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Derek Burney: Another bipolar world order is upon us, and the West only has itself to blame


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It would be nice to think Canada could simply stand aside and ignore all this, as Trudeau seems intent on doing. But there's absolutely zero reason to believe that will work. We know our economy is deteriorating, along with our standard of living, has been for years, and will for as far in the future as we can see. We know we're piling up mountains of debt, that our workd competitiveness is low and diminishing, and productivity per person is decreasing, and bureaucracy is growing everywhere. And it's not hard to see why.

Writing in American Greatness, Victor Davis Hanson cited across-the-board moves to socialism as the culprit for today’s malaise. He described the trend as, “The endless war against merit,” saying that, “Once socialism takes hold, every mediocrity, every ossified bureaucracy, every constipated careerist, every hack writer and nobody actor, comes out of the woodwork to find his socialist ‘fair share’ of what he lacked in talent or accomplishment. ”

Gerard Baker offered an even grimmer assessment in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, saying the West “is challenged as it hasn’t been in centuries,” as it is moving away from notions of “meritocracy and audacious dynamism,” to a new social order based more on virtue than ability.

Baker contends that the West, notably the U.S., is not losing because the authoritarian or autocratic systems are superior but because “we are losing our soul, our sense of purpose as a society, our identity as a civilization. We in the West are in the grip of an ideology that disowns our genius, denounces our success, disdains merit, elevates victimhood, embraces societal self-loathing and enforces it all in a web of exclusionary and authoritarian rules, large and small.” Canada is similarly undermined.

The drug of deficit spending saps any sense of normalcy or prudence in public financing. Rampant funding of the pandemic response and the climate apocalypse are two examples, along with education and health care measures that may have superficial popularity but sidestep pressing needs for genuine reform.

Western societies are becoming more cynical about their leaders and many of their institutions. The moral and spiritual fibre of religion is waning. Fundamental tenets of civilization are eroded in the U.S. by increasingly lawless behaviour, notably crime in major cities and a total breakdown of border controls.

 

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/another-bipolar-world-order-is-upon-us-and-the-west-only-has-itself-to-blame

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9 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

First glance is that this is just more daily griping and not a serious look at what is going on.

Economy deterioration?  How so?; We're wealthier than ever.

I'd be even wealthier if I had a dollar for every person living in a tent.

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3 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

"WE" being the collective.

Well, I know more about basketball than I do economics, but it sure looks like we are the downward slide of that curve now.  It's not just Canada.  I have relatives in the UK and apparently tent settlements are cropping up everywhere.  I know someone who is retiring, and has had to move out of his rented home into a small motorhome just so his pension can keep up. 

(He intends to spend his summers in the Scottish Highlands and his winters in Morocco so I'm not altogether sure I'm not a bit envious, but nonetheless, it wasn't his first choice)

Anecdotal stuff, I know, but I bet there are a lot of anecdotes.

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Unfortunately it's not just a daily gripe as Mike would propose. (he's on the left - the left doesn't like to hear bad things about social programs.)

This has been well researched as far as canada goes. We'll be well below the productivity and quality of life average for most countries for the next 40 years. Which means on average our standard of living will go down.

 

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20 minutes ago, bcsapper said:

1. tent settlements are cropping up everywhere.  

2. Anecdotal stuff, I know, but I bet there are a lot of anecdotes.

1. That's not a problem with the economy though is it? Hoardes of the poor people... That's just trickl down right?

2. The tents arent anecdotes.. and anyway the rent people are already retired kind of...

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21 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

1. (he's on the left - the left doesn't like to hear bad things about social programs.)

2. This has been well researched as far as canada goes. We'll be well below the productivity and quality of life average for most countries for the next 40 years. Which means on average our standard of living will go down.

 

1. Fail.  I'm conservative.

2. We're more productive than we were in the past, so why do you think we're not as wealthy? Can you provide me a cite for the laughable claim that our quality of life will be below that of MOST of the 200 or so countries on Earth for the next 40 years? I will wait patiently.

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1 minute ago, Michael Hardner said:

1. That's not a problem with the economy though is it? Hoardes of the poor people... That's just trickl down right?

2. The tents arent anecdotes.. and anyway the rent people are already retired kind of...

1) I don't know what you mean.  I can't assess your sincerity.

2) I meant my friend with the motorhome.  The tents are self evident.

 

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2 minutes ago, bcsapper said:

1) I don't know what you mean.  I can't assess your sincerity.

2) I meant my friend with the motorhome.  The tents are self evident.

 

1) an economic problem would be if we aren't growing, if our economy is constantly shrinking.. if we have a disadvantage in World trade etc.  We don't have that, our GDP keeps growing at a healthy clip in the long term.  The system is failing individual people who are unable to keep up, and that's a different problem.

Maybe they don't have the skills, maybe we're not paying people enough, maybe we're allowing some sectors to monopolize and engage in predatory practices.

But we haven't been bringing government solutions to the types of things that put people out on the street so much.  We're not putting a lot of resources into drug abuse, the homeless people, and markets that are increasing costs for working people.

We are relying on private sector solutions.

2)! Regardless, I want to be him or at least have a drink and a smoke with him somewhere in England

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5 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

1) an economic problem would be if we aren't growing, if our economy is constantly shrinking.. if we have a disadvantage in World trade etc.  We don't have that, our GDP keeps growing at a healthy clip in the long term.  The system is failing individual people who are unable to keep up, and that's a different problem.

Growth vs no growth isn't a useful measurement.  Human progress will drive the world towards productivity increases almost by default.  These measurements should all be relative and comparison based, and Canada is lagging behind in productivity growth vs its peers and has been for the last 20 years, and is expected to continue doing so for the next 20 if we continue on the same path.  

We don't have a properly diversified economy.  We have low rates of business capital investment and our GDP per hour worked is substantially lower than our peers.  The OECD just ranked us dead last on predicted real GDP growth for the next 40 years.  

Thank God we can at least dig stuff out of the ground and sell it abroad, and bid up our real estate prices to pad our numbers.  

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Did you expect anything about 'American Greatness' to not blame everything on socialism? That would be like expecting the Fraser Institute to condemn corporate handouts.

ONLY America refuses to do things that further society because that's socialism, so all the rest of the world is wrong. Right?

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12 minutes ago, Moonbox said:

1.  These measurements should all be relative and comparison based, and Canada is lagging behind in productivity growth vs its peers and has been for the last 20 years, and is expected to continue doing so for the next 20 if we continue on the same path.  

We don't have a properly diversified economy.  We have low rates of business capital investment and our GDP per hour worked is substantially lower than our peers.  The OECD just ranked us dead last on predicted real GDP growth for the next 40 years.  

Thank God we can at least dig stuff out of the ground and sell it abroad, and bid up our real estate prices to pad our numbers.  

1. Maybe we can make them relative to human lives?  Productivity was very much worse 60 years ago, but was living?

Who is seriously trying to predict 40 years into the future?

Edited by Michael Hardner
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36 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

1. Fail.  I'm conservative.

no, you're not. 

You're a biological left winger who likes to pretend he's conservative. You're not conservative, you're "trans-political". 

36 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

2. We're more productive than we were in the past, so why do you think we're not as wealthy?

We are not more productive than we were in the past in comparison to productivity rates today. we have fallen behind and are less competitive compared to others than we would have been in the past.

As a direct result we're producing less value than others are and that makes us less wealthy.

36 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

Can you provide me a cite for the laughable claim that our quality of life will be below that of MOST of the 200 or so countries on Earth for the next 40 years? I will wait patiently.

Sure.

Here's the last 20 years - showing we have fallen behind almost ALL of the major players in productivity using the us as a constant.

https://bcbc.com/insights-and-opinions/canadas-productivity-performance-over-the-past-20-years

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-lagging-u-s-productivity-growth-since-1980-statscan-1.638007

here's the next 40 years

https://bcbc.com/insights-and-opinions/oecd-predicts-canada-will-be-the-worst-performing-advanced-economy-over-the-next-decade-and-the-three-decades-after-that

We're going to lag behind all the advanced economies.  Which means virtualy all the countries on earth will improve their productivity and qualities of life more than we will. 

So yeah. Looks like you were wrong across the board. We HAVE fallen behind, we ARE going to lag behind everyone, and you are DEFINITELY not a conservative. :)

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11 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

1. Maybe we can make them relative to human lives?  Productivity was very much worse 60 years ago, but was living?

Who is seriously trying to predict 40 years into the future?

Everybody is trying to predict 40 years in the future. What - you didn't think the world would be here in 40 years?

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15 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

1. Maybe we can make them relative to human lives?  Productivity was very much worse 60 years ago, but was living?

Yes, but it was also "living" in the 18th century, or the Dark Ages.  Nobody wants to go back to either.  Even then, however, you at least had relatively insulated local economies.  If anyone wanted "stuff", they had to buy it from someone close by.  It doesn't really work the same in the global economy.

15 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

Who is seriously trying to predict 40 years into the future?

Yes, I thought the same thing and that's why I'm not panicking, and why I didn't start a thread about it. This isn't a new trend.  It's a long and worrying facet of Canadian culture/economic thinking that merits attention rather than outright dismissal (though I agree it's silly to blame it on "socialism" or Justin or whatever).   

 

Edited by Moonbox
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1 minute ago, CdnFox said:
3 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

1. no, you're not. 

 

2. We are not more productive than we were in the past in comparison to productivity rates today. 

 

1. Fail.  I am.  Your opinions aren't anything.

2. You're changing the argument to say we're less productive relative to other nations today.  I won't argue that point.  It makes sense.

Is this why we have all these homeless then?  Who gains from increased productivity?  

  

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29 minutes ago, Moonbox said:

Thank God we can at least dig stuff out of the ground and sell it abroad, and bid up our real estate prices to pad our numbers.  

Trudeau says "No!" to that. Everything his government has done since taking office has been aimed at restricting and delaying any growth in the natural resources sector.

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18 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

1. Maybe we can make them relative to human lives?  Productivity was very much worse 60 years ago, but was living?

Who is seriously trying to predict 40 years into the future?

Can we not predict twenty years into the past? Can we not see that our productivity has lagged and its growth has lagged our peer countries and predict that will continue?

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2 minutes ago, Moonbox said:

1. Yes, but it was also "living" in the 18th century, or the Dark Ages.  Nobody wants to go back to either. 

2. It doesn't really work the same in the global economy.

 

1. Haha... I'm talking about the 1960s and 70s.... 

2. I agree with that and the rest of your post.

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4 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

I don't think that's a sound method for predicting such things.

 

Barring something to change momentum, things tend to remain the same. And certainly the OECD says it will. I might add this government rarely ever even discusses economic expansion. Its priorities always seem to be income redistribution and culture war stuff.

Edited by I am Groot
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