Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, December 02, 2012

National Debt Canada: Taxpayers Federation Says Total To Hit $600 Billion On Nov. 24, 2012

OTTAWA - The country is about to pass a red-ink milestone that the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says is completely unnecessary.

The national debt is set to reach $600 billion just seconds before 11:19 p.m. ET Saturday, says the federation, which has set up a "debt clock" to let everyone view the event online.

That works out to nearly $17,200 for each person in the country.

It should never have reached that level, said federation director Gregory Thomas, who blamed the Harper government's economic stimulus and other spending for the historic debt level.

The stimulus spending was unnecessary, Thomas told a Friday news conference.
"The economy bounced back and ... we're going to be paying those stimulus dollars 20, 30 years from now if we don't get our act together."

At the current rate, Canada's national debt is rising by $74.6 million a day, or $863.27 every second.

The government says the spending under its so-called economic action plan was necessary to maintain and create jobs during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

But much of it was wasteful, said Thomas, who took particular aim at the government's advertising spending.
"You can't sit through a football game without seeing all this propaganda about what a terrific job the government's doing," he said.

"They're borrowing money to sell Canadians on themselves."

And the debt will keep climbing as long as the Harper government keeps spending beyond its means, the federation said.

The federation did applaud Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's commitment to balance the budget before the next election.

Still, Flaherty acknowledged last month that the fallout from the recession will prevent Ottawa from erasing the debt by 2021. The minister said the government continues to search for ways to cut spending as he prepares a 2013 budget. But as with previous budgets, Flaherty has ruled out both tax increases and cuts to provincial transfers.

Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: CP

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