Not Unicorns and Ponies, Kelp Forests and Water

Vaughn Palmer wrote an article titled...

B.C. NDP Supporters Dreams of Good Times Ahead Likely to be Dashed

http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/supporters+dreams+good+times+ahead+dashed/8071668/story.html

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As an NDP supporter I find Vaughn`s premise to be offensive, to suggest that the NDP base is concerned with dole and gifts, let the good times roll, let`s spend spend spend, deficits be damned, budgets are for fools...

Vaughn Palmer must have a taste for sand considering he has his head firmly planted beneath the beach.

What voters want is honestly, the truth, no one is expecting gravy, we are expecting questions answered in a public inquiry as to how we lost a profitable provincial owned railway..

Alberta, running a deficit, $6 billion dollar deficit, their 5th deficit in a row, services being cut, schools shuttered, hospital beds closed, their vaunted heritage fund has seen no contributions for years, only withdraws, a simple sales tax of 5% would solve all of Alberta`s fiscal woes, but that`s not what Conservative or BC Liberal Governments do, and make no mistake, the BC Liberal party is merely the old tired hounds of BC`s defunct and discredited Social Credit party, the only thing Liberal about BC`s current Government is how liberally they spread the public`s wealth to corporate party donors..

Alberta has an estimated 1 $trillion dollar environmental mess to clean up, they have 5000 miles of toxic tailing ponds, poisoned watersheds and growing cancer rates, deformed wildlife and pollution levels off the chart, all this happening in earshot of the tar patch..

Conservative Governments believe in running deficits and creating structural deficits, that is how they cut services, taxes from corporations and wealthy individuals are slashed resulting in budget shortfalls, that in turn justifies cuts to public services, it`s a pattern seen around the world.

CLBC scandal..BC Rail scandal..Basi/Virk scandal...HST scandal..$3 billion dollar 2009 election budget scandal..HEU contract scandal..teachers stripped of rights scandal..Smart meter scandal..BC Ferry scandal..BC Hydro scandal..Casino scandals..

Our debt(basic debt)..Has risen from $28 billion in 2001 to over $67 billion in 2012..Not counting IPP`s, PPPs, BC hydro contractual commitments going out up to 6 decades, Translink has a huge debt...BC Ferries has a $1.4 billion dollar debt, BC Hydro has a debt of $4.5 billion dollars accumulating in deferral accounts, all since 2001.. plus another $8 billion in on books debt..

All toll, BC debt, contractual debt, BC Ferry debt, BC Hydro debt, Translink debt, $170 billion dollars...The total debt in 2001 was roughly $30 billion dollars..

A five fold increase in our debt....

And Vaughn Palmer muses about NDPers being disappointed because Adrian Dix isn`t going to give us all Shiny ponies and Golden unicorns..

Really Vaughn, these lies, these lies an obtuse media allows be told by Government with impunity..

BC was a have-not province in the 90`s..Rubbish...Under these BC Liberals current rein BC has been a have not province 5 times, receiving over $2 billion dollars in Federal transfers, the NDP of the 90`s but once received a Federal transfer payment for have-not status..

5 to 1.....Employment created was higher in the 90`s, as were homes built in the 90`s, more net migration to BC in the 90`s..

All these facts rear their head, yet the media, Vaughn Palmer and company can`t see them, funny how vision gets obscured by layers of sand!

A phony refinery proposal, a $trillion dollar LNG pipedream, and Alberta, our Tory Blue neighbor to the east who have been in the petroleum game for decades is broke, record deficits, yet somehow corporate owned media believes and promotes the BC Liberal`s fantasy..

What the voters want Vaughn Palmer is..

We want respect, we want the bad news, we want the cold hard facts without spin and hyperbole..

41 $trillion dollars of debt by a mere handful of countries..

USA--15.5 $trillion dollars.

Japan--12.4 $trillion dollars.

Germany--2.6 $trillion dollars

Italy--2.5 $trillion dollars.

France--$2.2 $trillion dollars

United Kingdom--1.6 $trillion dollars

India--1.2 $trillion dollars

Brazil--1.1 $trillion dollars

China--1.1 $trillion dollars

Canada--535 $billion dollars

Russia--45 $billion dollars.

http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/world_debt/world_debt.html

Thanks to the Galloping Beaver for the above link

 http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.ca/2013/03/its-only-money.html
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Those debt totals don`t include individual provinces, or states, or towns, cities, or personal debt..In other words, double it to $90 trillion dollars..

$90 trillion dollars countries have racked up in debt and Vaughn Palmer thinks NDPers are going to be mad if we don`t get our deserved Shiny Ponies and Golden Unicorns..

You would be wrong, and Conservative Governments would be wrong, they talk of lowering corporate taxes, they tell tales of how these corporate entities will flee Canada if asked to pay a little more..

To which I say, the day is coming fast when corporate tax rates around the world will be standardized, instead of a race to the bottom a race to the top..

This debt, the debt noted above, 90% of this debt has accumulated since 1970..

This debt will never get paid off, never, the day will come when when debt forgiveness is soup de jour, all country debt eliminated...

Corporations are sitting on $trillions in cash, sacks of money, pay packages of the obscene, lavishness and greed while Governments tighten the screws on the masses.

How far can we be pushed, how many watersheds destroyed, how many species extincted, Haida Gwaii, ...Great Bear rain-forest, a pristine marine environment, wild salmon, fresh water for drinking, giant kelp gardens, nature abounds, that is what will ultimately be important for human survival.

And here we voters are, presented a bogus budget consisting of selling land and financial instruments to claim balance, an LNG laden throne speech devoid of reality and now a fantasy refinery as a wedge issue..

No Vaughn, we voters won`t be disappointed if Adrian Dix doesn`t give us Golden Unicorns and Shiny Ponies...

We will be disappointed if a corrupt BC Liberal party riding on the back of corporate media steals the election..

That just won`t be allowed to happen this time..

BC Liberals are about to be......

Thunderstruck

P.S....One more thing, there was a little bit of open-line radio today(Saturday, March 9th) on cknw...I had a little on air chat with Marcella Bernardo, who was filling in for Sean Leslie...5:52 to 5: 55 pm..(AKA Brian from the Sunshine coast)..

http://www.cknw.com/news/audiovault/index.aspx

cue-up 5:00 pm, Saturday March 9th..Fast forward to about 5:52 pm....

Well, I  do my bit, since the Cutting Edge of the Ledge producers fear the Powell River Persuader, to find airwaves, I kinda have to pick my spots..

Anyway, my radio talk today was on scandal and accountability.. 



The Straight Goods

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