I remarked recently that I felt our government was overly optimistic in its economic forecasts and didn't seem to be considering the possibility that something might yet cause the recovery we're all supposed to be experiencing to stall. Perhaps someone should ask Jim Flaherty what he thinks about this from the Washington Post.
The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.
About 5 million to 7 million properties are potentially eligible for foreclosure but have not yet been repossessed and put up for sale. Some economists project it could take nearly three years before all these homes have been put on the market and purchased by new owners. And the number of pending foreclosures could grow much bigger over the coming year as more distressed borrowers become delinquent and then, if they can't obtain mortgage relief, wade through the foreclosure process, which often takes more than a year to complete.
Is it just me, or has Flaherty been talking as if he's either completely unaware of this or thinks that our own economy will be completely immune to a problem like this involving our largest trading partner?
H/t Atrios.
He is fully aware that a backslide in the economy isn't just posible but likely. Which is why I believe the cons are going to engineer an election sooner rather than later to avoid the backlash, just as they did the last time.
Then he must be counting on voters having extremely short attention spans since he's just finished telling us that we're in recovery and he can balance the books based on a little belt-tightening and economic growth.
Okay, my previous comment doesn't actually make any sense as a reply to what Kev wrote. I'm an idiot. Actually, I blame skdadl. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Now, to reply to what Kev actually wrote: I think there's a fairly high risk factor in engineering another election. Harper now has a well-established reputation for shutting parliament down one way or another when he's not getting exactly what he wants. And he's already violated his own fixed-term election law once. If you're right, it'll be interesting to see how he manages it without suffering for it.
Every politician believes the electorate has short memories and they have been proven right time after time.
It was just over a year ago that they were telling us that there will be no recession or deficit yet they remain at about the same level in the polls as they were during the last election.
Even more perplexing is that the same polls rank the cons as the best party in terms of managing the economy
When I hear the likes of Angelo Perischilli (as well as others; even Frank Graves wrote about that somewhere) from TO star on the radio to say that the economy will be recovered by the fall and thus St-Steve would get his majority by then, I cringe. I know what's about to come. Kev is more than likely right about another chute in the economy, but unfortunately, the corporate media is going to only serve the economy-has-recovered-and-it's-all-thanks-Steve kool-aid come the Fall, as usual, many will only be too happy to swallow it.
Unfortunately, I've noticed many voters do have short attention spans for many things (there are of course, exceptions; oddly, they never seem to get over ad scam, but it seems Steve gets away with murder). They do basically what the National Post Astral Talk stations tell them to do.
I would have preferred an election this spring as Harper would not have had enough time to prepare and control his agenda. He would have surely only gotten another minority, probably an even smaller one where he would have needed 2 or all 3 opposition parties to pass anything instead of the one. Also, some blood shedding is needed, I think a spring election could have accomplished that: both Iggy and Steve would have to go. Steve, as his party would see he can't get a majority after 3 tries and Iggy, because like Dion, just can't win.
Don't pay attention to the country behind the curtain! Besides, didn't we do great at the Olympics?!
As long as we continue to believe the polls, as long as we continue to play the game of 'my party is better than your party' we will be in this mess. When will Canadians wake up and admit the truth--that all governments are corrupt, can spin and lie, without any concern for the people, only their place at the trough and none of them have any accountability for the results of their actions? That is what politics is all about. The country be damned.
The sad truth is that we have no one to vote for and no chance of survival.
But many Canadians do admit that. If anything, the Libs and Cons and in the US both the Repugs and Demoncrats are very happy to have the citizens draw that conclusion, despair, and just say "chuck it, let them do what they want, the citizens are powerless anyway."
I don't see how deciding that there is no option but passive despair will actually get anyone out of any messes. Even if it's accurate, it doesn't actually help.
George, I would agree with you for the most part, if the parties were all ordinary, but Harpercons are proving to be very different than the rest. First time I've come across Evangelical Christian Fundamentalist PM with Evangelical Tammy Faye and JIm Baker types who believe the world is 6000 years old and that dinosaurs and humans co-existed in the GOP party of Canada. It is why nothing scares me more than a Harpercon majority.
Purple Library Guy: Actually, if there's one thing the tea-bagger hit parade has taught me was never underestimate anyone. These illiterate, inbred, ignorant, hill-billy, rednecks with their guns, their bible thumping, trash talking flailing their mis-spelled signs are actually being heard. Haven't they been behind the nomination of certain GOP candidates as of late?
You can blame the American media for that. You can put thousands of progressives in the street to oppose an invasion of Iraq and they're hard-left, shrill, fringe-dwellers to whom no one really listens. You can put a few hundred in the street at a tea-bagger rally and they're the salt-of-the-earth, real Americans and politicians need to pay attention.