Big Government And Crony Capitalism

[Odinson]

You mean like Madonna... That old coot should stop.

[Romero]

A Reality Check on Mr. Harper's "Achievements"



On New Year's Eve, Stephen Harper published a list of what he called his "accomplishments" in 2013. Strangely absent was any mention of integrity, transparency or accountability, or any plan to confront the ethics scandal that triggered police allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust among his most senior personnel.



He boasts about low taxes, but in fact he has increased the overall federal tax burden in each of his last four budgets. Small business owners, credit unions, consumers and middle-class families have all been hit. As just one prime example, higher EI payroll taxes every year since 2011 have already raked in an extra $3.6-billion from both employers and employees, and now the Conservatives are freezing EI rates at clearly excessive levels to collect even more revenue on-going.



Mr. Harper says he now has a grand plan to reduce the federal deficit, but when he first took office in 2006, Canada had been deficit-free for nearly a decade. He is the one who squandered that advantage. He overspent by three times the rate of inflation and put this country back into the red before the recession arrived in 2008. And that made dealing with the downturn much more costly. At the bottom line, the Harper regime has created more than $150-billion in new federal debt.



On the employment front, the labour force "participation rate" has fallen by a full percentage point since just before the recession, meaning 350,000 Canadians have dropped out of the job market. But still, the number searching for work today is more than 200,000 higher than pre-recession levels. Young Canadians especially are suffering double-digit joblessness.



Mr. Harper has the worst economic growth record of any Prime Minister since R.B. Bennett.



Mr. Harper claims credit for public infrastructure projects, but he fails to mention his cuts to the federal "Build Canada" budget - $1.5-billion cut in each of this year and next, and another $1-billion cut in the year after that. Infrastructure momentum has stalled.



He claims to be a friend of the Canadian Forces, but why then has his government bungled virtually every major military procurement project? Why are 90-year-old veterans having to hold public demonstrations against notoriously bad services? And why has former Defence Chief Rick Hillier called for a Public Inquiry into this government's lack of support for those struggling with PTSD?



The reality checks could go on and on. But the point is clear. Mr. Harper cannot "spin" his way out of the deep hole he has dug for himself. Trust has been shattered. A majority of Canadians now believe his performance is poor and they don't like where he's heading. That's the Harper legacy from 2013.



http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ralph-goodale/harper-achievements_b_4538059.html">//http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ralph-goodale/harper-achievements_b_4538059.html

[Odinson]

i particularly like the ones where some washed up has been celebrity walks around holding some little black baby and trying to extort the folks back home......stupid idiots should mind their own business....take lots of class A drugs and commit sucide...like a good celebrity should...... :ugeek:

They adopt black babies because it is cool at the moment. Of course rich celebs can provide a life of luxury to little black babies. Taking them from their mothers whom can only provide a living.



This is done only to look modern and cool. Pretty goddamn thoughtless.



They are not giving up their babies willingly.



It is bullshit, man...

[Anonymous]

i particularly like the ones where some washed up has been celebrity walks around holding some little black baby and trying to extort the folks back home......stupid idiots should mind their own business....take lots of class A drugs and commit sucide...like a good celebrity should...... :ugeek:

They adopt black babies because it is cool at the moment. Of course rich celebs can provide a life of luxury to little black babies. Taking them from their mothers whom can only provide a living.



This is done only to look modern and cool. Pretty goddamn thoughtless.



They are not giving up their babies willingly.



It is bullshit, man...

Madonna is not raising an adopted child her staff is..



It seems that celebrities are doing this for reasons of ego and image in the press..



Perhaps I am too cynical, but I cannot help but question their motives.