2y ago

Canadians face 40 years of stagnant incomes – government’s economic strategy is failing

www.theglobeandmail.com

Opinion: Canadians face 40 years of stagnant incomes – government’s economic strategy is failing

8 comments

A poorly written opinion piece. It's great to see the globe and mail hasn't changed.
- I expected something insightful. Instead it's just a mild regurgitation of traditional con ideas. The one point that's somewhat intriguing and possibly based in fact is that immigration isn't a panacea.
- It's now a foreign influence since it's owned by an American Republican.
- And it's paywalled, so I can't even pick it apart for myself.
- I was with you until "housing is being fixed." Do you have some links to support this too? I'd love some reassurance if so.
- The thing about higher education is it creates more economic stability during difficult economic times.
  There is no country on earth with more higher education than Canada. Does that stability come from the doubling down on trading houses back and forth when there is nothing else?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The first is that freewheeling government spending, untethered by the defined limits of a credible fiscal anchor, is not “consumption” but rather “investment” that raises real incomes.
The government has relied on households and business taxpayers to fund subsidies for preferred recipients and has massively expanded the bureaucracy without much to show for it other than shrinking the relative size of the private sector.
The academic literature overwhelmingly finds that the level of immigration has a negligible or neutral overall impact on indicators that determine a country’s living standards: labour productivity, real wages, the employment rate, the population’s age structure and, crucially, GDP per capita.
Ramping up immigration to fill low-wage jobs instantly increases demand for things that take years to build, such as housing (especially rentals), roads, schools and hospitals.
The federal government’s immigration strategy is like believing Christmas dinner will be made easier if you invite more people because they can help with the washing up.
The country would benefit from modest (and co-ordinated) fiscal and monetary policy restraint to dampen inflation, alongside a productivity-focused agenda to expand the economy’s supply-side capacity, expedite business investment and innovation, scale domestic firms and ensure Canada can supply the world with responsibly produced natural resources and manufactured goods.
The original article contains 728 words, the summary contains 207 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

8 comments