[GordieCanuk]

ziggy wrote:

I thought inflation was at an all time low now.

For now...but with all the money being printed around the world, I'm wondering how long it'll be before inflation rears its ugly head in a real and nasty way.

[Sapio]

GordieCanuk wrote:

ziggy wrote:

I thought inflation was at an all time low now.

For now...but with all the money being printed around the world, I'm wondering how long it'll be before inflation rears its ugly head in a real and nasty way.

Yes indeed. The US dollar is a great example of this. Inflation is a tax against the low and middle classes and the printing of money is legalized counter-fitting. Despite this the the word "change" does not appear to have after anything to do with a change in money. Which is one of the largest changes we need.

[CanadianJeff]

ironic that in Canada Government passing laws against sub prime mortgage loans prevented a housing bubble here.

Not all government involvement is bad. Some moderation in the market can be a good thing for us all.

[Sapio]

CanadianJeff wrote:

ironic that in Canada Government passing laws against sub prime mortgage loans prevented a housing bubble here.

Not all government involvement is bad. Some moderation in the market can be a good thing for us all.

So our government had to past a law to stop it. That does not prove that without any government involvement it would not have stopped, or more accurately it would have happened. Sounds like to me a example of one government "plan" needing another "plan" to solve the first. Without it we could save all that trouble.

[Freakinoldguy]

ziggy wrote:

I thought inflation was at an all time low now.

Only when the Government goes to figure out your pension index increase.

[Bibbi]

GordieCanuk wrote:

All this stimulation I fear is going to end up stimulating run away inflation.

Not necessarily. Tax cuts certainly help the rich, but not the unemployed or those on welfare. They don't help the growing number of baby boomers on retirement pensions either. Sure everyone gets a tax cut but those at the low end will certainly not be buying much with it, except perhaps food.

To put it another way, big ticket items which stimulate the economy will not be purchased through tax cuts to those that are trying to make ends meet or put food on the table.

[Ripcat]

Bruce_the_vii wrote:

Ripcat wrote:

Bruce_the_vii wrote:

Well, infrastructure projects. The problem is they take time to start. They involve lengthy processes. The economy will have improved by the time they get rolling. The Economics 101 text states that governments are not good at creating jobs and certainly not timely jobs in a downturn. There is no known way of how to do it. However union hacks that get paid to write such articles will ignor this basic problem and carry on.

So am I to believe that we have been funding infrastructure projects so well that there aren't hundreds of fully planned projects just waiting on the money to start them?......

I see your point, maybe there is projects ready to go. I don't really know.

I be surprized if there was even one municipality in all of Canada that didn't have a worthwhile project ready to go.

Most municipalities generally have projects planned out 10 years in advance so they can budget for them as the need arises.

Planned projects can get put off for years because of cost versus priority.

[Bruce_the_vii]

Bruce_the_vii wrote:

Ripcat wrote:

Bruce_the_vii wrote:

Well, infrastructure projects. The problem is they take time to start. They involve lengthy processes. The economy will have improved by the time they get rolling. The Economics 101 text states that governments are not good at creating jobs and certainly not timely jobs in a downturn. There is no known way of how to do it. However union hacks that get paid to write such articles will ignor this basic problem and carry on.

So am I to believe that we have been funding infrastructure projects so well that there aren't hundreds of fully planned projects just waiting on the money to start them?......

I see your point, maybe there is projects ready to go. I don't really know.

I be surprized if there was even one municipality in all of Canada that didn't have a worthwhile project ready to go.

Most municipalities generally have projects planned out 10 years in advance so they can budget for them as the need arises.

Planned projects can get put off for years because of cost versus priority.

.****************************************************

I asked some tradesmen about getting infrastructure going quickly. They said construction takes some planning but repairs can be done immediately. In Toronto, working from memory, the City's social housing has a $1 billion backlog of repairs, the TTC has a $1 billion of repairs to do and the school board has $100 of millions to do. So, yeah, these could be done in a timely fashion.

I also asked around and people perseive the situation as - they're going to throw money at it. The technical problems of getting people to spend rather than pay off debt or save for a big expenditure make them think the stimulus is not efficient.