Chrysler Bankrupt - Gets $3bn from Canadian Governments

[Smallc]

Nowadays, governments take about 50% of our national income

False. Taxation takes up 33.3 - 33.4% of the Canadian economy. That is over 3% less than in 1998. http://www.oecd.org/document/4/0,3343,en_2...1_1_1_1,00.html

and spend a little less than half on stuff (that we may or may not want) and a little more than half on transfers between us.

False. The Federal budget is about $230B. Transfers make up about $60B of that budget. http://www.fin.gc.ca/fedprov/mtp-eng.asp

[August1991]

False. Taxation takes up 33.3 - 33.4% of the Canadian economy. That is over 3% less than in 1998. http://www.oecd.org/document/4/0,3343,en_2...1_1_1_1,00.html

Those OECD statistics seem to refer to government "tax revenues" as a percentage of the economy. (Not surprisingly, the US is in the low end of the graph since US governments borrow.)

Smallc, I referred to the State's share of national income. In case you don't know, governments can spend more than their tax revenues and they can force Peter to pay Paul. (As to the modern State, I didn't discuss its power to force Paul to buy airbags from Peter.)

BTW, the term "transfer" is difficult to understand because various governments and government agencies transfer money between themselves and to individuals.

False. The Federal budget is about $230B. Transfers make up about $60B of that budget. http://www.fin.gc.ca/fedprov/mtp-eng.asp

In your link, I think the term "transfer" is used to refer to transfers to other levels of government - not transfers to individuals. In any case, the federal government is only one part of the Canadian State.

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More and bigger government does not mean good government. Haiti has received numerous subsidies, government aid packages, transfers and yet it remains impoverished compared to the Dominican Republic. One can say the same of South and North Korea.

The easiest thing for a politician to say is yes. It is easy to spend other people's money.

Edited May 7, 2009 by August1991

[Smallc]

Those OECD statistics seem to refer to government "tax revenues" as a percentage of the economy. (Not surprisingly, the US is in the low end of the graph since US governments borrow.)

Smallc, I referred to the State's share of national income.

What's that even supposed to mean? GNI numbers aren't all that much different than those dealing with GDP. GDP is the standard measure of economic activity in a county and I don't see why anything else should be used.

Edited May 7, 2009 by Smallc

[August1991]

What's that even supposed to mean? GNI numbers aren't all that much different than those dealing with GDP. GDP is the standard measure of economic activity in a county and I don't see why anything else should be used.

As a term, I used National Income (GNI) because it seemed better than GDP.

Whatever the measure, governments take far more from us now than when Keynes first developed his theories.

Edited May 7, 2009 by August1991

[Smallc]

Whatever the measure, governments take far more from us now than when Keynes first developed his theories.

I don't remember where I heard it, but I remember hearing a statistic that stated federal government taxes are the lowest they have been since the 1950s. Like I said though, I don't remember what measure they were using or where it was from.

One thing that I do know for sure though, Canadians in general demand a high level of government service at a low price....we can't always have that, and so we have higher taxes than some of us would like...and less services than others would like.

[August1991]

I don't remember where I heard it, but I remember hearing a statistic that stated federal government taxes are the lowest they have been since the 1950s. Like I said though, I don't remember what measure they were using or where it was from.

One thing that I do know for sure though, Canadians in general demand a high level of government service at a low price....we can't always have that, and so we have higher taxes than some of us would like...and less services than others would like.

In Canada, government purchases have grown, more or less, since Confederation. Governments have also increased transfers between individuals.

Since government spending is now a political statistic, and governments have found ways to hide their spending, it is hard to find accurate numbers - given the government propensity to use bureaucratic acroynms. (For example, are CPP contributions a tax and are CPP payouts part of government transfers? What about OAP? Or the EDC?

Edited May 7, 2009 by August1991