Election post

So I dreamed up a fantastic post, and now can't seem to remember what I was going to say.

I guess I'm a bit torn about who to vote for this election, though I know it won't be conservative.

It's been interesting watching the campaign and so far no one has really convinced me that they really and truly have anything interesting to say.

I think the problem is that Stephen Harper's success has convinced everyone to run a small campaign, no big ideas, nothing interesting no vision, etc.

Actually Jeffrey Simpson wrote an interesting article about how these techniques have been imported from Australia and the United States.

The idea seems to me to be "death by a thousand cuts" to the public sector. Stupid tax cuts, no real policies and hope for the best. Actually what Stephen Harper touts as tax cuts (like the transit credit, the 705$ to defray my house closing costs) are actually subsidies to people who are already doing these things.

Does anyone really imagine that 750$ is going to make the difference between spending 300,000$ on a house or not. Ridiculous! Same thing with the transit pass, find me one Canadian that actually decided to take transit because he gets 20$ back on his taxes.

To call these things incentives, is quite the stretch, they are really subsidies to the voters that the Conservatives are targeting. Not only that, they increase the difficulty and opaqueness of the tax system. Real Conservatives would call for a simpler fairer tax system or even a flat tax, but the Conservatives we have here, just want to give out money in stupid tax cuts (read subsidies) that have no policy objective and don't really make any sense at all.

I wish we had a party that would provide a bigger vision and treat us like adults, however it seems increasingly unlikely. Maybe after the Liberals have spent some time in the wilderness they can come back with some real ideas..

Exciting times this fall

So it looks like we'll be heading into an election soon. That's pretty exciting at least for a political junkie like me. There's also the US election of course, which everyone here seems to be following, some a lot more closely than the Canadian election that's coming up.

There's also the fact that I'll be heavily involved with my school's student society, while working and taking a course.

Boy it sure sounds busy.

I think it'll be alright though. I feel like I'm better organized that I have been in a while.

It's been fun to meet the new incoming MA students, I'm fairly impressed so far, and times will tell how they fare. A lot of intriguing interests, and reasons for studying public policy. Some had a really clear idea, while others it seemed like they hadn't thought of it at all.

I'm looking forward to all the busyness this fall.

As for the election, I'm thinking it could be a conservative majority. If that happens, i have a feeling we might be back to deficit territory given their penchant for irresponsible tax cuts. Should that happen, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

I find it absolutely hilarious that the Conservatives are trusted to manage the economy, given that they reduced us from surplus to near deficit ( not that I think the huge surpluses weren't too high). Irresponsible tax cutting, basically wasting what could have been significant productivity enhancing income tax cuts with populism.

Talk to any economist and they'll tell you it was stupid. GST cuts encourage consumption and do nothing for productivity. Some economists feel that GST are the most neutral taxes because they don't distort people's decisions to work and invest.

But hey, I guess to a populist conservative, economists are just liberal elitists. Then again isn't Stephen Harper an economist?