The endless screaming "Government do More!" keeps on at cbc.ca
Here is the latest article.
What did we do before the advent of taxing people to into submission? Did people look after their loved ones? Did churches and charities help out?
Maybe if taxes were not so high, son or daughter could look after their own families, like what happened for generations.
It does not take a village to look after Grandma, it takes you. And I would wager a bet if you were paying for Grandma's accommodations, the quality would be better. But that is only because it would be your money, not "The Government's".
Monday, November 21, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Blaine Higgs, Minister Alone
First off let me state I think Minister Higgs is wrong to suggest higher taxes (as he has recently), is the answer to our fiscal problems.
But at least he is stating the obvious, we are in a pickle.
We are like the alcoholic that wakes up in the morning thinking the solution to our hangover is "Hair of the Dog".
Our problem is they cannot stop spending our children's future incomes. We need real solutions to their spending problem, not just another credit card that someone else makes the minimum payment on.
I worry nobody is listening to Minister Higgs, whether it is in the Legislature or the halls of the government offices.
We need to eliminate a dozen departments, hundreds of programs, and thousands of civil servants. Just raising taxes to have it wasted in Fredericton will not make us richer, it will only transfer wealth from the creators of the wealth (businesses and their employees) to government employees. Which is only great if you are one of the chosen with a job for life and a defined benefit pension plan.
But at least he is stating the obvious, we are in a pickle.
We are like the alcoholic that wakes up in the morning thinking the solution to our hangover is "Hair of the Dog".
Our problem is they cannot stop spending our children's future incomes. We need real solutions to their spending problem, not just another credit card that someone else makes the minimum payment on.
I worry nobody is listening to Minister Higgs, whether it is in the Legislature or the halls of the government offices.
We need to eliminate a dozen departments, hundreds of programs, and thousands of civil servants. Just raising taxes to have it wasted in Fredericton will not make us richer, it will only transfer wealth from the creators of the wealth (businesses and their employees) to government employees. Which is only great if you are one of the chosen with a job for life and a defined benefit pension plan.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Harper and Flaherty, Are They Just Liars?
Minister Flaherty;
If the budget is not balanced by the end of the current term, and families do not receive the promised tax cut through income splitting, you are a liar.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has a good piece on it.
If the budget is not balanced by the end of the current term, and families do not receive the promised tax cut through income splitting, you are a liar.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has a good piece on it.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Spending Problem? No Problem, Just Raise Taxes
It seems Finance Minister Higgs cannot control spending, so he is moving to the other side of the ledger, and just raising taxes. I pains me to keep stating it, but you cannot increase taxes to increase the wealth of New Brunswickers.
CBC Link here.
Now user fees are generally fine in my books, if they would cut taxes somewhere (anywhere?) else. But I wonder why everyone seems to like this tax, er, user fee, as opposed to user fees on other things?
Health spending is increasing exponentially with no plan. The Minister of Health needs to do something other than backtrack on a plan to stop covering the cost of flu shots.
Education is still increasing in spite of declining enrollment. Time to 'rationalize' our assets. Close and sell some schools, even the empty ones in the Speaker's riding.
Welfare is out of control with a minister who thinks paying people to not work will help them. Welfare is a trap. Spending more money their will lead to careers collecting welfare. And nepotism in the welfare collecting business is rampant. We are not just creating current people with no hope, but future generations of no hope.
Our government is spending so wildly drunken sailors are concerned we are hurting their reputaion.
More spending and higher taxes will not improve our economy Minister Higgs.
CBC Link here.
Now user fees are generally fine in my books, if they would cut taxes somewhere (anywhere?) else. But I wonder why everyone seems to like this tax, er, user fee, as opposed to user fees on other things?
The problem in NB is runaway spending, and Minister Higgs appears to have zero ability to control that.
Health spending is increasing exponentially with no plan. The Minister of Health needs to do something other than backtrack on a plan to stop covering the cost of flu shots.
Education is still increasing in spite of declining enrollment. Time to 'rationalize' our assets. Close and sell some schools, even the empty ones in the Speaker's riding.
Welfare is out of control with a minister who thinks paying people to not work will help them. Welfare is a trap. Spending more money their will lead to careers collecting welfare. And nepotism in the welfare collecting business is rampant. We are not just creating current people with no hope, but future generations of no hope.
Our government is spending so wildly drunken sailors are concerned we are hurting their reputaion.
More spending and higher taxes will not improve our economy Minister Higgs.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Saint John workers 'attacked'
CBC is reporting that Jamie Hachey, President of the Saint John Police Association, is extremely upset that the city is broke.
No, actually he is upset that the city may finally do something about their abysmal financial situation.
The City of Saint John is driving residents away. Maybe de-indexing pensions is better than bankruptcy, but Mr. Hachey does not seem to care how broke the city is, how shoddy the infrastructure is, or how many people leave the city to get away from runaway staffing costs inflating their tax bills and eating up city taxes that could be spent fixing roads.
Those who cannot afford to move to Quispamsis or Grand Bay will be left holding the bag in Saint John.
Like Fredericton to the north, many city employees have so little interest in supporting their city they will not even live in it. The union leadership in Saint John is blind to reality. The provincial government is not going to bail them out.
Saint John is a city in decline in search of leadership. Ivan Court is not it, and obviously the union leadership thinks there are still 90,000 people living in the city paying property taxes.
No, actually he is upset that the city may finally do something about their abysmal financial situation.
The City of Saint John is driving residents away. Maybe de-indexing pensions is better than bankruptcy, but Mr. Hachey does not seem to care how broke the city is, how shoddy the infrastructure is, or how many people leave the city to get away from runaway staffing costs inflating their tax bills and eating up city taxes that could be spent fixing roads.
Those who cannot afford to move to Quispamsis or Grand Bay will be left holding the bag in Saint John.
Like Fredericton to the north, many city employees have so little interest in supporting their city they will not even live in it. The union leadership in Saint John is blind to reality. The provincial government is not going to bail them out.
Saint John is a city in decline in search of leadership. Ivan Court is not it, and obviously the union leadership thinks there are still 90,000 people living in the city paying property taxes.
Taking 'til It Hurts
Alec Bruce of the Moncton Times Transcript has a great article titled 'Giving until it hurts'.
Read it here
Now the T&T has some run some stupid columns, but is there nobody there reviewing this crap?
Mr. Bruce starts off with a wonderful bit about how charitable we are (second only to Malta, tied with Ireland!), then starts on some garbage about the federal government wanting value for money or some stupid thing from those organizations our tax money gets showered on. Imagine! Actually showing you did something with the money, what do these damn crazy right-wingers want?
A few points for Mr. Bruce:
1. The federal government taking your wealth and sending it elsewhere is not charity, it is taxation. Charity is money you voluntarily part with.
2. Expecting said charities to actually DO what they claim to do may seem onerous or unrealistic to you, but expecting more than nice brochures and a couple of trips to the Caribbean is not too much to ask, is it? The people the money was confiscated from would like to know who got to go to Barbados and did they get the buffet. And did Busty Hookers get expensed?
3. You then move on to a paragraph about the crime bill and the gun registry. It is damn stupid legislation to lock up pot heads for being stupid, but what does this have to do with charity? And allowing people to own guns without a Toronto bureaucrat in the loop? What does that have to do with charitable giving? Or are the billions wasted on that more 'charity'?
4. Next we move on to Britain. PM David Cameron expects the private sector to burden more of the charity work. Well duh, if the government is doing it, it ain't charity.
5. Lastly, you state 'There is no credible evidence that points to federally-funded, Canadian non-profits wasting vast amounts of taxpayer money en masse.' Well Sherlock, who is measuring it? Nobody, that's who. And you seem too suggest this person, nobody, is who should measure it.
Confusing charity with taxation is possibly the dumbest thing the T&T has printed this week. But it is only Monday.
Read it here
Now the T&T has some run some stupid columns, but is there nobody there reviewing this crap?
Mr. Bruce starts off with a wonderful bit about how charitable we are (second only to Malta, tied with Ireland!), then starts on some garbage about the federal government wanting value for money or some stupid thing from those organizations our tax money gets showered on. Imagine! Actually showing you did something with the money, what do these damn crazy right-wingers want?
A few points for Mr. Bruce:
1. The federal government taking your wealth and sending it elsewhere is not charity, it is taxation. Charity is money you voluntarily part with.
2. Expecting said charities to actually DO what they claim to do may seem onerous or unrealistic to you, but expecting more than nice brochures and a couple of trips to the Caribbean is not too much to ask, is it? The people the money was confiscated from would like to know who got to go to Barbados and did they get the buffet. And did Busty Hookers get expensed?
3. You then move on to a paragraph about the crime bill and the gun registry. It is damn stupid legislation to lock up pot heads for being stupid, but what does this have to do with charity? And allowing people to own guns without a Toronto bureaucrat in the loop? What does that have to do with charitable giving? Or are the billions wasted on that more 'charity'?
4. Next we move on to Britain. PM David Cameron expects the private sector to burden more of the charity work. Well duh, if the government is doing it, it ain't charity.
5. Lastly, you state 'There is no credible evidence that points to federally-funded, Canadian non-profits wasting vast amounts of taxpayer money en masse.' Well Sherlock, who is measuring it? Nobody, that's who. And you seem too suggest this person, nobody, is who should measure it.
Confusing charity with taxation is possibly the dumbest thing the T&T has printed this week. But it is only Monday.
Monday, September 26, 2011
ALWARD - MORE PROGRESSIVE THAN CONSERVATIVE
When the political pundits get bored in the in the distant future and decide to do a historical search for “Canada’s Worst Provincial Premier EVER”. Shawn Graham would be NB’s nominee.
Comparing Alward to Graham is ridiculous in the sense that Graham performed so poorly that we would have been better served by a semi-retarded lump pulled from the Jobs Unlimited labour pool. In other words, Alward can only be measured by his actions. Lets have a look at some of them.
1.The New Brunswick Energy Commission: Remember this? Bill Thompson and Jeannot Volpe roaming the province with their “public engagement” entourage. What were their final recommendations?
a.Provide more bureaucratic over-site for the already bloated crown corporation,
b.Ban electric baseboard heaters and
c. Increase power rates for those who already have them installed.
Not bad content for a 10 yr energy plan. Somebody should dig this report out if or when Craig Leonard decides to do something with his portfolio other than open an office in Fredericton and make sure his sister has cushy job in the Premier’s office.
2.The Cell Phone Legislation: The list of unnecessary legislation is long but this one may be the proof that the PC Party of NB is really not in the business of doing anything that really makes a difference. The Nanny State grows yet again. What’s next? Tanning beds?
3.Cut Spending and Lower Taxes: What is the correct word for a government that says one thing but does the exact opposite. Gas tax up, booze tax up, gov’t spending up 63 million. Not to mention this gov’t is trying to soften the ground for an HST hike. This isn’t governing, this is pandering.
4. INVEST NB: WTF?? They created ANOTHER gov’t agency! This all we needed…more government. Whatever the current moniker of age old gov’t sponsored economic development, the results are always the same, cronyism and the vanishing of taxpayers money.
5. Alward DID NOTHING to help New Brunswickers get to the bottom of the ATCON scandal. $70 million gone forever and tory backbenchers silenced on the issue.
That being said, the most disappointing aspect of Alward, year 1, was the budget. They missed the best opportunity in decades to tackle the size of government. I will end with a question. Do fiscal conservatives exist?
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