When discussing the secession of Quebec from the Rest of Canada (ROC), many Anglo-Canadian economists become doomsday preachers of apocalyptic scenarios. They predict social calamities such as poverty, mass unemployment, civil war, and mass exodus.
They should settle down, try to be rational, and focus on the only real issue: the long-term economic well-being of Quebecois and Canadians.
“Business ethics” is mostly used to promote social policy that is incompatible with the profit and loss system. The argument of the business “ethicists” is simple. They say corporations neglect their social obligations because they are focused on making money for selfish stockholders. Government must prod businesses to give back to society what they have taken. It is the corporation’s penance for capitalist sins.
You’re looking for a job. You want to get paid several times your worth, come and go when you please, work only when you feel like it, take as long a lunch as you want, and get ten paid holidays per year and six weeks paid vacation per year. There’s only one way to go: work for the federal government.
Anyone who listens to the news hears a lot about failed policies. Conservative Republicans in Congress say they are seeking to overturn the failed policies enacted by liberal Democrats. Although the Democrats defend their deeds, they admit that certain policies may have failed and should be reviewed.
A poll in March reported that most people would prefer “deficit reduction” to “tax cuts.” Polls and the media lie all the time, but this one refutes itself. If people really wanted to be taxed, they would pay up without being threatened by audits, fines, special agents, and jail terms.
The Nafta “debate” was hardly that at all. The treaty text—the blueprint for North America’s Maastricht—didn’t appear until very late. A handful of smart economists read the text, and concluded it was an unwise political and financial merger, not free trade. Assorted groups of populists, greens, and unionists opposed the treaty too, on the vague grounds that Nafta had the feel of an insider deal.
The cords that bind the Union together are weaker than they have been in more than a century. Many states are entering into political revolt against federal encroachment. But this situation is no departure from American tradition. Revolting against consolidated government has been a key to keeping the government in check.
When Bill Clinton and Al Gore stopped off at Monticello en route to Washington for their inauguration, Gore pointed to two portraits hanging in Mr. Jefferson’s home and asked the guide, “who are those two guys?” “Jefferson and Madison,” the stunned historian answered.
To understand the House Republicans’ budget “revolution,” pay careful attention to this number: $55 billion. That’s the amount federal spending will increase next year. A year later, according to their plan, the budget ticks up another $38.1 billion. It goes up an average of $45 billion every year thereafter.
A gasoline-powered truck just towed an electric Ecostar out of my driveway. Built by Ford Motor Co. under pressure from the federal government, the “state-of-the-art” vehicle was loaned to me for the day. It was supposed to recharge overnight, but the lights on the panel display, flashing wildly, said it would not.
