Thursday Post

Lots to say....



But... but... budgets balance themselves!

Federal numbers released quietly by the Trudeau government late last month are painting a bleak picture of Canada's financial future — one filled with decades of deficits.

The report, published on the Finance Department website two days before Christmas, predicts that, barring any policy changes, the federal government could be on track to run annual shortfalls until at least 2050-51.

If such a scenario plays out, the document says the federal debt could climb past $1.55 trillion by that same year — more than double its current level.

The projection comes as the federal Liberals proceed with plans to run double-digit annual deficits over at least the next six years as a way to help Ottawa fund an economy-boosting effort that includes infrastructure investments.

Over the long haul, the fiscal trajectory in this report looks dramatically different when compared to similar long-term federal predictions released in November 2014 by the previous Conservative government. Those 2014 projections were released as crashing oil prices were only beginning to wreak havoc on the economy.

People actually voted for this idiot to ruin the economy:

By 2040, Canada was projected to have no federal debt and a $158 billion surplus. This surplus would continue to grow, and presumably be returned to Canadians through lower taxes and increased spending on social programs.

The Harper government’s long-term economic plan included some tough but fair measures, like reducing the growth in federal spending and moving the retirement age up to 67.

Given the reality of Canada’s changing demographics, these measures are inevitable.

For instance, there are now more Canadians over the age of 65 than under the age of 15.

The ratio of working aged Canadians to retired Canadians has fallen below 4.2, and is projected to drop to 2.5 by 2035.

Canada can no longer make projections based on the booming growth we experienced after the Second World War.

Harper’s fiscal update (building on the fiscal success of the Jean Chrétien Liberals) made leaps and bounds towards correcting a broken, outdated system.

But things look drastically different under Trudeau.

Today’s long-term economic forecast paints a dire picture for the country’s finances.

It’s particularly punishing for young Canadians and future taxpayers.

Instead of surpluses, Canada will run deficits. Year after year.

Far from being debt-free within 25 years, Canada is now projected to run catastrophic deficits every year.

Our annual shortfall is forecasted to be $40 billion in 2035 alone.

By 2045, the government now projects $1.5 trillion in federal debt.

Just two years ago, Canada was projected to have a $760 billion surplus that same year.

Not that it will matter to PM Hair-Boy:

Before news of the Bahamas trip broke CBC reported that Trudeau reimbursed taxpayers for nine private trips, add in Bahamas and he is at ten vacations.

Did you get ten vacations or private trips last year?

 
(hat tip)




Also:

The office of Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson says it cannot answer questions about the timing of Justin Trudeau’s involvement with the Trudeau Foundation because of “confidentiality” reasons.

 

Plumbing the depths of depravity, one Facebook post at a time:

Hate crime and aggravated battery charges were filed Thursday against four African American suspects who police say tortured a mentally challenged white man for as long as 48 hours, while shouting racial and anti-Donald Trump slurs -- and part of the attack was streamed on Facebook Live. ...

The suspects -- Jordan Hill, 18, Tesfaye Cooper, 18, Brittany Covington, 18, and Tanishia Covington, 24 -- were set to appear in Central Bond Court on Friday afternoon.

Police on Thursday filled in details from the case. The 18-year-old man's parents had dropped him off at a McDonald's in suburban Streamwood last weekend to hang out with Hill, who took him in a van to see the rest of the group in western Chicago, investigators said, adding that the man didn't seem to know Hill had just stolen the van.

The man's parents apparently thought he'd be spending the night with friends, according to police. They said he and Hill had gone to school together in Aurora, although they didn't see each other frequently.

Instead, investigators claimed the group kidnapped the man, keeping him tied up for hours or more with his mouth taped shut in an apartment on the city's west side. The video showed him cowering in a corner while someone yelled "F--- white people!" and "F--- Donald Trump!" At one point, the man was held at knifepoint and told to curse the president-elect.

The video also showed the man being kicked and hit repeatedly, while his scalp was cut. The group apparently forced him to drink water from a toilet.

The worst of the attack had started out as a "play fight" that ultimately escalated, police said. They told reporters the man slept in the van during the ordeal.

The man finally escaped on Monday after a neighbor on a lower floor of the apartment building complained about the noise and threatened to call the cops, police said. They told reporters the suspects barged into the neighbor's apartment, giving the man an opportunity to get out.

The four also face burglary charges in connection to the break-in.

A police officer finally encountered the disoriented man walking down a street on Monday wearing only an inside-out tank top, jean shorts and sandals, despite the frigid weather. The officer said it was clear the man had been bloodied and battered.

No one in the race-baiting White House seems to think that this was a hate crime (as odious as it is for such a thing to exist - aren't all crimes acts of hatred?).

Are these cretinous monsters of the belief that Obama might pardon them at the eleventh hour or that their actions were just and funny?




Obama, vindictive to the last:

His foreign policy has been a disaster almost from the outset in ways that contributed to the frustration and rage that poisoned the 2016 election. In part, Obama simply seemed languid, unable to stir himself in the face of threats or even look up from his putt. But there were always those who suggested that behind the indolence and prissy Wilsonian pose of being “too proud to fight” lurked something more sinister.

Unable? Try unwilling.




Still blaming Russia?

Are the Russians also the authors of GOP’s Senate, House, and gubernatorial gains over the past six years? Isn’t it more plausible that GOP wins, including Trump’s, are the result of the failures of Obamacare and Hillary Clinton and other discontent rather than Russian hackers? Whatever the case, Obama decided to retaliate against alleged Russian infiltration of the 2016 election, by sanctioning four Russians and five Russian entities with a statement that strongly hints they helped Trump win. The administration also ordered 35 Russian diplomats to leave the country and two Russian compounds to be shuttered.

This is A-OK by me. Eject all spies! But let’s remember, not even the administration claims that Russians at those compounds were involved in supposed hacking the election. And if Russia had this sort of power, running these sorts of top-notch operations during his watch, why did the president wait until after Democrats lost an election to do something about it?

Bulgaria and India are getting it. Canada - not so much:

India and Bulgaria have launched competitions to buy new fighter jets, but unlike Canada they expect the process to take just a couple of years.

The speedy purchase of much-needed jets for those countries has raised questions about why it will take the Canadian government more than 10 years to replace the military’s aging fleet of CF-18s.

India announced Tuesday it expects to choose a supplier for 200 planes and sign a deal by 2020, with a request for bids going out in 2018. In December, Bulgaria announced it was seeking bids for up to eight jets, with more to follow. The winning bid for that program will be selected in 2018.

By contrast, the Liberal government expects it will take until the end of the 2020s — or perhaps even until 2032 — before it can acquire replacements for its CF-18s.

“There is no reason why any competition should take that long,” said Conservative Party defence critic James Bezan. “Most of the work is already done and the capabilities of various planes are already known,” he added, referring to the efforts by the Canadian military over the last seven years to examine potential replacement candidates.

 
On the Korean Peninsula:

South Korea is accelerating plans to create a special military unit tasked with decapitating North Korea’s leadership in the event of war as it looks for options to counter its rival’s nuclear weapons and missiles, an official said Thursday.

Start by decapitating Kim Jong-Un.

**

Is Trump getting it about North Korea?

Whatever you may think about trade policy, Trump is unquestionably right about North Korea. China has done much less than nothing to help us in North Korea; it has actively undermined sanctions against it. Its companies sell North Korea the trucks that haul its missiles, its ports let WMD components and weapons pass through on their way to the Middle East and Africa, and its banks are laundering the money that ships North Korean weapons and enriches North Korean proliferators. If the Chinese government hasn’t been willing to help until now, it isn’t going to help unless it faces a much higher cost for its conduct. In fact, it probably won’t be swayed to help at all, but China’s banks and trading companies can be. In the short term, they should be our first targets.

**

North Korean women want to be reunited with their stateless children left in China:

Around 30,000 North Koreans have resettled in South Korea, the vast majority of them women. Assessing how many of them were victims of human trafficking is difficult as is estimating the number of North Korean women who remain trafficked in China or languish in prisons back in North Korea after forced repatriation. Kim estimates 60 percent of North Korean women in South Korea were abused in China. She said, “Naturally, women only share their stories with friends they are very close with and trust. This is because women defectors feel shameful about their experiences. It is extremely difficult for me when I share what I have been through. I was sold for 19,000 Chinese yuan (about USD 2,800). Moreover, I have to confess the fact that I abandoned my child, whether it was against my will or not.”

 **

Prison camps in North Korea:

(Kamsahamnida)




And now, Pikachu and Super Mario were left out as the Tokyo Olympics spokes-characters.

That must ire some people but I can't imagine who.

At least Astro Boy made the cut.

 

(Merci)