Budget Reaction

As a conservative with a small "c", I can't help but be disappointed and somewhat angered by this spending orgy that the Prime Minister and Mr. Flaherty have engaged in. Let's be clear, the government cannot create jobs and cannot spend taxpayer money to promote prosperity. Several aspects of the budget are nothing short of ridiculous; in particular:

1. the home renovation fund, $1,300 won't pay for hardly any renovations in an average home;
2. an increase funding to existing regional development agencies and create two new agencies -- for southern Ontario and the North, smells like pork to me;
3. $500-million for hockey arenas, swimming pools and other community recreational facilities, I mean how much can $500m really buy and since when is this the job of the federal government?
4. $407-million to Via Rail to improve passenger service, between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, more money down the toilet to a non-viable business that the market doesn't support;
5. $175-million to shipyards to build 98 new small vessels, lifeboats and barges for the Coast Guard, I'd have preferred $10 billion over 5 years for these boats and new Navy vessels and beginning work on nuclear submarines which we'll need if we're serious about defending our arctic claims;
6. Create a secretariat to explain financial concepts to Canadians with an aim to improve financial literacy, utterly useless.
7. $200-million over the next two years to the Canadian Television Fund, pure waste;
8. I think Waterloo is also getting a few million to build some computer advancement center, the problem is that Waterloo is one of the least needy places in Canada thanks to RIM and Manulife.

I'm disappointed as a conservative. How can this government justify increasing spending by 9% while not cutting back on any government programs that are completely non-essential. The Heritage, Council for the Arts, Cultural Property Export Review Board, Dairy Commission, Human Rights Tribunal/Commission, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and others like it should be getting major cuts since they do nothing to promote economic growth. Honestly, why is the CBC still getting $1 billion?

If Harper and Flaherty were serious about stimulating the economy, they should have done things to encourage investment and economic activity, not garbage government work programs that spend more on red tape in pork barrel endeavors. The capital gains tax should have been slashed or eliminated even if the Liberals wanted to bring down the government over it. Business taxes need to be cut so that companies can continue to hire and spend money on new investments.

This is an embarrassment. I realize the Conservatives want to get re-elected and have to give the appearance of doing something, but the amount of waste and non-sense in this budget is inexcusable.

I'm happy about the tax cuts, but they don't go nearly far enough. John Moore and his left wing buddies can talk about how tax cuts don't really do anything to promote growth, but anyone with common sense knows that the more money taxpayers keep, the more they'll spend on themselves to improve their standing of living. Their argument is like saying that getting a raise at work is pointless because you won't spend more money. Stupid.

I cannot believe what a wasted opportunity this was and how short sighted the Conservatives have been. I thought we had a few small "c" conservatives, maybe even a few libertarians, but clearly we're back to the days of Joe Clark-spineless-Liberal-lite-red-Tories.

The central problem in Canada, the US and the Western world is that the government continues to eat up a larger and larger share of GDP. This sucks money out of the market and people's pockets, it discourages investment, it dries up pools of wealth generation, and reduces the benefits of productivity and efficiency. If we are to compete with India, China, and others in the future, the percentage of GDP eaten up by government will need to decrease, and substantially.

Budget Skepticism

I understand that we are living in abnormal times considering the current state of the world's finances. Iceland's government has just fallen, the first victim of the credit crunch. Canada has chosen to react with a mix of Keynesian government spending and some supply-side tax cuts. The result will be a $34 billion dollar deficit in the first year and a projected $30 billion deficit in 2010. The details remain sketchy, but billions are designated for infrastructure projects.

Infrastructure spending is good, but I'm doubtful of how quickly they can be implemented in light of bloated bureaucracies, endless environmental restrictions, and oceans of red tape. Not only that, the projects are often pork projects helping out political allies and closely contested ridings. This is true for any government in power.

The tax cuts, if they happen, would provide an immediate effect. Socialists will complain this will deprive the government of needed funds, but I'd argue that taking those funds out of the economy and into government would deprive the private sector of the fuel it needs to recover.

Quite simply, the government should be doing everything in its power to reduce the cost of doing business to encourage economic activity and investment. Attracting capital is essential to long term growth and short term recovery.

I think the $34 billion deficit is ridiculous given the Bank of Canada's prediction of recovery by the end of this year. I am a firm believer that government cannot create jobs, it can only help create the conditions of prosperity through tax cuts, de-regulation, smarter regulation, and incentives to encourage productivity, modernization, and efficiency.

Nevertheless, Iggy isn't prepared to pull the trigger now and face the disastrous prospect of running a coalition with the socialist NDP and treasonous Bloc. I'll bet he ditches the coalition talk by spring and starts gearing up for an election next fall or earlier.

Taliban Jokes

"YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN IF..."

1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.

2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.

3. You have more wives than teeth.

4. You wipe your butt with your bare hand, but consider bacon "unclean."

5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.

6. You can't think of anyone you haven't declared Jihad against.

7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.

8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.

9. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least one.

10. You've always had a crush on your neighbor's goat.

Post Inaugural Reality

As the nauseating hype over Barack Obama's election continues, let me bring a small does of reality to the here and now. President Obama is not a saviour or the second coming of anything. He may, however, end up being the second term of Jimmy Carter's disastrous presidency. Mr. Obama will make mistakes and anger people in both the Republican Party and Democratic Party.

His speech yesterday was not exceptional, but quite average. I doubt there will be any lines that will be remembered as past one-liners of JFK and Reagan.

Obama will continue a surprising number of the Bush administration's policies to the disappointment of his supporters. On Iraq, the status of forces agreement established with the Iraqi government will likely not be changed. If Obama was to "lose" Iraq now to chaos, the loss would fall squarely on his shoulders as his responsibility. Obama will continue the fight in Afghanistan and perhaps "unilaterally" decide operational objectives to the anger of NATO allies like France and Germany. Obama will expect more from many NATO countries in their effort, but he won't receive it.

Obama's economic strategy will likely fail just as FDR's New Deal did. The idea of government spending it's way out of a recession is a false choice. Economies can only recover from a downturn when wealth creation is encouraged through stimuli put forward by government. This normally means reducing the cost of business in terms of regulation and taxes. People must feel confident to spend their money as opposed to save it. The government can only do so much and "redistributing wealth" will normally lead to capital leaving the country for foreign markets where conditions for business are more favourable.

Hope can only go so far. Hope in a human being is unwise because human beings are fallible and flawed. Always. Obama will have 6 months or so before his rhetoric and hype will need to translate into results.

Obama will likely continue many of Bush's domestic security programs. If a terrorist attack were to occur on American soil, people (even the media) will quickly recall that Bush kept the country safe despite his many failures. Such an attack would lead to the thought that, "at least Bush kept us safe".

Obama's free pass will not last forever, and he has got a free pass from a celebrity obsessed media and a public eager to fawn over a "transformational" figure who has yet to transform very much.

Obama will face as much opposition from his own party as he will from the GOP, perhaps more. Democrats, as they did from 1992-94, rarely miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Obama owns America's problem now; the buck stops with him.

President Obama

President Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America today, succeeding George Walker Bush. Obama, as usual, gave an excellent speech inspiring the nation towards service, hope, and a brighter future. His speech had much of the same structure as President Reagan's first inaugural address. President Obama stated, "“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time,” Obama said. “But know this, America – they will be met.”

In 1981, Reagan stated "We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding—we are going to begin to act, beginning today."

An estimated 2 million people attended the inauguration today. I had the honour of being at Bush's second inauguration in 2004. There will undoubtedly be the feeling of jubilation, celebration, and joy at the many inaugural balls tonight. For those going, get there early. I stood in a security line freezing for almost an hour and subsequently missed Bush's visit to the Liberty Ball I was attending. Nevertheless, it's an incredible event to attend if you ever have the opportunity.

It was fitting that Obama took the oath of office just after the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Obama optimistically stated:

"Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America."

May God bless America, and may be bless and protect President Obama.

Chicken Fried

I feel like my brain is fried from studying all weekend and it'll only get worse with two exams to write. Fortunately, my company is nice enough to give me the time off work. On that note, I'm not posting anything that involves the use of my grey matter. Instead, enjoy a band I'm really loving right now called Zac Brown Band.

Farewell President Bush

Tonight President Bush gave his farewell address to the nation. While some would like to celebrate a Democrat coming back to the White House, the true celebration is another peaceful transfer of power that is such a remarkable event, and yet so common place since 1776.

Certainly, Bush has been contentious. He has been controversial, he has been stubborn, and he has made mistakes. I don't doubt that history will treat President Bush better than the current media and polls do. The Surge is perhaps the hallmark of his successes in the White House along with protecting America completely from domestic attacks since 9/11. This is no small feat. The Surge was an act of courage and leadership considering that the conventional wisdom was so opposed to this move.

Despite this, it is difficult to say that Mr. Bush has left America stronger than when he found it. It certainly is secure in terms of military threats, and has been safe thanks to the Patriot Act, Domestic Surveillance Program, and Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Changing the status quo seems to be the prerogative of Mr. Obama, but it may have serious consequences that could potentially cost people their lives.

Most disappointing for conservatives, like myself, has been the expansion of government and government spending over 8 years when the hope was for a conservative President that would make government more efficient and perhaps even smaller.

President Bush also accomplished much in Africa, where his popularity is a lot higher than it is in the US. The futures of Iraq and Afghanistan are also much better than they were in 2000.

I believe Mr. Bush's heart has almost always been in the right place despite the flaws in his decisions. For the American people, "72% say they believe Bush is a "good person." I would have to agree despite my disagreement with many of his decisions.

Mr. Obama has many challenges before him, and it will be seen as to whether he can maintain the strength of character Mr. Bush has shown.

The Conservative Way Forward

The current GOP leadership is clueless. I supported Newt Gingrich for president in 2008 although he didn't run, but I'm praying he will in 2012. Hopefully, democracy in America will still exist then. Watch Gingrich's very informative and challenging address to ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) HERE.

Let me suggest a very radical first idea that perfectly fits the reason ALEC was founded. If you would go home and identify every stupid thing the federal government is requiring you to do which wastes money, and offer them a swap: if they would pass the omnibus smart-government-and-waste avoidance act that liberated you from all the federal regulations that are stupid, you wouldn’t need them to pass you a stimulus package to send you cash because you would save more than enough cash by not having to let them micromanage you.

America, and most western governments (Canada included), are trapped in the utter stupidity of bureaucratic regulation which cripples business, stifles creativity, prolongs suffering, increases poverty, limits individual accomplishment, and endangers lives. Yes, it even COSTS lives.

Gingrich points out, "We won the Second World War in forty-four months. From December the 7th 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, to victory over Japan in August of 1945 is three years and eight months. We beat Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in three years and eight months. It recently took 23 years to add a fifth runway to the Atlanta airport. You can’t compete in the world if you are determined to be stupid. It’s a very major problem."

The disaster known as Detroit only graduates 26% of its students, and continues to elect Democrats as it has for 58 years straight. Watch the Gingrich video linked above, it's worth it! We, not conservatives or liberals, need to make government work better because our civilization will deteriorate if we don't and our future could be in jeopardy, indeed our freedom could be doomed if we don't.

Obama In Over His Head

It's becoming increasingly clear that Obama has no idea what he's doing. The junior senator from IL lack the experience and knowledge to effectively manage the country in times of economic difficulty let alone a crisis. The current situation is not a crisis, although the media and Obama would like you to believe so in order to pass whatever legislation the Democrats want. The GOP is controlled by moderate losers like Michael Bloomberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger and other hapless deadbeats in the House and Senate.

Obama seems intent on repeating the mistakes of FDR which prolonged the Great Depression by as much as 8 years. Mark Steyn has also pointed out that the Depression was only "great" in the US because of the New Deal. Everywhere else in the world, the economic situation was merely a "depression" lacking the "greatness" it obtained in the United States.

Rush Limbaugh had an excellent segment today on the floundering of the President-elect:
The other side of the conflict is I am convinced that Obama is a radical, extreme leftist who, like all radicals, is like a flower child. He has all these dreams, all of these visions of a utopia. And, of course, it's not possible. So the conflict is, does he not really know what he's doing, or does he know what he's doing? 'Cause that speech he gave yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, it spooked everybody. It spooked the Democrats on Capitol Hill, it spooked the markets. It's like I said yesterday, inside of two months we've gone from a nation of people that believe we have to have some discipline in the size of our government and our spending, and now the mainstream thought is government spending and as fast as we can and only government can solve the problem. None of that is true. The success of this depends on how fast we spend money, and then he had this little press conference today where he's answering questions. I listened to this, and I don't know if I'm sure that he knows what he's doing. Even if he's a committed leftist, does he know what he's doing, does he know what he's gotten himself into? His whole campaign was platitudes. He's still speaking in platitudes, as though his very presence will make magic happen.

So now the markets have no idea what to expect from Obama. The welfare check he'll be sending to everyone which he stupidly calls a "tax cut" will be useless to stimulate the economy. The cost of doing business needs to be lower. Providing employers with $3,000 to "hire new workers" as Obammy promises will also be useless. Anyone with even minuscule business experience knows it costs almost twice that to hire someone. But even if that did help, it would only provide minimal hours. Let's say someone hires someone to do work at $10/hr, over the minimum wage - that will account for 300 hours of work. Whoopdedoo.

Mr. "Hope" and "Change" seems determined to continue President Bush's "bailout" and "injection" strategy of cash into failed businesses and increased regulation. It was regulation that got the US economy into this whole mess to begin with! Is that what all these absent-minded Obama supporters wanted? I thought McCain was McSame?

Then again, check out these Obamaniacs and you'll understand. The media and the electorate have descended into celebrity worship without proper scrutiny of a presidential candidate, not that I think McCain was any good either, far from it.

What I lament is that politics has ceased to be a deadly serious activity: we have the comedian Al Franken who will likely be the next senator from Minnesota, Caroline Kennedy possibly receiving an appointment solely because of her last name, Chris "Leg Tingle" Matthews wanting to run for Congress, Gov. Schwarzenegger (enough said), and Sanjay Gupta of CNN being considered for the Surgeon General.

What will it take to realize that politics determines the course of peoples lives, the future of a nation, and the survival of liberty?

Obama's Tax Cut Isn't a Tax Cut

You can't cut the taxes of people who don't pay any (Did I really have to just say that). Apparently I do because the media and every moronic Obama supporter doesn't seem to realize that. Similarly, you're not offering a tax cut if you don't cut the tax rates, which Obama is not doing. All he's doing is offering another rebate which will do nothing to stimulate the economy. The Obamessiah's plan is really the largest welfare check in American history... but who's counting now that the bailout is reaching epic proportions in the trillions of dollars.

What will happen is the government will grow and the economy (and taxpayers) will be no better off. Obama is doing a great job paving the way to socialism and government control of more industries however. His dire predictions of disaster, despite that the stock market seems to have bottomed out, will enable him to push forward his statist agenda in cooperation with House and Senate Democrats.

In the meantime, the GOP remains mired in introspection and self flagellation over the past 8 years and dozens of missed opportunities.

John Tory Needs to Go

John Tory has been without a riding since October 2007. He refused to resign after his disastrous campaign that centered on funding religious schools with public money despite that the public and all his advisers told him it was a bad idea. Nevertheless, Tory's arrogance led him down the road to campaign on the issue. He didn't think the health care premium, rising taxes, falling manufacturing jobs, a shrinking economy, or the provincial deficit were of as important.

But what do you expect with a red Tory with no principles? Frankly, I don't know what the ideological difference between Tory and McGuinty really is. Is John Tory just offering Grit-lite or does actually have a policy proposal that will make government more efficient, the economy better, and the people of Ontario better off? If he does, I've yet to hear it.

Ontario needs an effective opposition which has been completely absent. As a result, Ontarians have been provided with an unaccountable government that has done nothing to help improve the economy during these hard times. There has been no tax relief and a government that has swelled to massive proportions.

Can Mike Harris please return so the government has a plan, a direction, and a goal to make the province better?

The Ontario PC's will get no money from me and I will not campaign for them while Tory remains the leader. I know I'm not the only conservative who feels this way.

Tax Cuts Please

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has been talking about adding tax cuts to a stimulus package from the government. I'd welcome that, but I also hope these cuts to tax rates are more than just token gestures.

Under the Grits, we got small tax cuts stretched out over long periods which meant you could barely see the difference on your paycheck. Substantial tax cuts to businesses and individuals would go a long way to giving the economy a shot in the arm and to helping the manufacturing sector in Canada. The provinces would be wise to coordinate tax cuts with the federal government, especially Ontario which is bleeding manufacturing jobs and investment because of corporate taxes which are far too high and provincial sales taxes which stifle individual consumption.

Infrastructure investments would be good as well, but they'd be token. Consider that if $1.00 of taxes goes to welfare, between 60 and 80% will be wasted on bureaucracy rather than actually helping the poor with financial assistance, or consider the gun registry. Any infrastructure spending by the government can be expected to be as wasteful and poorly targeted as welfare.

Tax cuts would be great, I just hope they're substantial enough to make a difference. I'd also welcome cutting out entire government programs. Just look at the monstrosity of departments and agents we have: CLICK HERE. I'd start with the CBC, CHRC, & CHRT.

Ceasefire After Hamas is Destroyed

I'm all in favour of a ceasefire; however, a ceasefire would be useless so long as Hamas remains in control of Gaza. It seems the world, especially Europe, has forgotten that there was a truce until Hamas broke it at the end of 2008 by launching rockets into Israeli towns without any provocation.

A ceasefire might be useful if Hamas recognized Israel's right to exist. It's quite simple: if Hamas laid down their weapons, there would be peace and the people of Gaza could likely return to self rule. If Israel ever laid down their weapons, the people of Israel would be exterminated in a second Holocaust. Israel keeps its word when it comes to peace, just look at the longstanding agreements with Jordan and Egypt.

Hamas has never kept it's word and deliberately targets women and children in Israel. Perhaps even worse, it hides behind it's own women and children in the hope that Israel will be too cautious to respond to attacks and belligerence.

Once Hamas is destroyed, a real ceasefire can take place. Until then, Israel should continue it's self defence operations in Gaza. The Europeans and the United Nations would do well to recall that Israel pulled out of Gaza unilaterally, and only re-entered it in order to prevent further attacks on it's civilians from the racist terrorist group Hamas.

Hamas teaches hate in it's schools to children, it deprives it's people of the means for economic improvement, squanders foreign aid on weapons, and uses it's own people as human shields. This group's destruction would make the world a far better and safer place.