RNG

It better be tolerated or the CPC will be shooting itself in the foot like the Wildrose Party did in Alberta and the Republicans have been doing for two election cycles or more in the states.

Serious question. When is the last time a leader allowed party members to speak out against the party line with impunity? I seem to remember one short-lived Saskatchewan NDP government that tried that.

The available reports on this weapon are lacking in technical specs. If, as I suspect it is a mercaptain, it is, in fact toxic

It's what the NEP caused in your universe I am referring to.

What alternate universe were you living in at the time?

Of great interest to me is the number of cities in the US who have declared bankruptcy and have blamed the onerous and unfunded public service pensions and associated benefits as the primary cause. Again in some political jurisdictions, this potential hazard has been addressed and rectified. Alberta IIRC has done a relatively good job at this, but it is still cause for concern.

I often have similar thoughts. Look at the variety of debt to GDP ratios I posted from different sources. So who do you trust? I'm not sure who can be trusted.

The point I am making is that countries are spared the bankruptcy and the lenders are left in the lurch. Look at what has happened to those to whom Argentina owes. And if you hold Greek debt you are, I believe, limited to 30% recovery, if you ever get that rather than being able to attach Greek assets as you would in a corporate or private bankruptcy. So Greece defaulting (and no matter how pretty a phrase you come up with, that's what happened) screwed Cypress and now the taxpayers in the other EU countries and any creditors of Cypress get further hosed. Just let them sink.

Here again is exactly what the head of the CBO said as you have been told several times. What is there about that statement you don't understand? And for your interest, Wikipedia tells me that the US spent $3.5T and change in 2012. Several sources say the sequester causes a $85B reduction. One of many hits for "sequester cuts" is http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/20/the-sequester-absolutely-everything-you-could-possibly-need-to-know-in-one-faq/ That is 2.4%. And Obama is crying like a baby and making sure the cuts happen at the worst places in terms of making his citizens suffer for political gain.

But as I said, in the case of the US, the government figures do not include those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits. So my American friends tell me the real rates in the US is way higher. I'm not sure how the Canadian figure is arrived at.

Here's a fun graph for a whole bunch of countries from wsj.com - But it shows our debt to GDP as being 82%. Other sources I found in google range from 30% to 43%. What gives? Or is it another example of statistics don't lie but liars use statistics.

Admittedly these are trivial amounts in the overall scheme of things but it does bring up a complex point. Under what circumstances is the government justified in not explaining their expenditures to the public? These strike me as being a long way removed from national security but they may infringe on personnel issues which may need to be kept private. Any others?

I just want to know when are we going to stop. Argentina has defaulted on it's debt at least twice. Mexico at least once. Greece and Iceland also although they have invented pretty words for them, just like it's not printing money, it's quantitative easing and it's not an illegal alien it's an undocumented worker. Why does "the system" save them? And why is it OK for "the system" to screw the lenders and not give them any means of minimizing their losses? When I see the people of Greece and Cypress protesting against austerity measures I honestly think they deserve to starve if they are that unaware of the real world.

@ Argus. One must be very careful quoting government issued employment data. The official 7.7% the US quotes is widely laughed at by my American friends. Many of them quote something they call the G6 or something rate which they say is really over 12%. Apparently the 7.7% figure is just those currently receiving their version of employment insurance. And although the Japanese rate of those actively looking for a job is 4.6% according to a quick google search I just did, that is still twice the long term average for Japan.

More from my right wing bubble, the Obama dominated Congressional Budget Office. Here is the CBO's read on stimulus spending. You are OK but quit hurting my grandchildren. Testifying before the Senate Budget Committee today, Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf reiterated his initial assessment of President Obama’s $800 billion “stimulus” package — that while it may boost the country’s GDP in the short-term, in the long-term, the effect of such spending is a net negative on GDP growth. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/283250/cbo-director-stimulus-spending-bad-long-term-growth-andrew-stiles

Except your real world example is purely out of your imagination or some left wing blog. I posted real links and references which you obviously don't read. You spout platitudes, rhetoric and insults.

I'm not being challenging at all, an honest question. Do you really think the Afghan torture is an issue for Alexander?

Very well said.

But at least he isn't promising Hope and Change.

He won the election on not being Romney and not being anti-evolution and such. It is your consistent view that any cuts are bad that is what I am arguing against. And the apparent view that Obama did all things right. The US needs to cut their spending significantly. If Obama didn't like the manner in which to cut spending presented by the Republicans, actually cut and not just slightly decrease the rate of increse, then why didn't he present something with actual cuts in it.?

The US government itself has the same view, just on a different time frame. From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/china-economy-surpass-united-states_n_2271781.html When I first saw this story it was atributed to the State Department.

Exactly the point Whittle was making. And it does appear to me, and many commentators in the US that Obama is choosing to make these in the most painful and news making ways possible for political gain.

Germany's banks were at greater risk than Canada's although they didn't Iceland. And our GDP remained better through the whole mortgage melt-down. Germany was the star of Europe, no doubt about it, but on most metrics, Canada did better.

I'm consistent in being very fiscally conservative but socially liberal. And I'm not sure if socially liberal is the correct term, in that I am more in favor of the government being involved in a few things as possible. If such a thing were available here, I'd be a member of a party with the same agenda as the Libertarian Party in the US. (If you want to get truly scared, look at the Libertarian Party of Canada website.)

After getting the first home, and getting to the point of having equity in it, I think, baring some short-term real estate slumps, home equity wins.