ToHaveOrHaveNot
AusterityForTheSomeVille
Like me, economist Jim Stanford was flummoxed by both the headline and the puff-piece by Justine Hunter that did much of the upfront cheerleading for the Clarklandians' ponzi-scheme budget to come in last weekends Globe and (nolongerEmpire) Mail.
Here is just part of Mr. Stanford's take.
The banner headline across the top of the front page of the national Globe and Mail edition caught my eye (last) Saturday morning: “How B.C. became a ‘have’ province.” Wow, I thought to myself, that is quite something (and without a single LNG plant yet visible on the horizon!)...
{snippety doo-dah}
...For B.C. to suddenly rejoin the ranks of the “have” provinces was shocking. How was this triumphant result achieved?...
{snippety doodle-dandy}
...Imagine my confusion, then, when I perused page A18, and the full story by Justine Hunter, to find not a single word about B.C. being a “have” province. Not a single reference to its GDP per capita in relation to Canada’s. Not a single mention of the province’s equalization subsidy ending (which is what happens when you become a “have” province), to be replaced by a net outflow to the rest of Canada. The whole story was simply an incredibly uncritical review of how B.C. achieved three consecutive budgets without a deficit...
As for the real story of the total ponzification that paved the way for all the follow-up puff-pieces that have been written by all the fine folks like Ms. Hunter and that were printed in all the very, very fine media organs like the Globe while our real debt has now climbed somewhere north of $150 billion as it leaves a trail of austerity in its wake for those amongst us who are least able to pay for it?
Well.
Norm Farrell has that story for you, in easily digestible audio form, with Ian Jessop....
Here.
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Understanding The Problem
52 minutes ago
20 comments:
As i said in a comment on yesterdays post, as they begin to post blame they will encourage fighting amongst those who will be most affected. Tsdhey will tell us can't have nice things because; the "old" people are takers,disabled people are takers;unions are takers, first nations are takers, parents who want strong public schools are takers(don't they know that private schools are simply superior). When you look carefully you can see examples of this from the trolls who post on this and other sites, not to mention the paid shills on line and in the media(we know all the names).
Oh oh,I meant they, not Tsdhey. don't know how that happened. New classes on the way.
Oh my, glasses not classes.
I read that article but still somewhat confused over Federal Payments. On the Fed's site it reports " In 2015-16, the Government of British Columbia will receive $6.1 billion through major transfers – an increase of $1.6 billion from 2005-06.
In 2014-15, the Government of British Columbia will receive $5.8 billion in major transfers, accounting for about 13 percent of its revenues in that year."
And goes on to say " Includes a one-time adjustment of $199 million in 2006–07. British Columbia no longer qualifies for Equalization as from 2007–08 due to the strength of its economy relative to the other provinces. "
Do I assume BC is a "Have Province" and how does it compare to the NDP in the 90's ?
Guy in Victoria
BC Total Provincial debt is projected to go from $63.8 billion in 2014/15 to $70.4 billion in 2017/18.
So how can they say there is a surplus when they are going deeper into debt?
Don't the BC Liberals work for Harper? Ex BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell (gag) is Harper's favorite henchman. Harper rewarded Campbell the post as, High Commissioner to the UK. So, it only stands to reason, that Harper would bail BC out.
Clark, Campbell and Harper are a litany of lies, deceit, corruption, thefts, underhanded politics, underhanded tactics and all of them cheated to win.
Canada's resources are foreign owned, that money leaves the country. Foreigners are given the resource jobs and all of that money leaves the country as well. That especially goes for BC. I need someone to explain to me? In what way does this help the country, the provinces and the people?
The G&M is inexorably co-joining with Ottawa, Albetar and BC governments to form Canada's largest sex-tuplet (only Albetar by the heel, now that G&M favourites have co-joined with the Albetarian Progressive Cons).
Its headlines don't even fall under the "whopper" heading---or at least the consistent whopper heading, where the same one is told in both headline and subsequent text. It's getting more absurd all the time, like how one is not permitted to quote verbatim any G&M article on their own comment board (!) if has anything to do with Christy and the Civil Forfeiture Office, for example. So weird...
The HST lie was flat out a lie. Christy's LNG whoppers were (are) so preposterous they don't seem to warrant the "lie" descriptor. Bill Bennet's "Everything's just fine" approach, whilst standing smack in front of the worst mining disaster in BC history is such a huge, whopping lie, it's crossed into the realm of absurdity. I guess de Jong's (and the G&M's) "balanced", "in-the-black", "have-province"---three-in-a-row, no less---would have to be relegated to the just-plain-old-lie category cuz at least he's trying to hide the MIA- debt in the festering vacuoles of Crown Corps, but Jeez, it's becoming a broadly-know, sick joke. Eventually it'll fall squarely into the "absurd" category (don't reckon any of 'em will ever fess up---least not without persuasion.)
But the G&M's there, and that's no lie.
More on the budget & the lying Premier.
Headlines in MSM were almost identical & said: " Finance Minister Mike de Jong said Tuesday’s $46.4-billion budget, which projects a surplus of $284 million in 2015/16 "
BUT today in Kelowna Christy Clark told the Chamber luncheon" " Clark told the sold-out audience the budget allows for a savings of $1 billion, which the government will use to pay down the province's debt.
"There are those, too, many of whom are in the opposition, who say we should really just grow government by a billion dollars. Why not just spend that money and make government bigger, build it into the budget, and make it bigger every year?" said Clark.
She said paying down the debt will allow the next generation to make sound financial decisions because they aren't labouring under the burden of debt we've left for them."
The more I see this woman's face the more I think how could BC taxpayers be so stupid.
Guy in Victoria
10 million dollars later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD_TQzlsc40
just as easy BC leadership?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-20/7-deadly-sins-america
Guy--
Norm Farrell deals with that billion dollar bullshite as well.
It really is the best 25 minutes of local talk radio you're going to hear 'round here for awhile.
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Yeah but BC has enough natural gas to supply Canada for 8,000 years. So they say.
See line 1105
http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/40th3rd/20141124am-Hansard-v18n4.htm
Vaughn Palmer explains it for the rubes...
Bills have to be paid, whether for ‘the mortgage’ or ‘groceries’
Finance Minister Mike de Jong:
"It is all debt and all of it must be repaid."
Another yawner from Palmer. His usual soft pedal bull****.
Among other things, completely ignores the massive $50+billion contractual debt at BC Hydro for private power. BC Hydro must buy at 4x the rate that it can be sold for: big money losers. BC citizens are on the hook for that.
There is no magical debt fairy godmother no matter how the books are sliced and diced.
otr
PS Ross thanks for your great work
Anon-Directly-Above--
Ya.
It most certainly must.
Be paid, I mean.
Interestingly, when it got to the 'all' that must be paid Mr. Palmer declined to ask (or tell us) how much that actually is (especially all that lovely 'future commitments' part).
In contrast, don't know about you, I (as one of the rubes) sure am glad he told us in considerable detail what those uber-fine folks from the rating agencies (i.e. those who love the whiff of the Ponzi) care so much about.
All snark aside, after reading Mr. Palmer's palaver of pulled punches, I couldn't help concluding that his was the last pail of Clarklandian bilge water that will be carried by the local corpMedia on this one.
(Ms. Hunter's massive bucket in last week's Globe being the first, of course)
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otr--
You beat me to it...
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only by one minute! lol
---otr
So the $102 billion in contractual obligations is not considered debt. It's money owed, but not debt.
Hugh--
Apparently, yes.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whQQpwwvSh4
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