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I started the debt clock some years ago and I still think it's a good reminder that the government shouldn't continue its spending spree. In the most recent update I added taxes with all figures projected forward to today based on 2008 Stats Canada numbers. Oh, and just to be clear, this clock measures the total of federal, provincial and municipal debt & tax.
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Debt, Government & Economic News
[More Stingy News: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Send Us A Link]
| The underground recovery | ||
| "Ordinary Americans have gone underground, and, as the recovery continues to limp along, they seem to be doing it more and more." [04/27/13], Economy | ||
| Deposit insurance may increase bank risk | ||
| "The argument for deposit insurance is that banks are inherently unstable, by virtue of their economic function they borrow money in the form of deposits (which can be instantly withdrawn) and lend to businesses on a longer-term basis. They are thus vulnerable to destabilising and self-fulfilling bank runs. But the counter-argument is that of moral hazard depositors have no incentive to choose between banks on grounds of riskiness, and bank executives can take risks knowing that they are underwritten by the insurance scheme." [03/31/13], Economy | ||
| Financial stress index back down | ||
| "According to yesterday's press release, the Kansas City Financial Stress Index (KCFSI) for the month of February continues to indicate that financial stress in the U.S. financial system remains low. The KCFSI fell to -0.61 in February, the lowest reading since June 2007, well before the Great Recession and financial crisis" [03/10/13], Economy | ||
| How not to run a pension fund | ||
| "I love alternative investments. I love Wall Street. I don't mind paying fees. But I want returns." [03/03/13], Government | ||
| World is right to worry about US debt | ||
| "The world's overwhelming presumption is that Americans will find a path to budget sustainability. Nevertheless, it is hard for many in the US to escape the nagging feeling that just maybe this time we won't. With more than $5tn of US Treasury debt, and memories of the huge inflation of the 1970s and default on gold clauses in the 1930s, foreigners would be right to worry a little." [01/26/13], Debt | ||
| We are the 98 percent | ||
| "The only way to finance a big European-style state is to have it paid for by massive taxation of everyone, mostly the middle class. Right now, we are avoiding honest debate on this fact." [01/12/13], Government | ||
| The real fiscal problem | ||
| "Why it's not repaying the swelling national debt that necessarily by itself creates a problem for the U.S. economy; rather it's the government's increasing spending on unproductive programs in the first place, financed with increasing levels of national debt, that creates the real problem for the economy." [01/01/13], Government | ||
| Zero-Sum doesn't add up | ||
| "Is life like a pizza, where if some people have too many slices, other people have to eat the pizza box?" [12/29/12], Government | ||
| Heading over the fiscal cliff | ||
| "Even if the United States slips back into recession in the short-term, the fiscal cliff's economic prescriptions will make it better in the long-run: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, a decade after going over the edge, debt will be 58% of GDP - which is much better than 100%." [12/29/12], Government | ||
| Manitoba credit union depositors take note | ||
| "An experienced accountant with more than two decades of experience in government, Mr. Dalgliesh said he had been relegated to the Manitoba Information Technology Branch after trying to blow the whistle on Crocus, a disastrous labour-sponsored investment fund." [12/22/12], Government | ||
| How to burn $50 billion | ||
| "Ottawa has increased by $50-billion the amount of residential mortgages that it is willing to guarantee. But this time the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the biggest provider of mortgage default insurance, is not getting any. Instead, the additional backing is going only to private-sector players such as Genworth Canada, who will see their maximum raised to $300-billion from $250-billion." [12/22/12], Government | ||
| Not enough Canadian content | ||
| "Every one of the ailments we imagine ourselves to be suffering is a reality in the United States: where our incomes are growing, theirs are stagnating; where poverty here is at record lows, there it is at record highs; where inequality in Canada has not grown in recent years, in the United States it has surged." [12/16/12], Economy | ||
| Pay giveaway | ||
| "From coast to coast, states are cutting funding for schools, public safety and the poor as they struggle with fallout left by politicians who made pay-and-pension promises that taxpayers couldn't afford." [12/15/12], Government | ||
| Kindly note the impending bankruptcy | ||
| "You cannot simultaneously enjoy American-sized taxes and European-sized government. One or the other has to go." [Some colourful language.] [12/01/12], Government | ||
| Taxes, inflation, default | ||
| "Buffett is uncomfortable with the idea that the Fed can expand its balance sheet indefinitely. He doesn't know why it won't work, but he knows that there are no free lunches, and wonders what might happen as a result." [10/25/12], Debt | ||
| Should we worry about rising interest rates? | ||
| "But the Fed has only limited power to control interest rates. And sharply higher yields would be far from unusual. For instance, 30-year Treasury bond yields are currently under 3 percent. As recently as last year, they topped 4.5 percent, and in early 2000 they briefly exceeded 6.5 percent. Because of the long maturity, a single percentage point rise in rates would translate into roughly a 20 percent decline in the value of long bonds." [10/19/12], Economy | ||
| Backseat drivers | ||
| "Yet our private sector is forever being treated as if it were, in fact, part of the public sector. I don't mean the normal laws and regulations to which all of us are properly subject, so far as our actions might cause harm to others. I mean the habit of certain busybodies, in government and out, to dictate how private firms should run their business, just as if the backseat drivers were the owners." [10/06/12], Government |
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