Sometimes I surprise myself, or maybe it's that some folk are dead apparent and don't surprise me at all.
Like the 10 ground rules graven upon the stony tablets, it has come to pass that 'Wolfie' did exactly that, and Little Stevie is wondering how he pulled it off. The 'budget' was as big a load of flatulence as could be imagined. Enough to do some serious harm to future government cash flows, but not enough to come anywhere near actually making things any better for the future state of the economy. And 'Wolfie's' best was a promise to 'hold them to it' - in the form of voluntary menstrual reports. Right, he has Giorno quivering in his topsiders.
And what a wonderful portrait portayed of the 'man of the hour' braving the slush of Parliament Hill in an outfit designed for places that might be cold, but with dry pavement underfoot. He looked as Canadian as Ti' Pierre the Parisian fag. Who's Iggy trying to kid with his 'out for a stroll in the blizzard' routine? Is it some sort of 'sharing the pain' thing? I doubt Iggy has time to shovel snow. Check out those nice pink gloves he's wearing. It's a good thing the limo was waiting out of frame to take 'our man' to lunch. This is what 'real' Canadians look like, but they keep them away from Ottawa.
What about Steve? No audible sighs of relief, just a rather rousing 'statement of concern' about potential American 'protectionism'. Where was Steve's concern three years ago when he was doing a 'Jack and the magic beans' for 3 overrated aircraft in exchange for $7 billion the 'protectionists' owed US for bogus lumber 'surcharges'? Well he knew we weren't gonna get it, so he settled for the end-of-production-line-jets. Since then, whenever we have to move anything larger than coffins, we still have to rent the Russian's 'Ruslans'. Now that Obama is 'Ottaway-bound' the hairdo that speaks has concerns about 'protectionism'. Even if the boys in Stevo's 'office' hadn't tried to torpedo Obama with NAFTA during their election, given the state of the American economy, any President, even Steven's dearest buddy George, wouldn't be putting Americans out of work to send stuff up to Canada. Steven doesn't see that because he's more than willing to put Canadians out of work to keep Americans busy.
It's a good thing that Obama seems to have a sense of humour or we might be well and truly knackered. I think that Obama is going to want Canada's help for his big push to set Afghanistan to rights. First with their election, and then with the same kind of military success that has quietened Iraq. Basically getting them to stop attacking so you can go home and have a nice parade. Steve will be up for that as well. For all the balls o'steel coming out of the CAF, the boots know they're playing to a hostile audience and trying to plug a seive. That war is costing as much as the bail-out the whole freakin' eceonomy package.
What's going to happen next? Well the Conservatives, particularly little Mr. Muffin the Minister of Finance, have a track record of making announcements and then forgetting to cut cheques. If their programs are anything like the newly-discovered 'retraining' programs that Canadians have 'failed to sign up for', they're going to be totally ineffective too. The 'average' Canadian will benefit by $180 due to a 'tax break' - but that means some Canadians are going to get more (guess who?), and some (like the poor) won't get anything at all. Construction will pick up when all those 'renos' start pouring in - right! Spend $15 000 on a new deck and family enjoyment area and the Feds will 'refund' some of your PS and GS taxes!! That seems fair. As some wag opined, "I was gonna do the reno anyway." Those who are in 'retraining' won't be able to afford renos, but they could all retrain to become reno guys!
Renos aren't going to help the 'big boys' of high finance - and they are continuing to spiral in - when the bond crisis hits this spring I think we'll begin to realize how little could possibly be done, too late. 60 billion is only the opening bid in a no maximum poker game.
Even Boeing Aircraft, the suppliers of Mr. Harper's wonder birds, have seen orders desiccate, share prices tank and thousands get their walking papers. Maybe, if everybody was as 'world minded' as our PM, there wouldn't be this mess. But then world-minded and self-intetrested are mutually exclusive in our greedy world. World-minded stops on the low side of a 9 percent return on investment.
