Alberta government to loosen purse strings to spark economy

hum, while I do not support an increase in provincial income tax, I am not against the small tobacco and alcohol increases. I am nervous about running 3 consecutive deficits however; this will mean about $30 Billion in debt before balanced budgets. Its a very slippery slope to do this....

I'm not very impressed by the budget, especially borrowing to cover day-to-day operating expenses. That is akin to taking cash advances from your VISA to pay your utility bill, and most everyone knows that is financial suicide.

Borrowing to build infrastructure like hospitals, schools, roads, etc is fine by me, as it is a long term investment to improve both quality of life and our ability to move goods to markets, but if they have to borrow to cover operational expenses, then it shows there probably should have been some cuts in the system somewhere.

I'm not very impressed by the budget, especially borrowing to cover day-to-day operating expenses. That is akin to taking cash advances from your VISA to pay your utility bill, and most everyone knows that is financial suicide.

I agree with you there. But then, the other side of that coin would be the King Ralph 5% cut across the board. And that really sucked, because people were cut who had unique experience, and that experience was lost.

It's a gamble that the economy won't always suck and that retaining people short term will mean a long term gain for Alberta. I hope it works out.



Agree here too. Ralph's austerity and the Conservatives continuing refusal to maintain infrastructure has led to some massive 'unseen' debt that need to be paid soon. Schools, hospitals, and roads are just the beginning.

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n ... nd-lagging

Sure it's a great idea to spend on infrastructure but, at what point does your spending outpace your ability to pay off the amount you've financed especially for a province that had a GDP of just $338,166 millions in 2011? What happens if oil doesn't rebound what alternate plans and sources of revenue does the province have to pay off this debt other than crippling taxes?




http://www.newhamburgindependent.ca/new ... in-budget/

Borrowing money is not "loosening purse strings".

Fail on the attempt at spin.

That's the risk.

But even Saudi Arabia will be broke in a few years if they don't stop overproducing. It's a game of chicken, but oil prices will eventually rise. In the mean time, business will have a chance to plan for $40 oil as opposed to the $80 oil their current forecasts were based on.

And then business will get zapped in the ass again when the planned for price rises again. We'll have all the x spurts talk about a new world of cheap oil and how it changes everything, and just when that mewling rises to a crescendo is when oil will all of a sudden take a steep hike and woe is us.

That's why a good chunk of the money borrowed is to increase employment in other areas beside the oil sector. Something Conservative governments have been reluctant to do.