Canada Balances it's Budget; Why Cant the USA?

[tinydancer]

Much has been made in this thread about our conservative governments and their role in balancing the budget, especially Mulroney and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax.

The GST was introduced when NAFTA can into effect. It replaced the 15% manufacturers tax which Mulroney lifted to allow Canadian manufacturers to compete more effectively with American made goods.

Contrary to Tiny Dancer's assertions, introduction of the GST was disastrous for the Canadian economy and plunged the country into a deep recession. Canadians turfed Mulroney from office and reduced his majority government to just 4 sitting members of Parliament. The Progressive Conservative Party never recovered and what remained of the party amalgamated with the Reform Party under the banner of today's Conservative Party of Canada.

NAFTA has been a mixed blessing. We lost a lot of our manufacturing to the southern US where costs were lower. At one point there were 20,000 auto workers in Oshawa. They worked for the 4 GM plants there and other companies supplying GM. Today there are 2,000 GM workers at one plant in Oshawa.

It should also be noted that the Canadian Conservative Party is much further to the left of the American Democratic Party. While Stephen Harper would like to introduce 2-tier medicine to Canada, Canadians won't allow it. Anyone who has tried has found themselves out of power and very quickly.

Our budget is balanced because Canadians, unlike Americans, are not adverse to paying taxes, providing we're getting value for our money. We don't have a lot of programs cutting breaks to large corporate interests which you have. All of our corporations pay taxes, unlike large American corporations and we have a reasonable minimum wage.

Our medical costs are nearly half of yours because of low administration costs, made possible by our single payer system. Something that you want nothing to do with. We also don't have a means test on many of our social programs having learned that administration costs for means tests are more expensive than universal coverage.

Canada spends its tax dollars on its citizens and its infrastructure, not on a bloated military industrial complex to protect American multinational corporate holdings abroad. We spend money on education for our young people with all post-secondary institutions being state funded and lower cost than US schools giving us a well educated population. This reduces poverty and social assistance.

In short, our government is run for the benefit of people, not corporations.

I'm going to tackle this post a segment at a time.

I gave credit to PM Mulroney for doing the "right thing" with the introduction of the GST at the time.

I also said that it cost the Conservative government their power and wiped them out as a party. They paid a heavy price.

I have given kudos and full credit to Finance Minister Paul Martin for seizing hold of an economy on the brink of total disaster; talking Prime Minister Cretien out of scrapping the GST and turning our economy completely around.

Martin used the tool of the GST in combination with very hard and deep cuts in spending to do so. And he took a lot of hits for not looking at the GST as a money maker but to truly use it to balance the books.

And YAY!

I can give credit to my political opponents without blinking an eye. It doesn't hurt my parts to give Paul Martin and PM Chretien their due.

One more time.

Now to Paul Martin. Credit where credit is due. Between PM Chretien and Finance Minister Martin they kept the super progressive spend every penny we have and more at bay and with Mulroney's GST move turned deficits to surpluses.

You see Paul Martin was a genius of a businessman before he became Finance Minister as compared to Tim Geithner who had never had a job in the real world and was put in a position of power he should never ever have been let near.

And for a liberal, he did the unheard of. Holy toledo !!!!!! He slashed spending like crazy. AND utilized the GST to work towards a balance budget that he was finally able to introduce a balance budget in 1998.

Awesome. Just awesome. But one more time Economics 101 prevailed. He worked diligently to not spend more than the revenue he was raking in. And he made a lot of enemies in his own party for not bending to their "lets spend everything and more" ways.

Kudos to Martin. Big time. I will be forever grateful to this really brave men between Mulroney and his Finance Minister and ditto to Jean Chretien and Paul Martin. Man these guys really took a lot of heat and hits for the good of the country.

 

[Ropey]

He was an amazing finance minister. He knew how to juggle finances masterfully. He was unable to master political waters in the same matter.

I don't think he was a Liberal or a Conservative. I think he was a realist which did well in the Financial aspect but most certainly didn't in the political spectrum.

Juggling there is called waffling.

 

[Mojo2]

https://news.yahoo.com/canadian-gov...DMTBsMm1uODllBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM4BHNlYwNzcg--

Canada's Conservative government looks set to comfortably balance its books in 2015 or even sooner, its latest budget showed on Tuesday, with cuts in spending on the public service more than offsetting a series of modest new expenditures.

The low-key spending plan leaves Prime Minister Stephen Harper well-positioned to offer tax breaks and other initiatives in the runup to an election scheduled for October next year.

"Some people will say this budget is boring," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters ahead of the budget speech. "Boring is good."

The budget shows a deficit of C$2.9 billion ($2.63 billion)in the 2014-15 fiscal year, up from the previous estimate of C$5.5 billion. That balance includes a C$3 billion contingency fund, which in fact reveals an underlying surplus that year.

Flaherty acknowledged the budget would be narrowly balanced this coming year without the contingency fund, but said he preferred to have a "nice clean surplus next year".

The government estimates a bigger-than-expected C$6.4 billion surplus in 2015-16. In the year ending March 31 of this year, the deficit is pegged at C$16.6 billion.

The Conservatives, in power since 2006, plunged into a deep deficit in 2008 as they pumped out stimulus money to deal with the recession after having cut taxes earlier. Previously, the Canadian government had an 11-year string of budget surpluses.

Why cant we do that?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOQAUiIbedQ&feature=share&list=PLJdYRfQuif3Jsw8cPKvZGhRhu_YWWJBvo&index=1]OBAMA!!! - YouTube[/ame]

 

[tinydancer]

He was an amazing finance minister. He knew how to juggle finances masterfully. He was unable to master political waters in the same matter.

I don't think he was a Liberal or a Conservative. I think he was a realist which did well in the Financial aspect but most certainly didn't in the political spectrum.

Juggling there is called waffling.

Martin was unreal. He took such a beating from members of his own party (I was originally a big Liberal so I still had associates in the east at the time and many were po'd).

So many were furious with him that he was holding the line on spending. All they could see was Ottawa raking in the dough and Martin wasn't letting go of a dime.

Good man. He set a really high bar for any one now who comes after him.

 

[Toro]

The Liberal Party sucks. They're the party of the eastern establishment and would totally screw the West if it would advance their political agenda.

So does the NDP. They're socialists.

The Conservatives are best.

 

[Bumberclyde]

The Liberal Party sucks. They're the party of the eastern establishment and would totally screw the West if it would advance their political agenda.

So does the NDP. They're socialists.

The Conservatives are best.

Stephen Harper wears a wig.

Justin Trudeau is cool.

The NDP is a non-event.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Someone probably said it here...Canada gets free military protection from the U.S. that provides them the fantastic means to not have to spend $$$ on a strong military.

 

[Bumberclyde]

Someone probably said it here...Canada gets free military protection from the U.S. that provides them the fantastic means to not have to spend $$$ on a strong military.

No, Canada doesn't need a huge army because they don't spend their time attacking and otherwise pissing off every country in the world. So nobody wants to attack Canada.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Someone probably said it here...Canada gets free military protection from the U.S. that provides them the fantastic means to not have to spend $$$ on a strong military.

No, Canada doesn't need a huge army because they don't spend their time attacking and otherwise pissing off every country in the world. So nobody wants to attack Canada.

Canada has fantastic natural resources.
If America was not their neighbor I guarantee you Russia would have taken them in the 1970's.
America's immense military might is why there hasn't been a WWIII.

 

[Bumberclyde]

Someone probably said it here...Canada gets free military protection from the U.S. that provides them the fantastic means to not have to spend $$$ on a strong military.

No, Canada doesn't need a huge army because they don't spend their time attacking and otherwise pissing off every country in the world. So nobody wants to attack Canada.

Canada has fantastic natural resources.
If America was not their neighbor I guarantee you Russia would have taken them in the 1970's.
America's immense military might is why there hasn't been a WWIII.

Russia's army can barely make it as far as Ukraine, and every last piece of their gear would brake down long before they got to Canada.
Geez, you Merruccans sure like your warmongering and chest pounding. No wonder you've been at war for nearly your whole country's existence.

Btw, Canada beat the Merruccans TWICE in wars.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

No, Canada doesn't need a huge army because they don't spend their time attacking and otherwise pissing off every country in the world. So nobody wants to attack Canada.

Canada has fantastic natural resources.
If America was not their neighbor I guarantee you Russia would have taken them in the 1970's.
America's immense military might is why there hasn't been a WWIII.

Russia's army can barely make it as far as Ukraine, and every last piece of their gear would brake down long before they got to Canada.
Geez, you Merruccans sure like your warmongering and chest pounding. No wonder you've been at war for nearly your whole country's existence.

Btw, Canada beat the Merruccans TWICE in wars.

Say what you will, but only the duped clowns marginalize the importance and global benefit of America's military as both a deterrent and an economic lifesaver to Mexico/Canada/Europe.

 

[Bumberclyde]

Canada has fantastic natural resources.
If America was not their neighbor I guarantee you Russia would have taken them in the 1970's.
America's immense military might is why there hasn't been a WWIII.

Russia's army can barely make it as far as Ukraine, and every last piece of their gear would brake down long before they got to Canada.
Geez, you Merruccans sure like your warmongering and chest pounding. No wonder you've been at war for nearly your whole country's existence.

Btw, Canada beat the Merruccans TWICE in wars.

Say what you will, but only the duped clowns marginalize the importance and global benefit of America's military as both a deterrent and an economic lifesaver to Mexico/Canada/Europe.

Geez, you Merruccans are a delude bunch. You're not a deterrent, you're responsible for a lot of the war going on in the world today. Some deterrent.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Russia's army can barely make it as far as Ukraine, and every last piece of their gear would brake down long before they got to Canada.
Geez, you Merruccans sure like your warmongering and chest pounding. No wonder you've been at war for nearly your whole country's existence.

Btw, Canada beat the Merruccans TWICE in wars.

Say what you will, but only the duped clowns marginalize the importance and global benefit of America's military as both a deterrent and an economic lifesaver to Mexico/Canada/Europe.

Geez, you Merruccans are a delude bunch. You're not a deterrent, you're responsible for a lot of the war going on in the world today. Some deterrent.

Sorry, I didn't realize you were a teenage idiot.
Have a nice life.

 

[Toro]

Russia's army can barely make it as far as Ukraine, and every last piece of their gear would brake down long before they got to Canada.
Geez, you Merruccans sure like your warmongering and chest pounding. No wonder you've been at war for nearly your whole country's existence.

Btw, Canada beat the Merruccans TWICE in wars.

Say what you will, but only the duped clowns marginalize the importance and global benefit of America's military as both a deterrent and an economic lifesaver to Mexico/Canada/Europe.

Geez, you Merruccans are a delude bunch. You're not a deterrent, you're responsible for a lot of the war going on in the world today. Some deterrent.

Yeah, yoo Merkins DESERVED 9/11!!

 

[BruSan]

Say what you will, but only the duped clowns marginalize the importance and global benefit of America's military as both a deterrent and an economic lifesaver to Mexico/Canada/Europe.

Geez, you Merruccans are a delude bunch. You're not a deterrent, you're responsible for a lot of the war going on in the world today. Some deterrent.

Yeah, yoo Merkins DESERVED 9/11!!

Oooopsy! I know you guys like the to and fro banter but as a Canadian I find that last one in very poor taste ~ over 3500 innocent peoples deaths is not appropriate joke fodder for simpletons on an internet forum.

 

[Toro]

Geez, you Merruccans are a delude bunch. You're not a deterrent, you're responsible for a lot of the war going on in the world today. Some deterrent.

Yeah, yoo Merkins DESERVED 9/11!!

Oooopsy! I know you guys like the to and fro banter but as a Canadian I find that last one in very poor taste ~ over 3500 innocent peoples deaths is not appropriate joke fodder for simpletons on an internet forum.

Chill. I'm a Canadian too, and I'm trying to make a point.

Plus, I have personal connections to that day. I knew people who died in the WTC. Also, several months prior to 9/11, I had interviewed with a firm in there. As I watched the towers come down, I thought I had escaped death. Fortunately, I learned the next day that because the firm was on the 30th floor, everyone got out alive.

 

[BruSan]

Yeah, yoo Merkins DESERVED 9/11!!

Oooopsy! I know you guys like the to and fro banter but as a Canadian I find that last one in very poor taste ~ over 3500 innocent peoples deaths is not appropriate joke fodder for simpletons on an internet forum.

Chill. I'm a Canadian too, and I'm trying to make a point.

Plus, I have personal connections to that day. I knew people who died in the WTC. Also, several months prior to 9/11, I had interviewed with a firm in there. As I watched the towers come down, I thought I had escaped death. Fortunately, I learned the next day that because the firm was on the 30th floor, everyone got out alive.

Well all that is very nice I'm sure, but 3500 people did not escape death that day and I'm sure whatever point you were attempting to make could have been made another way.

I'm sure, in hindsight, you'll agree.

 

[Toro]

Oooopsy! I know you guys like the to and fro banter but as a Canadian I find that last one in very poor taste ~ over 3500 innocent peoples deaths is not appropriate joke fodder for simpletons on an internet forum.

Chill. I'm a Canadian too, and I'm trying to make a point.

Plus, I have personal connections to that day. I knew people who died in the WTC. Also, several months prior to 9/11, I had interviewed with a firm in there. As I watched the towers come down, I thought I had escaped death. Fortunately, I learned the next day that because the firm was on the 30th floor, everyone got out alive.

Well all that is very nice I'm sure, but 3500 people did not escape death that day and I'm sure whatever point you were attempting to make could have been made another way.

I'm sure, in hindsight, you'll agree.

Oh, get off your high horse. If you don't understand exposing an argument with ridiculous sarcasm, here's a dollar to help you buy a sense of context.

 

[Ropey]

Chill. I'm a Canadian too, and I'm trying to make a point.

Plus, I have personal connections to that day. I knew people who died in the WTC. Also, several months prior to 9/11, I had interviewed with a firm in there. As I watched the towers come down, I thought I had escaped death. Fortunately, I learned the next day that because the firm was on the 30th floor, everyone got out alive.

Well all that is very nice I'm sure, but 3500 people did not escape death that day and I'm sure whatever point you were attempting to make could have been made another way.

I'm sure, in hindsight, you'll agree.

Oh, get off your high horse. If you don't understand exposing an argument with ridiculous sarcasm, here's a dollar to help you buy a sense of context.

I'll offer 50 cents for that dollar. Don't waste it on literals.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Well all that is very nice I'm sure, but 3500 people did not escape death that day and I'm sure whatever point you were attempting to make could have been made another way.

I'm sure, in hindsight, you'll agree.

Oh, get off your high horse. If you don't understand exposing an argument with ridiculous sarcasm, here's a dollar to help you buy a sense of context.

I'll offer 50 cents for that dollar. Don't waste it on literals.

Actually that Canadian dollar is worth about $1.11 USD.