LTE: Larry Kazdan of Vancouver – Letter to Editor re: Cash Crunch of Uncosted Liberal Commitments JAN 18, 2016

Re:  The cash crunch of commitments: uncosted spending vows lurk for Liberals, Andy Blatchford, 01/17/2016 1

The Bank of Canada can never run out of Canadian dollars, nor can the federal government which owns it.  In keeping their promises, Liberals should not be deterred by deficits, because if necessary these can be run indefinitely.

In order to offer work to any job-seeker not currently needed by the private sector, the Canadian government should target job creation at various skill levels, and provide training for the remainder. As economist John Maynard Keynes advised during the Great Depression, “Look after the unemployment, and the Budget will look after itself.”

Larry Kazdan,
Vancouver, B.C.

Footnotes:1. Ben Bernanke, 2002, National Economists Club
Deflation: Making Sure “It” Doesn’t Happen Here

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardDocs/speeches/2002/20021121/default.htm

But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.
2. Keynes quote
http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/vsp-historical-trip-also-keynes-look-after-unemployment-and-the-budget-will-look-after-itself/

From a 1933 radio debate Keynes (bolding added):I do not believe that measures which truly enrich the country will injure the public credit…It is the burden of unemployment and the decline in the national income which are upsetting the Budget.Look after the unemployment, and the Budget will look after itself.

3. The Job Guarantee: A Government Plan for Full Employment
http://www.thenation.com/article/161249/job-guarantee-government-plan-full-employment
“The benefits of full employment include production of goods, services and income; on-the-job training and skill development; poverty alleviation; community building and social networking; social, political and economic stability; and social multipliers (positive feedbacks and reinforcing dynamics that create a virtuous cycle of socioeconomic benefits). An “employer of last resort” program would restore the government’s lost commitment to full employment in recognition of the fact that the total impact would exceed the sum of the benefits.”

3 Comments

  1. Except that’s not how our Bank of Canada works anymore and hasn’t since Pierre Elliot Trudeau sold us down the river in 1974 and left the the private banks to create new money in this country. Prior to ’74, Canada instructed the Bank of Canada to print money (in the form of interest free loans) for infrastructure projects like the 401, the Seaway, setting up CPP and health care, etc back in the 50’s and 60’s. We are stuck servicing a national debt in perpetuity now. Look at this graph (https://citizenactionmonitor.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/harper-subjects-canada-to-austerity-measures-like-those-imposed-on-third-world-countries-view-from-noted-us-author/). When nations are indebted to banking cartels you know it won’t end well. Usually wars and revolutions result.

  2. Greg Reynolds you have done your homework. From zero interest to spiraling costs to service the interest on our debt. Now just prior to interest rates commencing a new cycle a fresh digital age Liberal government is about to plunge Canadians into debt territory that will make even Pierre roll in his grave.

  3. I just love these constant complaints about the government of the day. It seems no one is every happy with government, no matter what level of government is involved. Like I say if you think you can do a better job go ahead and try. We elect our government representatives for a reason. Could you imagine if there was no government? The level of insanity that would be involved would be insane. Everyone trying to arrange everything the government does for themselves. No thanks. I’d rather elect the various levels of government and bitch and chew about the lousy job they all do. But in the end having government is better than the craziness that would exist without it. And for those who don’t like government feel free to go to a communist country (China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam come to mind) where you have no say in what happens and are told what to do and when.

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