A reason for Optomism!

 (Originally posted May 11/2011), It seemed appropriate to rerun it with new links

I don`t know whether to be happy sad or terrified, I on one hand am thrilled with the Federal NDP results and on the other saddened and scared of the Stephen Harper majority, the Canadian electorate is more polarized more divisive more confused than at any time in my memory...

The results may appear to some that the Conservatives have galvanized the Canadian public into a unifying force but the exact opposite is true, before we get going we need to examine raw vote percentages, the Conservatives had a minority Government with almost 39% of the total vote numbers and now they have a majority with about 40% of total votes, 40% of 54% of eligible voters, in other words about 20% of all eligible voters gave us a Conservative majority....

I don`t know if Harper`s bombastic assault on the Federal NDP in the last week stopped the momentum of the orange surge or the 2 year ad campaign against Ignatief made the difference....All I know for sure is less people, fewer Canadians are happy with the Conservatives and even more are deeply concerned ...Big media has had its clutches on the older uninformed Canadians (The Boomers+)for some time now.... and as I stated before Stephen Harper provoked this election for one main reason, his base of support is dying off by thousands, every month his core base shrinks while a younger generation leans clean, leans left..er

Having said that we are about to enter the dark world of right wing Republican ideologues, a war wanting deregulating corporate elite mentality, a world where individual people and communal needs are of little concern, a place where a clean environment gets in the way of profits, a world of fighter jets, super max prisons and lower corporate taxes and a continuation of Harper`s Amercanization of Canada, a majority in the hands of a madman, unrestrained in his agenda with no impeding obstacles has me fearful of the future, projects like Fish Lake destruction and Enbridge pipeline through Northern BC, Jason Kenny (Con MP in Alberta) both campaigned and promoted the pipeline during the writ period, despite what BC`ers want the cornerstone of the Alberta`s energy plan is to ship its product west, tankers and risk, oil spills and river destruction will occur but these accidents and tragedies won`t be in Alberta but British Columbia, it`s very easy to gamble with other people`s ecosystems, Alberta can destroy their aquifers and rivers but how can any Province or Federal Government seize another Province`s environment and destroy it against their wishes, this battle will be epic and further polarize the electorate, rich against poor, the naive versus the informed, the militant against the passive, humanity versus madness..

Fighter jets, prisons, corporate tax cuts, $11 billion in Federal services to be cut or more, rumors abound of even steeper cuts

Here is a little tidbit on the fighter jets(cut n pasted from Wikipedia)


The F-35 is descended from the X-35, the product of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. JSF development is being principally funded by the United States, with the United Kingdom and other partner governments providing additional funding. It is being designed and built by an aerospace industry team led by Lockheed Martin.^[12] The F-35 took its first flight on 15 December 2006.^[1]
The United States intends to buy a total of 2,443 aircraft for an estimated US$323 billion, making it the most expensive defense program ever.^[13] The United States Air Force (USAF) budget data in 2010, along with other sources, projects the F-35 to have a flyaway cost from US$89 million to US$200 million over the planned production of F-35s.^{[14][15][16][17]} Cost estimates have risen to $382 billion for 2,443 aircraft, at an average of $156 million each. The rising program cost estimates have cast doubt on the actual number to be produced for the U.S. In January 2011, the F-35B variant was placed on "probation" for two years because of development issues. In February 2011, the Pentagon put a price of $207.6 million for each of the 32 aircraft to be acquired in FY2012, rising to $304.15 million ($9,732.8/32) if its share of RDT&E spending is included.<sup>[18][19]

Well, so much $50 million per jet...By the time we get one in the air the price will be a $1/4 billion per jet or better, and just how much would it cost us if we owned these jets and they were all engaged in conflict? It would be $hundreds of millions per week or more...

More planned corporate tax cuts will cost the Federal treasury $billions per year, $billions they don`t have and despite the right wing Fraser institute and Jack Mintz`s claims that further corporate tax cuts will create jobs, that assertion is false,  rightwing spin claiming corporate tax cuts create jobs is pure myth. Never at anytime in history have big corporations had so much cash, $trillions in cash, they`re not hiring, there are no product shortages, there is glut, big profits, lean mean and trim and asking for more, more cheap labour..


Canada as a whole has been losing manufacturing and value added jobs by the boatload and while increased exports may enrich Government coffers both Provincial and Federal those dollars are concentrated in few hands, BC as an export Province have seen towns and communities die a slow death, Teck Cominco, the tar sand whores and raw log shippers can increase their output exponentially with minimal hiring, the myth of corporate tax cuts and higher volume meaning more jobs has been debunked over and over again.....


With these high commodity prices and Governments around the world plundering middle classes the world is soon to fall back into recession, America is still hurting, third world countries can`t absorb these energy costs, food inflation, even Wallmart, yes believe it or not Wallmart is reporting its customers are running out of money, the world king of peddling cheap goods is worried,  Wallmart is the store of  middle class people and when the public can`t afford to shop there what next?...Wallmart is blaming their customers dwindling money supply on energy costs, in other words these energy and commodity prices can`t sustain this price for long, people around the world can`t afford it, maybe China can continue to buy expensive raw resources for now but let`s face it, countries are broke, soon, very soon China`s housing bubble with burst with a thud,  the next recession has already started and when it hits the corporations will write off any remaining taxes against paper loses, government deficits will persist requiring more and more cuts, perpetuating the race to the bottom....Conservatives will turn off the tap and Canada won`t have a tax base large enough to run normal needed services.

Europe has laid off millions of workers, the UK has fired hundreds of thousands, tourism worldwide will continue to decline and here in BC with the HST souring our economy our southern borders will be busier than ever...The Harper corporate tax cuts will bite us in the ass, expect the GST to rise very soon.


When the world`s middle class citizens can`t afford the likes of Wallmart the revolution and uprising won`t be far behind.


$11 billion in Federal fat to be trimmed that can only mean job losses and reduced services, lives could be lost with cuts to food and water inspectors, with the looming federal cash crash the cuts may be even more severe than one could imagine.....New Federal prisons will cost us all, expenses will be downloaded on already cash strapped Provinces, here in BC Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark shuttered 9 prisons and closed 25 courthouses for purely financial reasons in 2002-2004 and now the cost of running new mega-prisons will be thrust upon us, they don`t come cheap, BC has no legal aid now, a shameful judge shortage with our prisons operating at 400% of capacity


 I am thrilled about the rise of the new orange NDP star and when another election comes we can legitimately go for gold, that scenario must be playing in the back of Harpers mind, the left right divide, if he falters just the slightest the NDP will take power, coupled that with Harperites dying in droves, only the old and gray for the most part rely on and still believe mainstream spin.

The Conservative majority worries me and the only solace I have is the looming recession and commodity price retrenchment, for without money Stephen Harper and the Conservatives will be hard pressed to fulfill all their hard right agenda...


I pray for hard times to limit the funds of our Federal and Provincial Governments.....


We are headed down the rabbit hole, entering a long dark tunnel, hang on and hope for the best, I`m proud of the new wired Canadian, I am proud of all who voted orange, we made history yesterday, the Federal Liberal party may yet join with the NDP, one party of the center left against the moral wrong, we also have a loud, sometimes silly voice in Lizzy May speaking for us, her message needs to be heard too, the lay of the land politically also bodes well for the Provincial NDP, the battle lines are clearly drawn, the mushy middle is history, social Democrats against hard right ideologues and we have them outnumbered by far, the future is very bright indeed


So let`s take this train ride through the dark corporate void and hope we survive.

"The tunnel is always darkest before the light shines from the other side"


The Straight Goods


Cheers Eyes Wide Open</sup>