h/t
Do you suppose anyone in Ottawa has bothered to check? And by “anyone”, I mean those Keynesian worshiping idiots in every party.
Actually, I’d like to take that part about “Keynesian worshiping idiots” back. Canadian “recovery” spending is more apt to be the product of last week’s polling twitch than last century’s economic theory.
Besides, “ignorant servile scum!” has a much better ring to it.
That translates into ‘why bothering doing business if the government is giving us money anyway’.
An interesting number. What IS it, though? I see no
seasonal fluctuations in the projections, and I
assume that the individual figures are “seasonally
adjusted”, which probably means being compared with
projections based on an ARMA model with cycles.
Is the seasonal adjustment procedure the same as
in the past? After ACORN’s involvement with the US
Census became known, all government statistics
become suspect.
You need to read the comments behind the Innocent bystander’s post to understand how precisely he hit the nerve.
This is a nice little tidbit as well:
“If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.”
Second derivative’s gone sharply negative.
Word Magic and Magical Thinking and faux Numeracy is not confined to O’Hope, Change and Fear.
How to do dat? Ontario McGuinty’s MPP Meilleur did this:
“Answer – change the definition of the word,
“Francophone” to include people who speak French at home, whether their mother tongue is French or not. By manipulating the definition, Madeleine Meilleur can increase their number by 50,000!!”
http://clf.languagefairness.net/archive.php?x=304&listID=1&layoutID=4
Interesting.
Reading Aristotels ‘Politics’, came across the “feeling” part:
…..In all this it is clear that it is both natural and expedient for the body to be ruled by the mind, and for the emotional part of our natures to be ruled by part which possesss reason, our intelligence. the reverse or even parity, would be fatatl all around…..
I would rather agree. Politicians today are the feely type, that is why they are screwing the society so much.
“For what!? You ignorant servile scum! What the f*ck are we doing here!!!!!???”
Now that’s a good film clip and it nails it. I get exasperated with people sometimes and I’ve said things like “Do you realize how great this country could have gotten if it hadn’t been for shoddy immigration practices, affirmative action, government corruption, lousy teachers, the Charter, etc.We would be sitting pretty right now. Money in the bank.” But unfortunately the people I’ve said this to think all those things made the country better.
Two thoughts and one observation:
News item: In the news Canada is being chided by many in the international community as being the laggard WRT climate change initiatives;
Thought 1: Good. We’re not wasting our money on something out of our control.
News Item 2: PMSH says 80% of stimulus funds are ‘committed.’
Thought 2: “I guess it all depends on what your definition of [committed] is”
My point is that I think PMSH is talking a good game about increasing spending and helping the environment but in reality is keeping spending to the absolute minimum. When things eventually turn around, we may find ourselves in a surplus situation sooner than currently projected.
Observation 1: OTOH, the Ottawa canoe club got $1.8M in stimulus money…
Real numbers, facts and realities do not penetrate the inner workings of the federal wealth redistribution machine. It has had its throttle opened and need or ability to pay are irrelevant to a machine programmed to deplete revenues by spending blindly. All that matters is depleting the budget given.
You will get benefits even if you don’t need them and you will pay for it even if you can’t afford to.
Thus is the operative mode of molithic big government.
At least Chretien had some personal back-bone dealing with states re: Iraq. The cons have sold their souls and jumped aboard Obama’s sinking ship. As a life long con, I’m not voting for them anymore. Alberta needs to separate. Unforunately we have to deal with Stelmach first.
this is dark days for true blooded conservatives. Save your ammo.
For those rejoicing, you ALWAYS discount the last data point, ESPECIALLY if your hypothesis reguires it to behave as it apparently does.
So, Vit – you saying that the 2nd derivative is really negative, or just presented that way? Heck, the 1st derivative is negative, within the putative margin of error.
I call BS on the datum.
Ottawa Canoe Club, is that what they are calling our navy these days?
I, Tenebris, am saying exactly what I said. No more,
no less. Indeed, I chose those words very carefully, sir.
At 1923 Texas Canuck said: “Ottawa Canoe Club, is that what they are calling our navy these days?”
LMAO! 🙂
One must wonder, in light of the fact that there’s no economic stimulus happening in America, where all the money is actually ending up. For what hidden agenda is it actually being diverted???
I mean, really, how do we know that they’re doing what they said they would do? Why should we believe the liars will do as the legislation dictates? Like hell they will, as these folks really do believe they’re above the law, above the Constitution. No doubt that Obama isn’t even legally the President, as he wasn’t vetted vis-a-vis the natural-born requirement.
^. Amercians can’t be sure that they’re spending the money as they claim to be. I think it’s instructional to take a lesson from the Brits to see how the political class acts when disconnected from the plebians: expensing everything from moat cleanings to stamps!
Unfortunatley, IMHO, the liberal agenda has dumbed down the curriculum to the point where mnay young Americans, and Canadians as well, couldn’t pass even the basic citizenship exams, as simple as they are, administered to immigrants.
If collectively we can’t fathom a simple test, how are we expected to challenge, probe, and expose politicians who act, in many cases, in their own interests?
The imposed ignorance on the part of the many is what the “progressive” movement is counting on for their success in transforming the world into a communist utopia. Of course, utopia is impossible, and the “progressive” international agenda will only lead to catastrophe.
The “progressive” movement is incredibly patient, utilizing a long-run stragegy which has been in operation for nearly a century now.
The legend in the graph is incorrect. The Obama economic team is responsible for the blue and the maroon data both.
The new mantra starting to appear on the horizon: “too big to sustain”. There are even rumors that the big is too fragile.
Economics 101. Government spending does not create (net) jobs, for two reasons. One, they have no wealth themselves so can only tax away jobs elsewhere, plus they keep 40% for their costs. Second, ideological, political et al distortions always accompany implementation, further blunting benefits.
In fact, governments (net) destroy jobs, by definition. Then we have the political, where the old PC party could not get a grip on power during the Trudeau (minority government) years. Why, because PET knew how to spend great piles of taxpayers’ dollars, plus he convinced voters his economic shell game was actually beneficial.
Now – same game, different millenium. BUT, had Mr Harper not yielded somewhat, Canadians’ economic ignorance might have given Mike, Jack and Gilles enough wiggle room to actually gain power (though I doubt it, political weenies that they are).
For those who pine for true conservative values, be careful what you wish for. As this US example aptly demonstrates, the last thing we need is a greater spending orgy than the present government could even imagine.