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Argentina : One Year Later

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  It has been a little over a year since Javier Milei took office, pledging to take a chainsaw to the bloated bureaucracy and to "blow up" the central bank. While the ultimate effects of his neo-liberal reforms will take years to manifest, the libertarian firebrand has made impressive inroads in his efforts to roll back the Argentinian state. When Javier took office Argentina was in dire economic straits. Poverty was at 45% and rising, the economy had not grown for more than a decade, and the Argentinian Peso was experiencing hyperinflation. With aggressive budget cuts - ironically, aided by the very hyperinflation that was ruining the economy - Milei managed to tame inflation.

Nobody Wins A Trade War

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 In 1930, interventionist President Herbert Hoover imposed steep tariffs ( an average rate of 60% ) on many industrial and agricultural goods with the passage of Smoot-Halley. The imposition of these increases, which led to the second-highest tariff rates in American history, prompted a sharp retaliatory response from affected European nations, who were also in a serious recession. These retaliatory tariffs devasted the export-dependent American agricultural sector, the collapse of which caused the widespread failure of rural banks. Were it not for Smoot-Halley, and other measures taken by Hoover that aggravated the economic situation, the Great Depression would have been just another brief panic. How then, should Justin Trudeau or his successor respond to the 25% across-the-board tariffs announced yesterday by the US president? There is no question that tariffs on the import of Canadian goods will hurt Canadian producers. That is the point. Nevertheless, our politicians should not...

Billions Of Dollars in Fraud Exposed in Jordan's Principle Program

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 Allegations were made today on Reddit about widespread fraud in the Jordan's Principle Program. The idea behind Jordan's Principle (JP) was to provide funding for medical needs for Indigenous children. However, as so often happens with government programs, JP payouts were quickly abused. Hot water tanks, hotel stays, rent payments, back taxes, and an extension on a house were just some of the spurious claims approved by this ridiculous slush fund. As of its inception, 6.44 billion has been spent on JP requests, with 1.6 billion being spent in 2024 alone. Corruption among the Indian bands is nothing new. Recently, allegations were made in court by lawyers representing " 7475323 Manitoba Ltd". The allegations describe how the  Southern Chiefs' Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels abused his authority to try to get out of making mortgage payments on a condo he owns in Winnipeg. Specifically, he threatened to quash a $20-million land deal between the Southern Chie...

The Problem With Economic Stimulus as a Response to Recession

The Keynesian Theory of Recessions While modern economists are loath to admit it, the dominant view now appears to be that economic schools of thought no longer exist! - the dominant macroeconomic paradigm is still that proposed in Keynes' "A General Theory of Employment, Money, and Interest". Keynes argued that the problem during a recession was a failure of 'aggregate demand'. A lack of consumer spending leads to falling production, which leads to a lack of consumer spending, and so on. A nasty loop. However, there is a solution. The state can leap onto the scene, a veritable deus ex machina, saving the day by pumping money into the system through deficit spending. This spending will put people back to work, and they will spend the money they earn, boosting total production, and increasing spending, until the economy roars again. It's a neat little story, unfortunately, it is total bullshit. Austrian Business Cycle Theory The problem is that we start at the ...

Ding Dong Trudeau is Gone

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 After twelve long years, Justin Trudeau has finally stepped down but the damage he has done to the Canadian economy will linger on for years. Right now, Canada is in a prolonged economic stagnation. According to Stats Canada , real GDP is presently at the 2017 level. With unemployment at 6.8%, the situation is looking pretty dire. Youth unemployment, aggravated by recent minimum wage hikes, is at 13.9% as of Nov. 2024. Further compounding the problem of lackluster growth is the expansion of public sector employment over the last decade. Public sector employment increased 1% in November, a total of 45,000 positions, accounting for virtually all of the 51,000 increase in jobs. And incase you are wondering how jobs and unemployment can increase simultaneously, it is because the population of Canada is growing by approximately 80,000 people a month. The rapid growth in Federal bureaucracy - an increase of 40% over the last decade - has only been surpassed by our unsustainable levels...