The Shotgun Blog
« Peak what now? | Main | Gerry Nicholls launches Libertas Post »
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Taxation not my real worry for an Ignatieff government
There has been repeated jumping up and down saying Michael Ignatieff will raise taxes. There has been equal jumping up and down saying that he won't. Here and here are two (nearly identical) articles that illustrate the confusion.
While we are waiting for Mr. Ignatieff to say "read my lips no new taxes," let us consider that taxation is not what would make him a disastrous Prime Minister.
Mr. Ignatieff is a politician with a plan and, as Gerry Nicholls points out, a politician with a plan is something to be feared. He is a man who believes that the economy is a giant wealth making machine. He can pull a lever here and push a button there then boom! Economic prosperity for everyone.
The truth is either more complicated or more simple depending on how you look at it. The market is not an abstract force and economics isn't a game to be played like Civilization. It is reality. That is to say that the market is millions of interactions between individuals; it is society.
What Mr. Ignatieff proposes to do, indeed what most governments propose to do, is to use force to reshape reality.
In his speech a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Ignatieff said he will give hand outs of other people's money to regions and certain sectors that he chooses. He will decide who can buy what companies and for what reasons. In short Mr. Ignatieff will decide who wins and who loses. Not the millions of consumer choices that make up the real world, but the political whims of a central government.
That is the disaster of an Ignatieff government.
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on October 8, 2009 in Canadian Politics | Permalink
Comments
So he wants to redistribute. The problem is since his economic advisers are probably all Keynesians, he's been told that spending drives the economy and that gov't spending is just as productive as private spending.
Posted by: Charles | 2009-10-08 6:53:40 AM
I loved playing Civilization. Civ2 was even better, but Civ3 and Civ4 were not as good.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-10-08 6:54:30 AM
Elections are a comparative choice. We know, because it has already happened, that a Harper government is a government that vastly increases government spending and directs that spending to particular regions and particular sectors that he chooses. So while it is true that an Ignatieff government can be expected to do the same thing, it does not make the Liberals a worse choice than the Conservatives. In fact, as Andrew Coyne has documented, governments calling themselves "conservative" have typically increased spending at a greater rate than Liberal ones. So if fear of overspending that is directed by political or personal priorities is the basis of your vote, you have no better reason to vote for the Conservative Party than you do to vote for the Liberals. If anything, history gives a reason to think Harper will increase spending faster.
Posted by: Fact Check | 2009-10-08 7:06:09 AM
Or I can not bother to vote at all.
If you like Civilization you should check out Galactic Civilization. I much prefer it.
Posted by: Hugh MacIntyre | 2009-10-08 8:41:29 AM
That's why we need a spot on the ballot that says: "NONE OF THE ABOVE".
I am completely discouraged and disenchanted by the calibre of politicians available on every level; civic, municipal, provincial and federal. We won't go into "worldwide" 'cause you don't want to hear my rant on Obama and the Democrats
Posted by: Mike in White Rock | 2009-10-08 10:42:31 AM
Mike in White Rock, hear! hear! You are absolutely correct.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-10-08 12:23:24 PM
Stephen Harper is the biggest Keynesian of them all.
And it is Stephen Harper who is raising taxes -- taxes on employment, called EI -- by an astronomical rate. Sure to kill many jobs and many businesses before all is said and done.
God help us if Stephen Harper gets his majority.
I am also a bit tired of Gerry Nicholls, who re-inevented himself as a Stephen Harper critic, but who seems more pro-Tory partisan than ever. Yawn.
Posted by: Desmond Moray | 2009-10-09 12:12:45 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.