Over just a few years, between 1995 and 1998, Canada transformed a $32 billion federal deficit, equivalent to 4 percent of its gross domestic product, into a $2.5 billion surplus. This achievement was followed by a full decade of surplus budgets, with debt, tax and poverty rates all falling as growth, investment and employment rose.
"The deficit is not an invention of ideology, but a fact of arithmetic." Paul Martin, Canadian Federal Finance minister in the 1990s.
One of the important components is that the Canadian people came together to address it, no doubt because their elected leaders came together to address it and sacrifice was expected of all. As a result the country achieved a stronger identity: "...there was a palpable wave of national pride once it was achieved."
ReplyDeleteA lot can be done if everyone is called upon to contribute and feel a part of the whole working toward a common cause. Conrast that with the United States. Our elected representatives ask nothing of the citizens. This economic crisis and these wars under each Bush are telling examples. No action or sacrifice is asked of the citizenry as a whole, and the only sacrifices are relegated to just a few: the poor and those in the military (respectively). Parts of the nation are hurting due to world-wide crises but our elected officials seek only to insulate their electorate at the peril of all else and everone else One doesn't have to be a cynic to know why.
We are a country where the Individual is supreme, and so more than most we need a reason to pull together as a whole. When nothing is asked of us, we are going to further our own ends as an Indvidual. In addition, the rhetoric and actions of our elected representatives divide us by economic class and by ideological leanings; meanwhile their pandering to the excessive wants of the many keeps us happy with the status quo.
Yes, the richer among us need to be taxed further, not because it will result in enough money to solve the problem, but because we all need to contribute. It makes a difference whether you say: "This is being done to you by the other Party." or "This is part of your contribution to help solve our problem and others are contributing too." Similarly, changes need to be made which result in cuts to the public assistance programs. I would prefer hiring many in public works projects in exchange for unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc. That would create a feeling of personal value within the individual receiving the benefits, they would hear fewer attacks from people on the far right, and there would be incentive to pursue more gainful employment. Face it, we are only human; evolution surely rewarded those who sought sustainability through the easy path (why spend all this energy doing something which is unnecessary). However, I think that evolution also rewarded those who had a streak of altruism toward the benefit of their clan/society as well. I believe that it is in us, but somebody has to make a case for it, if not at least ask it of us; we surely don't need our elected officials directing us away from it.
Good post. I will give an amen specifically to the following excerpts:
Delete1. “No action or sacrifice is asked of the citizenry as a whole,”
2. “our elected officials seek only to insulate their electorate”
3. “When nothing is asked of us, we are going to further our own ends as an Individual.”
4. “we all need to contribute”
5. “changes need to be made which result in cuts to the public assistance programs”
6. “I would prefer hiring many in public works projects in exchange for unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc.”
It is possible that emptyset and I may have gotten to the same place by different routes. No matter, it seems that we agree on a proposed solution.
I agree with you.
ReplyDelete