Friday, October 17, 2008
Overthrowing Ideology And Gotchaism
If Krugman is right (and hey, the guy just won a Nobel), we are going to have to spend more government money to get us out of the mess the private sector has gotten us into. This means the Harperites are going to have to spend money they don't have and the rest of us are going to have to not carp about deficits. The worst thing the NDP and Liberals can do at this moment is complain about government spending. This will only serve to reinforce the Conservatives' ideological fall back position that government spending is evil and must be kept small at all costs. If this happens, the pain being felt by Canadians will be more prolonged and severe than it needs to be. Our politicians on all sides had better think before they speak over the coming months. We are entering times when the welfare of the Canadian people should trump partisan advantage. I doubt our politicians are up to the challenge, but they need to give it their best shot.
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I'm sure the cons would agree
ReplyDeleteThe challenge for the cons and in particular the PM, is to lead by bringing others to consensus. If this is to work, the PM must listen to other voices and use other people's ideas. That is not his style and he is going to have to struggle with his authoritarian nature if this is going to work. The other parties, on the other hand, are going to have to also understand that they cannot always get what they want. In other words everybody had better grow up and fast.
ReplyDelete>the mess the private sector has gotten us into.
ReplyDeleteHaven't been paying attention to the roots of the problem, have you? Banks didn't suddenly decide recently to start selling high-risk mortgages after decades of sobriety. Certain large public institutions exerted a firm guiding hand.
lrC
Certain large public institutions exerted a firm guiding hand.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt they were enablers, but there is also no doubt who the main culprits are. Governments were the bartenders, but the banks were the drunks.
I should add too, that it matters who is running the government. If you have people running the place who believe that it has no business actually governing, then of course they are going to help them what help themselves -- to our retirement savings.
ReplyDeleteIt's fair to call the banks the "drunks" in your model, but that makes Clinton the "pusher" who forced them to take their first drinks.
ReplyDeleteWhat's ironic is that the keystone culprits - Dodd and Frank - are marching around denouncing some of the few people who tried to stand athwart the mad rush - Bush and McCain.
lrC