Another week is over in the federal election and the story to date is the supposed surge in the fortunes of the NDP in the province of Quebec at the expense of the separatist Bloc Quebecois. Pundits claim that the NDP (whose goal is to bring all people down to the lowest common denominator - except of course for themselves, friends and relatives who by divine right are to prosper at the the cost of others).
Ironically these pundits are usually Eastern based and definitely Liberal leaning to say the least.It drives them silly that their viewpoint of the universe is not gratefully accepted by the rest of the Canadian public.
These same people claim that 6 seats in Saskatchewan will go from Conservative to NDP - this from people who probably never have put boots on the ground in the province and one can expect be not able to spell the name correctly. In fact their extent of being out West is to fly over the Prairies provinces on the way to Vancouver.
The outcome of the election will probably be another minority government that will stumble from crisis to crisis, bribe other parties with political favours and then collapse in defeat over a motion of confidence within a year or two with yet another election to be called.
So much for the stable image we used to offer the world!
And Canadians used to laugh at so called banana republics- as Pogo used to say, we have met the enemy and he is us!
Well Spring is really here stay and a perfect time for it to arrive this year- Easter. The majority of snow is gone and the remainder is sure to be gone within a week of so. Now it is time to clean out the garden shed and try tp find long lost tools and items like a bicycle that this year for sure you are going to ride. You ever notice that the once high priced unit you bought a couple of years ago is worth nothing as a trade in on what could be called a more "sedate version? At one time 21 speed bikes were the norm, now three and five fit the bill.
Even the seat no longer accommodates a newly expanded rear end!
So now one has to post an ad on an electronic for sale board and see if that generates interest. If not, then the old bike sure is starting to look good again.
What is happening to some countries in Europe? More and more are on the edge of defaulting on their monetary obligations. This forces fiscal relieve in the shape of a bailout and not surprisingly the stronger partners in the Union are starting to balk at continuing to poor good money after bad. France and Germany are re visiting their partnership in the wake of Portugal, Italy, Greece, Ireland taking more and more financially and not putting anything back or at least attempting to plan to repay the loans. Many observers say that tis is a result of too large a social contract and a superheated housing bubble.
There are politicians in the United States that are using this as an excuse to savage the basic fundamentals of their Medicare system.
It always seems that when times are difficult, the ones with the least ability to speak and defend themselves are those that lose the most. Both Medicare and Medicaid are under attack while large tax breaks for the uber rich are being entrenched in the taxation system. The gap between the poor, middle class and wealthy is widening and the middle class is slowly but surely shrinking with hardly an outcry.
It appears that the frustration with the recession has been seized by the Tea Party and used to attack, health, education, social services all in the name of lower taxes being all good with no side effects.
Yet recent studies show that corporate profits are at an all time high with more factories being shuttered and work being outsourced to other countries. It seems that no one yet is making the connection that soon a large majority of high paying jobs will be forever lost and more and more people will be employed in lower paying work and that will make the purchasing of good more and more difficult.
Well, that is it for another week. One more weekend before the Election and hopefully the muddy waters will have cleared and we will get some idea where this country is headed. One thing that is really important is that people get out and vote, this is a privilege that many do not have and too many take for granted and do not use.
Take care out there,
flatlander52
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