WHEN WE MODEL OUR ECONOMY SOLELY ON THE USA — WHICH TENDS TO DISPROPORTIONATELY BENEFIT ELITES, THE MAJORITY OF CANADIANS LOSE. ECONOMIC THINKING MUST CHANGE. Article Excerpt | Mitchell Anderson, Canadian Dimension, Jan 22, 2014. A recent news item showed that Norway’s massive pot of petroleum money, now totaling CA$909.364 billion, has made every citizen a millionaire in Norwegian kroner. That works out to about $178,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. By contrast, every Canadian lumbers under an individual debt of $17,000 as Ottawa is in hock to the tune of $600 billion. Not only is Norway ahead of Canada by $1.5 trillion, it has fully funded social programs that Canadians can only dream of. Norwegians enjoy universal day care, free university tuition, per capita spending on health care 30 per cent higher than Canada and 25 days of paid vacation every year. By owning 70 per cent of their own oil production and taxing oil revenues at close to 80 per cent, Norway is now saving about $1 billion per week. The so-called “Calgary School” of economic thought would say this stunning socialist success story is impossible in the same way that scientists used to believe that bumblebees cannot fly. Out in the real world, Canada is being trounced on the field of comparative fiscal management. MISGUIDED TRUE BELIEVERS Alberta has run consecutive budget deficits since 2008 and since then has burned through $15 billion of its sustainability fund. In spite of Alberta’s vast petroleum wealth, the province has not contributed a penny to the now moribund Alberta Heritage Fund since 1987. The belief that all tax is bad has led Canada’s three western provinces to the bizarre position where they proudly collect less resource revenues on behalf of their citizens than any other jurisdiction in North America. In spite of this remarkable fiscal failure, Alberta true believers are having another round of ideological Kool-Aid. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has just launched a provincial debt clock while at the same time campaigning against tax increases. They calculate Alberta’s debt at more than $7 billion and increasing by $11 million every day. In socialist Norway, national wealth is heading in the opposite direction at more than 10 times that rate, with savings of $142 million per day. The anti-tax worldview has migrated from Calgary to Ottawa, where it is being imposed on the rest of the country. In 2009, Prime Minister Harper stated flatly, “I don’t believe any taxes are good taxes.” Not merely a remarkably ignorant statement from someone who holds a Masters degree in economics, this position indicates Canada’s elected leader is opposed to the very project of government – not unlike hiring a hijacker as an airline pilot. True to his ideology, Harper’s collective cuts to the GST, corporate taxes and personal income taxes now total about $45 billion per year in forgone government revenue. Canada is eliminating up to 30,000 public sector jobs in a supposed effort to balance the budget and currently collects less public revenue as a proportion of GDP than even the U.S. This austerity program seems to extend to virtually every government program except those promoting resource extraction and hectoring environmental groups. Ottawa is spending $22 million to hire a high-priced ad firm to promote the Alberta oil sands. Last year, the Harper government somehow found an extra $8 million in a belt-tightening budget to have the Canada Revenue Agency investigate non-profits for inappropriate political lobbying (they found nothing). Meanwhile, Canadians are told we can no longer afford mail delivery. Our national niceness seems to have infused our dealings with resource interests, whereas Norway’s Viking chutzpah allowed them to negotiate much tougher terms with the world’s most powerful industrial sector. This prophetic cultural divide has left our remarkably lucky country – blessed with everything from potash to diamonds – slashing services and public sector jobs in an effort balance the books. Meanwhile in Norway, every citizen just became a millionaire. ARTICLE: If every Norwegian’s a millionaire, why’s Alberta in hock? (Jan 22, 2014). https://canadiandimension/articles/view/if-every-norwegians-a-millionaire-whys-alberta-in-hock ARTICLE: Norways Oil Fund Heads For $1 Trillion; So Where Is Albertas Pot Of Gold? (Jan 11, 2014). huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/11/oil-fund-norway-millionaires_n_4576887.html ----------------------------------------------- KEVIN DAVIES MUSIC If you would like to hear some original music by Kevin Davies that includes some political tunes, please visit: reverbnation/kevindavies or Kevin Davies Music on Facebook: https://facebook/KevinDavies.Music where I write about my recent and upcoming gigs and post on music-related topics.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 19:21:03 +0000
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