On October 7th, 2008, the PM made this comment during an interview:
""I think there's probably some great buying opportunities emerging in the stock market as a consequence of all this panic." Mr. Harper told news reporters as the S&P/TSX dropped for the fifth straight day."
Of course all memebers of all opposition parties were outraged, slamming the PM as uncaring, insensitive, out of touch, blah, blah, blah. And those same opposition members never said boo when Obama made a similar statement awhile back, but that's another story. Of course newly coronated Liberal leader was as out of touch as everyone else. This comment from February, 2009.
"“Last fall, Stephen Harper said that it was a good time to buy stocks, he said that there was no need to run a deficit and he said if we were going to have a recession it would have happened by now,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “We now know that as he was saying that, the market fell further, the Conservatives were in the red, and over 234,000 jobs were lost.”
First of all, the government was not in the red, but still in surplus. Matter of fact the government expects to post a surplus of $800 million for the fiscal year 2008 ending in March 2009. Guess Ignatieff was out of Canada for so long he never heard of the fiscal monitor. Yes, jobs were lost, and we are in a recession. Of course the PM warned Canadian's of this in his year end interview with Peter Mansbridge in 2007. At the time Liberal finance critic John "Chevy" McCallum said the PM was overstating the problems we were going to face, but not to many Canadian's would hold stock in a critic who doesn't know what kind of car he owns or drives.
Now getting back to the PM's statement on buying stocks. Someone took it upon themselves to track the TSX, which by the way has risen for nine weeks now, and what your return would be if you took the PM's advice. Based on Friday's close, you would be looking at a 7.5% return on your investment, IN EIGHT MONTHS.
http://www.harperdex.ca/harperdex.py
Wonder what mark Iggy would give for that?
Actually, it's only been 7 months. But your point is made.
ReplyDeletePoliticians and bureaucrats are always suppose to be cheerleaders for the economy. In fact Alan Blinder, Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, on PBS's Nightly Business Report in 1994 said "The last duty of a central banker is to tell the public the truth."
ReplyDeleteListening to politicians will make you poor. This is a bear market rally. Be very careful.
Yes, PMSH was right about buying opportunities,
ReplyDeleteand as Chucker pointed out,
so has the economic statement proven true.
Yah know 'that econ stmt' that 'created' the coalition of losers in their failed attempt to seize the govt.
Iffy gets ZERO credit for the recovery. He wanted it that way,
'Harper wears this recession'
'it's not my budget, we will not be proposing any ideas'...
Iffy has one big problem, big problem,
the economy is recovering.
What's good for Canadians is not good for Liberals.
I have a lot of friends who are in the trades Wilson, drywallers, painters, electricians, plumbers.
ReplyDeleteAll are booming right now because of the renovation tax credit the PM brought in as part of the stimulus plan. People are doing reno's to take advantage. My neighbor at Home Depot said they added personnel to the paint department as people are buying paint for their homes due the the tax credit as well. I also hear that deck, fence, and interlocking brick contracts are up as well.
If Canadian's really take a close look, The Conservative's have done a fantastic job on the econoy. With a global recession, they managed to still post a small surplus for the last fiscal year. Unemplyment is at the same rate it was 7 years ago, under the Liberal's during a global boom. TSX up 9 weeks in a row. House sales picking up.
I had a look at my RRSP's last friday and was happy to see a 3 month gain of 4.7%. With one of my RRSP's gaining 12.6% and another 8.4% in April.
ReplyDeleteThings are looking up.
Mine saw similar gains. I think within a few months the losses will be negated completely and I should see positive growth continuing.
ReplyDeleteGreat Blog Paul!
ReplyDeleteIt is refreshing to hear your voice of reason from the unionized part of the Canadian auto industry. Your blog comes as a positive surprise to my eyes, as a proudly union free auto worker at HCM Alliston, Ontario.