Great Canadian Fire Sale

[#juan]

Ottawa looks to sell assets to avoid deficit
Bruce Cheadle, THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG - The Conservative government is considering selling off Crown assets - think of the CN Tower - as a means of "reducing a deficit," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Thursday.
Flaherty emerged from a national meeting of Conservative MPs in advance of the party's policy convention with a grim prognosis for the global economy.


And he floated the idea of great Canadian fire sale as part of the government's austerity measures.
"We are going to review the corporate assets, the capital assets of the government of Canada to see whether they still perform a useful function for the Canadian people," said the finance minister.
"And if that review shows there are some assets that should be sold, then we'll go ahead with it."

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Flaherty described the measure as "one way of reducing a deficit or perhaps having a small surplus."

myTELUS - News

 

[darkbeaver]

There goes Canadian public assets at pennies on the dollar to the wealthy. Nothing changes the impoverishment of the public will continue unabated untill we'll all beg for uniforms and rifles and war against the conjured enemy.

 

[#juan]

When it was suggested that there would be a deficit, the Conservatives denied it saying that everything was fine. Now they are talking about selling off assets to balance the books. What's next......taking out a mortgage on the Parliament buildings?

 

[darkbeaver]

NEXT WE HAVE DEPRESSION & WAR

Crisis Is Beyond The Reach of Traditional Solutions

By Paul Craig Roberts

November 13, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" - -By most accounts the US economy is in serious trouble. Robert Reich, an adviser to President-elect Obama, calls it a “mini-depression,” and that designation might be optimistic. The Russian economist, Mikhail Khazin says that the “U.S. will soon face a second ‘Great Depression.’” It is possible that even Khazin is optimistic.

I cannot predict the future. However, I can explain what the problems are, how they differ from past times of troubles, and why traditional remedies, such as the public works programs that Reich proposes, are unlikely to succeed in reviving the U.S. economy.

Khazin points out, as have others such as University of Maryland economist Herman Daly and myself, that consumer debt expansion is the fuel that kept the U.S. economy alive. The growth of debt has outstripped the growth of income to such an extent that an increase in consumer credit and bank lending is not possible. Consumers are overburdened with debt. This fact takes monetary policy out of the picture. Americans can no longer afford to borrow more in order to consume more.

 

[#juan]

After all the denials Exclusive: Harper Running Deficit... NOW

Facing accusations he is running a deficit already, Conservative leader Stephen Harper denies the charge "No. That's absolutely not the case". Yet to date this year the Harper government has racked up more than $20 billion in new public debt, an amount far larger than during any similar time frame or period during the last 8 years. What is Stephen Harper hiding?

The Short Story
Conservative leader Stephen Harper continues to claim that Canada is enjoying a surplus, yet his Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty this calendar year has racked up an operational deficit in six of the past seven reported months, totaling over $23 billion dollars, or $20.3 billion for this fiscal year to date. In either case these amounts are unprecedented during this decade.

 

[#juan]

One of the assets they plan on selling is the CN Tower. While this is an impressively tall structure, it is also an important communications center. Do we want the tower in the hands of one of Harper's soon to be friends?

 

[scratch]

No matter what, juan, I do not think it is beyond Harpo!

 

[#juan]

Even still, it would be a bloody shame to go back into even more debt for Harper's corporate buddies. (You know, the ones who got the gift of fifty billion dollars worth of tax cuts) I didn't think Harper would repeat this stupid Mulroney trick so soon.

 

[scratch]

And juan...honestly....who is advising Harper....not Mulroney?