It's Our Fault

I recently spent a week in Toronto, as part of an education program I am enrolled in.  Most of the week was spent taking in various topics in supply chain management.  One of the speaker’s, who had a Ph.D in economics, spoke on the economics of transportation in supply chains.  For whatever reason he spoke early on about how transport to the U.S. hasn’t completely re-bounded after 2008 and that it was likely due to the economic slowdown and federal debt that the U.S. has.  Then he said something quickly, almost as an aside and most didn’t really know it was even said. 

He commented than virtually no U.S. politicians are addressing the debt or how to fix it except for….the economic advisor to Mitt Romney during the 2008 campaign.  This advisor was and is Glenn Hubbard.  According to the speaker, Dr. Hubbard is suggesting the use of a value added tax as a way to pay off the federal debt.  The value added tax is similar to our nations’ GST.

The very fact that he mentioned it tells me he approves of it since it didn’t really jive with much of his topic.  So I just assumed he was all for it and I decided I needed to talk to him afterwards…

Now I’m not writing this to debate a GST type tax over an income tax…I really don’t know what’s worse.  I’m suggesting that by commenting on a GST component on top of income tax, it doesn’t even begin to treat the problem of the debt which is due to run away government spending. 

I asked him how and why he would suggest that the GST is a good way to reduce federal deficits when it hasn’t erased ours.  He mentioned 2 things.  First, it’s inexpensive to administer from the governments perspective.  I retaliated by saying, right, but it also turns the citizens into tax collectors.  Second, he said it has reduced our debt by quite a bit.  However in the last 4 years we have added back onto it so that since 1990 the debt has not retreated by any respectable amount.  20 years of GST funds and they haven’t reduced our debt by even a third.

Let’s get real.  The guy never even bothered to mention that the government spending our money is the reason behind it.  His suggestion is that citizens aren’t taxed enough.  The government doesn’t need to make any significant policy changes, we just need to ante up and dig in.

I think I threw up a little in my mouth…   

I like choice....I love scotch!

I have, for a long time, been very opposed to our provincial government monopoly over the sale of liquor here in my province.  I really hate it and I'm to the point to where I think it's marginally disgusting...

I should clarify that the monopoly is on the sale of grain based alcohol.  There are private wine stores and a few that sell grape based spirits like brandy and cognac (Fenton's at the Forks Market being my favorite) but I really don't know if and how many hurdles they have to jump through to set up shop. 

I know there are other provinces (and stores in the U.S.) that have different and sometimes more selection with a competitive market but that's not my reasoning behind the hate...
My first reason is that private individuals, who have an interest in and would like sell liquor as their career, can't because the government has taken away that right (unless you want to sell wine or other grape based liquors).  Only the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission is allowed to sell beer, scotch, rum etc...

Second reason, is that it reduces choice for the consumer.  I love what a competitive market can do for competing businesses that sell similar products.  As a consumer, I like choice.  Buying booze here in Manitoba?  Not so much choice...but we should.  People like their booze and should have the option to shop around for variety and best price, our government refuses to give us that choice.  

Third reason, in my not so humble opinion, we are grossly overcharged for our liquor, which is a typical result when there is monopoly control.  I don't want to hear any garbage about the exchange rate and transport rates.  Case #1:  I like tequila.  I like Patron tequila.  A few months ago, I saw Patron tequila in the MB Liquor Mart behind a locked display case for about $120 (price has come down a little with favorable exchange).  I was in Grand Forks with my family and stopped in at Happy Harry's.  I found Patron on sale for $35/bottle ($45 reg price).  No specialty display case, just on a regular shelf with the rest of them.  I bought two for roughly 2/3 the cost of one bottle here....yeah pretty bad.  Case #2: Lets go west then to Alberta...surely their prices must be similar to ours?  No...
As my title suggests, I like scotch.  I have people that regularly go out there and bring back scotch at prices much lower than what we have here.  Bottles sold for $110 here can often be $20-$30 less in Alberta.  Why?  Because there is a competing market for it...

I work in supply chain so I know transport can vary, but it certainly doesn't cost $20 extra per bottle to ship scotch here as opposed to Alberta.  Grand Forks is less than 3hrs south of us.  How can their tequila cost over $70 less PER BOTTLE!  At the time the exchange rate was probably 1.07 or so, not enough to justify this price difference.

Once again I will ring the bell for a call to liberty, a call for choice.  The right to sell in the market and the right as private citizens to buy from the supplier that we want.  Should that not be a right of all people that live in a country that calls itself free? 

The country has spoken, and its never been so torn...

I must be brief, for I have work to do...

I believe this picture says it all for the once formidable Bloc...

The country has spoken and we now have a majority.  I find it ironic that the Liberals pushed so hard to get this election and they did worse than ever.  That is called political backfire...

Although I detest the NDP platform, I should congratulate them on achieving something that was probably thought impossible even 5 years ago; the title of official opposition.  What I find more striking however, is the difference between citizens in Canada regarding their political beliefs.  The Liberal party has always been a little left of centre, the NDP, farther left than that I think I can safely say.  So now we have a country that is deeply divided between the right (Conservative party) and the very left NDP party.  I do not consider myself on the right.  I am socially liberal but fiscally conservative.  I want the personal right to choose and the economic freedom that comes with government non-interventionism.  Lets say I'm off the chart, as most liberty loving people will say...

Now the Conservative party is hardly the type of conservatism that I would advocate since they spend as much as anyone else; it's just what they spend on that separates them from the NDP.  I think the country has spoken that they believe the government needs to take better care of them by providing services.  But deep down, lets face it; the reason why people want the government to provide more services, especially after they retire, is because the government takes so much of their money when they are most able to earn it.   

I need to find out how, but I do hope to meet with my local MP (Conservative) and discuss the waste involved in the regulatory bureaucracy that is our federal government.  The Conservatives spoke about economic growth and eliminating barriers to trade but so many of our federal regulatory bodies hurt Canadian business and reduce choices of private individuals more than anything.  If we want fast growth and economic freedom, the federal government must clean out their own closet.