Blue Like You

Archive for October 6th, 2008

I’ll be voting with my wallet.

No more CDs by Ed Robertson.

Canadians would love nothing more than to hear a party leader put forward an iron-clad way for our country to avoid the economic carnage that is happening south of our border.

Sadly, there is no such perfect plan. It does not exist because we are in uncharted territory.

So all the voter can do is weigh the options and put a lot of trust into whichever platform they end up selecting.

But a having a ‘plan’ doesn’t necessarily ensure that it will work. We only have to look at the situation in Europe to see that there are no simple solutions.

All we can really hope for is that whoever ends up leading the country doesn’t make things worse. That is why I am concerned about the thought of Stephane Dion becoming Prime Minister.

People are worried about their stock portfolios - especially the wave of Baby Boomers nearing retirement. Then when Stephane Dion starts musing about taking away income splitting for pensioners, and a Liberal MP has to quickly recant, seniors have cause for concern.  Who is telling the truth?

If Dion had to find more tax money for his social programs, would he ever consider revoking the pension splitting in the future?

And what about that carbon tax ? Dion points to Europe as an example of how well being green merges with economic policy, but as Lorrie Goldstein points out today, Europe really shouldn’t be used as the poster child. It just isn’t working.

But election hopefuls are trying to pretend that they have all the answers, when in reality nobody truly knows how Canada will fare over the next several months, and what policies are necessary to cushion the blow. Some experts even suggest that running a deficit might be a reasonable plan in an emergency situation, but that we are not in any immediate danger right now.

So it all boils down to trust and competence.

Who are you willing to put your money on? The economist or the professor?

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Related: Wudrick Blog - The No-Plan Part ll

Canadian Business - It’s the economy.

The Record - Market turmoil has stress levels on the rise.

Globe - Where did all my money go? (Margaret Wente.)  Great comment by ‘General Wolfe’ following Wente’s column:

General Wolfe from Wolfe Island, Canada writes: Don’t worry, you’ve just suffered unrealized losses of your unrealized gains. Somehow if you think of it that way it doesn’t seem so bad.

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Update -  Harper: Tories will act on banks if needed. (Globe)

Jonathan Chevreau - Live Q & A (Financial Post)

CBC - Financial crisis hows wealth a ‘house built on sand’: Pope.