Wow. That was a FANTASTIC interview with Barry Eichengreen; take a bow, Jen. Being able to keep up with one of the most respected experts in the field in real time is an impressive feat.
If a recession and mass unemployment happens effective governance builds infrastructure. Planning for the future and giving hope and the dignity of work. In 1930s USA their government built the many National Parks the Hoover Dam and the Interstate Highway system as examples. In Alberta in the early 1980s when the Trudeau Liberal government’s NEP ground the booming economy to a standstill the province invested in many infrastructure projects. The Saddledome was built and a modern sewage treatment plant in Calgary. I worked as a plumber on the New Sundre High School as well as a Long Term Care addition to the Trochu hospital. It was much appreciated work after being unemployed for 8 months when high rise building construction stopped at whatever floor they were at. Plumber’s hourly pay went from $20.70 an hour to $14.00. at a non union shop. I was on the hiring board at the union hall for 3 years and only got a total of 17 days work on industrial shutdown projects. I left Alberta and plumbing in April of 1985. I will always appreciate the opportunity I was given in Alberta and wish them well. As an Ontarian I experienced the wrath of Ottawa believing their influence was being usurped. Perhaps tariffs are Trump’s wrath being applied to the world because the USA’s influence is waning.
The “fiscal capacity” worries are bunk. The Canadian government has more fiscal capacity than it can handle. This is not the time to be fretting about the deficit. There’s a once in a lifetime opportunity here to snag a ton of American expertise and investment, but we need to go big and fast.
Open up a half dozen new universities and offer generous research grants. Offer up manufacturing subsidies to all comers instead of the sweetheart deals that we’re accustomed to. Build the pipelines and the high speed rail and the nuclear plants with Canadian steel. Break up the corporate monopolies that are strangling commerce. Offer up cheap financing for robotics firms and drone makers and tech companies that do more than just digital marketing.
We spent the 00’s selling cars to the Americans until that blew up in 2008. Then we sold oil to the Americans and bought stuff from China until the oil price crashed in 2014. Then we blew up a housing bubble to paper over the broken business model until that couldn’t be sustained, and households have paid the price. If we want household debt to go back to the share of GDP it was in 2006, the federal government will need to spend a trillion dollars. We’re going to have to get used to high deficits for at least a decade. We can do it if we want to.
Wow. That was a FANTASTIC interview with Barry Eichengreen; take a bow, Jen. Being able to keep up with one of the most respected experts in the field in real time is an impressive feat.
If a recession and mass unemployment happens effective governance builds infrastructure. Planning for the future and giving hope and the dignity of work. In 1930s USA their government built the many National Parks the Hoover Dam and the Interstate Highway system as examples. In Alberta in the early 1980s when the Trudeau Liberal government’s NEP ground the booming economy to a standstill the province invested in many infrastructure projects. The Saddledome was built and a modern sewage treatment plant in Calgary. I worked as a plumber on the New Sundre High School as well as a Long Term Care addition to the Trochu hospital. It was much appreciated work after being unemployed for 8 months when high rise building construction stopped at whatever floor they were at. Plumber’s hourly pay went from $20.70 an hour to $14.00. at a non union shop. I was on the hiring board at the union hall for 3 years and only got a total of 17 days work on industrial shutdown projects. I left Alberta and plumbing in April of 1985. I will always appreciate the opportunity I was given in Alberta and wish them well. As an Ontarian I experienced the wrath of Ottawa believing their influence was being usurped. Perhaps tariffs are Trump’s wrath being applied to the world because the USA’s influence is waning.
C-18? Is it "Thanks Trudeau", or "Thanks Liberals"? Has Carney said he will repeal it?
The “fiscal capacity” worries are bunk. The Canadian government has more fiscal capacity than it can handle. This is not the time to be fretting about the deficit. There’s a once in a lifetime opportunity here to snag a ton of American expertise and investment, but we need to go big and fast.
Open up a half dozen new universities and offer generous research grants. Offer up manufacturing subsidies to all comers instead of the sweetheart deals that we’re accustomed to. Build the pipelines and the high speed rail and the nuclear plants with Canadian steel. Break up the corporate monopolies that are strangling commerce. Offer up cheap financing for robotics firms and drone makers and tech companies that do more than just digital marketing.
We spent the 00’s selling cars to the Americans until that blew up in 2008. Then we sold oil to the Americans and bought stuff from China until the oil price crashed in 2014. Then we blew up a housing bubble to paper over the broken business model until that couldn’t be sustained, and households have paid the price. If we want household debt to go back to the share of GDP it was in 2006, the federal government will need to spend a trillion dollars. We’re going to have to get used to high deficits for at least a decade. We can do it if we want to.
I swear Mr Eichengreen is saying 'Crump' and not Trump.... anyone else?