If Canada did it why cant we?

Fred Barnes: How Spending Cuts—Not Higher Taxes—Saved Canada - WSJ.com

Quote:

---

Mr. Chretien and his finance minister, Paul Martin, took decisive action. "Canadians have told us that they want the deficit brought down by reducing government spending, not by raising taxes, and we agree," Mr. Martin said. The new administration slashed spending. Unemployment benefits were cut by nearly 40%. The ratio of spending cuts to tax increases was nearly 7-to-1. Federal employment was reduced by 14%. Canada's national railway and air-traffic-control system were privatized.

The economy rebounded. Between 1995 and 1998, a $36.6 billion deficit turned into a $3 billion surplus. Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio was cut in half in a decade. Canada now has faster economic growth than America (3.3% in 2010, compared to 2.9% in the U.S.), a lower jobless rate (7.2% in June, when the U.S. rate was 9.2%), a deficit-to-GDP ratio that's a quarter of ours, and a stronger dollar.

---

And now their dollar is worth more than the greenback.....How bad are we when Canada is in the lead?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

Fred Barnes: How Spending Cuts—Not Higher Taxes—Saved Canada - WSJ.com

And now their dollar is worth more than the greenback.....How bad are we when Canada is in the lead?

---

ahoy Thanatos,

i agree that our mighty neighbors to the north hath policies that our country could learn from.

Canada, fer example, has more rigorous financial regulation, so them folks weren't keelhauled with the brunt 'o the mortgage meltdown.

with thar health care policy, Canadians take care 'o one another (them wretched socialist weenies, yarrr!), so with that baseline concern addressed 'tis probably easier fer them to cut back on other services to the poverty striken and the unfortunate.

- MeadHallPirate

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

ahoy Thanatos,

i agree that our mighty neighbors to the north hath policies that our country could learn from.

Canada, fer example, has more rigorous financial regulation, so them folks weren't keelhauled with the brunt 'o the mortgage meltdown.

with thar health care policy, Canadians take care 'o one another (them wretched socialist weenies, yarrr!), so with that baseline concern addressed 'tis probably easier fer them to cut back on other services to the poverty striken and the unfortunate.

- MeadHallPirate

---

Their healthcare policy is not doing their economy any good. But their mass cuts and not raising taxes is.....Funny that huh?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

Their healthcare policy is not doing their economy any good. But their mass cuts and not raising taxes is.....Funny that huh?

---

ahoy Thanatos144,

oh, i don't know about that, me bucko.

canadians spend less money on healthcare than americans do, and thats due to thar socialist healthcare policy.

the result be that thar citizens probably have a bit more money left to spend, and consumer spendin' be the mother's milk 'o any economy.

- MeadHallPirate

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

ahoy Thanatos144,

oh, i don't know about that, me bucko.

canadians spend less money on healthcare than americans do, and thats due to thar socialist healthcare policy.

the result be that thar citizens probably have a bit more money left to spend, and consumer spendin' be the mother's milk 'o any economy.

- MeadHallPirate

---

They have a higher mortality rate then we do as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

They have a higher mortality rate then we do as well.

---

ahoy Thanatos144,

i didn't mean to steer yer thread off topic, so i'll just end with this;

Healthcare Economist Health Care System Grudge Match: Canada vs. U.S.

the results (and thats what matters, aye?) between the United States and Canada be pretty similar, though usin' some metrics provided Canadians recieve slightly better healthcare.

in either case, the cost per person in our great country be higher fer the healthcare we receive.

aye.

- MeadHallPirate

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

ahoy Thanatos144,

i didn't mean to steer yer thread off topic, so i'll just end with this;

Healthcare Economist Health Care System Grudge Match: Canada vs. U.S.

the results (and thats what matters, aye?) between the United States and Canada be pretty similar, though usin' some metrics provided Canadians recieve slightly better healthcare.

in either case, the cost per person in our great country be higher fer the healthcare we receive.

aye.

- MeadHallPirate

---

Again cheaper to bury them than treat them so of course their costs are lower.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

They have a higher mortality rate then we do as well.

---

Actually, they don't. Canada's average life expectancy is 81.38 years. They are ranked 9th in the world. The U.S. has an average life expectancy of 78.92 and are ranked 42nd in the world.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

Fred Barnes: How Spending Cuts—Not Higher Taxes—Saved Canada - WSJ.com



And now their dollar is worth more than the greenback.....How bad are we when Canada is in the lead?

---

Because Canada elected a conservative executive.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

Their healthcare policy is not doing their economy any good. But their mass cuts and not raising taxes is.....Funny that huh?

---

While it is true that some provinces spend nearly 30% of their budget on health care. the national spends a fraction of what the US spends.

The health care field it also a huge employer of high income earners which does do the economy a lot of good.

And now we are seeing a trend toward health care "tourism", where Americans and people from some Asian countries are coming here for medical care which they pay for out of their own pocket. Some heart procedures here, for example, are a fraction of the price of for profit hospitals in the US.


\

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FearandLoathing

While it is true that some provinces spend nearly 30% of their budget on health care. the national spends a fraction of what the US spends.

The health care field it also a huge employer of high income earners which does do the economy a lot of good.

And now we are seeing a trend toward health care "tourism", where Americans and people from some Asian countries are coming here for medical care which they pay for out of their own pocket. Some heart procedures here, for example, are a fraction of the price of for profit hospitals in the US.


\

---

Dont want to get off track with this. So I am gonna just say I disagree

Quote:

---

Mr. Chretien and his finance minister, Paul Martin, took decisive action. "Canadians have told us that they want the deficit brought down by reducing government spending, not by raising taxes, and we agree," Mr. Martin said. The new administration slashed spending. Unemployment benefits were cut by nearly 40%. The ratio of spending cuts to tax increases was nearly 7-to-1. Federal employment was reduced by 14%. Canada's national railway and air-traffic-control system were privatized.

The economy rebounded. Between 1995 and 1998, a $36.6 billion deficit turned into a $3 billion surplus. Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio was cut in half in a decade. Canada now has faster economic growth than America (3.3% in 2010, compared to 2.9% in the U.S.), a lower jobless rate (7.2% in June, when the U.S. rate was 9.2%), a deficit-to-GDP ratio that's a quarter of ours, and a stronger dollar.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

Fred Barnes: How Spending Cuts—Not Higher Taxes—Saved Canada - WSJ.com

And now their dollar is worth more than the greenback.....How bad are we when Canada is in the lead?

---

The quote makes it sound simple and easy. It was not.

First of all Chretien and his Liberals had to be dragged kicking and screaming to deal with the growing debt through pressure from the then Reform Party led by Preston Manning.

It was harshly painful and in some cases downright illegal as the government raided unemployment insurance reserves. They did not cut taxes, but re-distributed the tax load and introduced what we have come to know as "stealth taxation" through fees and surcharges. Air travelers, for example, pay $20 per person every time they use an airport.

The national treasury also benefited from an artificially deflated dollar making our exports more easily marketed but which tore a whole in corporate profits and forced the closure of some fairly substantial corporations.

They also off-loaded a lot of spending on the provinces and stripped municipalities of the ability to replace aging infrastructure.

It did produce surplus budgets in time. And it is now, since the Conservative government was elected that there have been tax reductions which have re-kindled the economy.

The one thing for which we should be most grateful however was the outright refusal, despite intense pressure from the US, to relax Canada's stringent banking regulations.

But the benefits of that pain and suffering are more than evident now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FearandLoathing

The quote makes it sound simple and easy. It was not.

First of all Chretien and his Liberals had to be dragged kicking and screaming to deal with the growing debt through pressure from the then Reform Party led by Preston Manning.

It was harshly painful and in some cases downright illegal as the government raided unemployment insurance reserves. They did not cut taxes, but re-distributed the tax load and introduced what we have come to know as "stealth taxation" through fees and surcharges. Air travelers, for example, pay $20 per person every time they use an airport.

The national treasury also benefited from an artificially deflated dollar making our exports more easily marketed but which tore a whole in corporate profits and forced the closure of some fairly substantial corporations.

They also off-loaded a lot of spending on the provinces and stripped municipalities of the ability to replace aging infrastructure.

It did produce surplus budgets in time. And it is now, since the Conservative government was elected that there have been tax reductions which have re-kindled the economy.

The one thing for which we should be most grateful however was the outright refusal, despite intense pressure from the US, to relax Canada's stringent banking regulations.

But the benefits of that pain and suffering are more than evident now.

---

If doing this helps a country like Canada which is not set up the way ours is them fhe world us Americans need to pay heed. Our country was founded on small government and balanced power between a United States. How else did you think we became the most powerful country in the world in such a short time?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thanatos144

Dont want to get off track with this. So I am gonna just say I disagree

---

I don't want to get off topic either but I think you need to acknowledge that your claim about life expectancy is way wrong.

And the comment about it's cheaper to bury them than treat them is rather insulting.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FearandLoathing

I don't want to get off topic either but I think you need to acknowledge that your claim about life expectancy is way wrong.

And the comment about it's cheaper to bury them than treat them is rather insulting.

---

I would if i was wrong