What’s notable about this news item is the way in which the story is presented as if this is a new phenomenon, or that a more sensible outcome might have been expected. It’s not just a matter of articulating the correct “goals”. Without price signals and the ability of investors to assess financial risk, “infrastructure” programs funded by the state will inevitably degrade into a fog of financial chaos. You’re just doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.
“The Liberal government’s $188-billion infrastructure spending plans continue to lag behind schedule, with government departments failing to provide adequate public reporting on the sprawling program, a new report says.
Auditor General Karen Hogan on Thursday released one of the most thorough reports to date on the progress of the Investing in Canada Plan, which found that “funds were not being spent as quickly as planned,” and that “objectives might not be met” after the full 12-year life of the program.”
Ironically, the one upside for taxpayers is precisely that the funds are not being spent as quickly as planned, and we may be better off if we actually don’t meet any of the objectives.
Remember – this happens in the same country where people scream on the phone about their cable packages but don’t care how much their government wastes.
Galloping gimmees galore. The activists never ask for equal opportunity, but equal outcome, iow entitled without earning.
How about spending some of that $188 B on border security, closing down illegal dead end roads to migrant invasions, how about securing vaccines for those that want them now not 4 months from now, how about addressing criminal illegal guns crossing the border instead of harassing legal law abiding gun owners, how about not handing out cash to We Work projects.
Blackface’s priorities don’t seem to reflect the values of those that pay but rather those that receive. Printing more dollars to be pissed away on infrastructure projects might get some work for some but with the way the Turd crowd rolls (WeeWee projects) not a lot of benefit to Canadians that need a hand up.
bverwey
Obama spent $1.3T on “infrastructure”. The vast majority of the funds went to State and Local governments to retain Staff who were doing NOTHING since most all commerce had come to a screeching halt in 2009. Did your employer keep paying YOUR salary for doing NOTHING? Too bad you didn’t have the taxpayers picking up your salary.
What do people expect when they vote for a complete moron who surrounds himself with equally moronic scum bags .
Spending money on infrastructure and not getting results?
Just check how many Liberals have new houses.
Here is something to think about. Canada has spent (pissed away) hundreds of billions of dollars during the Wuhan virus pandemic. They say it is to “save lives”. Perhaps…..but let’s look at this from a slightly different viewpoint. It is reported that “hundreds of millions” of dollars are spent on cancer research in Canada (the exact number is almost impossible to find, but it is in the LOW hundreds of millions).
Now imagine how many lives could have been saved among cancer patients if that 200 or 300 billion dollars (or more) that has been thrown into the wind in one year by Trudeau was put to cancer research. I mean, isn’t it about “saving lives”? If so, the actions by the Trudeau “government” has been an abject failure and probably among the very WORST economic decisions of all time.
And on another note think how much more cancer research could have gone on if we weren’t funding the CBC.
Re: “funds were not being spent as quickly as planned,” and that “objectives might not be met” after the full 12-year life of the program.”
Forget for a moment whether the objectives are worthy and look at the time table. 12 freaking years!! I recall the Hoover Dam was planned, designed and built in about 5 years. I recall Bill Maher’s video entitled “we are a stupid people” which applies to Canada as well.
The Pentagon, which I believe is still the world’s largest office building, was built in 18 months.
Let’s see, in this situation you’ve got nearly 3 dozen government departments and agencies involved, which means bureaucracy out the wazoo, likely combined with intra-agency and intra-department squabbling about which projects get priority, especially with respect to keeping various politicians happy and maybe helping get some of them re-elected. Probably inter-department and inter-agency bickering too. Provinces, territories, and municipalities are also probably lobbying for some of that nice federal cash, not to mention special interest groups, NGOs, non-profits, etc. Then there’s the graft, and making sure all the right people get their share (SNC-Lavelin, anyone?). And keeping the unions happy too.
What would be interesting to know, although it likely will never be known, is now much of this “infrastructure” spending is actually being spent on administrative costs, ie. over a decade of paper-pushing. When all is said and done, I bet it will be in the billions.
Meanwhile, companies with private funds can’t build a pipeline anywhere.
C, Re administrative costs. You make it sound like most “charities”, where 95% of donations are used for “administrative purposes” and 5% gets to the charity’s victims, er, recipients. It’s not about making things better for the recipients, it’s about creating an income model for the charity organizers. Not all of them, and there are compassionate charities out there, but the majority give the good ones a bad rep as well. Again, the infrastructure projects are more about creating continuing government bureaucracy grind to keep the faceless bureaucrats occupied and getting their paychecks. As was said on another thread, if they fixed all the problems they wouldn’t be needed, and government needs to be needed for it’s own sake. In a nutshell, it’s not about us, or the country, or our betterment or welfare, it’s about them, we, don’t actually matter. Just like the charities, we are the means of getting what they need, not the recipients of their largess!
I’m sure Bayliss medical got paid for the ventilators it overcharge for…. what more could you ask for?
Zimbabwe Mon.
Why this govenment’s sudden inability to dispose of money?
Isn’t this the same department that, out of 50,000 projects, could only account for 30,000 of them?
Very strange indeed. It’s climate Barby’s bailliwick too, isn’t it?
“Ironically, the one upside for taxpayers is precisely that the funds are not being spent as quickly as planned”
You do realize that spent or not spent, the money is borrowed at interest and the debt servicing has to be paid either way.
And always remember, kiddies, that the unspent money is sitting there waiting to get spent as vote bribery just before an election.
Yeah Oz, and our vets were asking for more than we can afford to give.
Those who work hard for their money tend to vote Conservative, those given free money tend to vote Liberal.
Hold the infrastructure and send the CERB cheques!
This:
https://mises.org/wire/if-deficits-dont-matter-why-bother-taxes
“Moreover, redistribution isn’t simply innocently shuffling the chips; it is wholesale destruction. A paper coauthored by Christina Romer, former chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, found that each dollar in government spending leads to between $2 and $3 in lost economic activity. A separate study by Harvard economist Martin Feldstein came to similar deadweight estimates that “may exceed $2 per $1 of revenue.” In other words, in order to move a dollar, you have to destroy at least two to three dollars.”
And this:
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2021/03/economic-effects-of-pandemics/
“The conclusion could not be more obvious. Central banks have truly gone down a blind alley. If they make a forward escape and even further advance their policy of monetary expansion and monetization of an ever-increasing public deficit, they run the risk of provoking a grave crisis of public debt and inflation. But if, in fear of moving from a scenario of “Japanization” prior to the pandemic to one of near “Venezuelization” after it, they halt their ultra-lax monetary policy, then the overvaluation of public-debt markets will immediately become clear, and a serious financial crisis and economic recession will follow and will be as painful as it is healthy in the medium and long term.”