spending bill. All those credits will have to come from the USA economy (i.e. taxpayer), I presume Sherlock.