Sense on Cents

A month or so ago, I introduced former Australian Prime Minister and Treasury Secretary Paul Keating to our readers here at Sense on Cents. Keating offered a wealth of piercing and insightful perspectives on the world of global finance. He forecasted the likely shift of global financial power toward the surplus countries in Asia. While I have never seen nor heard Keating’s views broadcast here in the United States, I appreciated his sobering analysis.

In a similar vein, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is not exactly a household name in the United States. We were provided the political strappings of President Obama’s initial foreign trip when he traveled to Ottawa to meet Harper 6 weeks ago. The pomp and circumstance along with the Royal Canadian Mounties made for some nice theatre.

Let’s revisit the Canadian leader and see what he has to say. Last week, he provided a rather scathing review of the United States consumer, the Obama administration’s stimulus plans, and the Obama proposal of a carbon tax. 

Harper presents a very balanced review and approach. I specifically appreciated his definition of conservatism. Rather than my highlighting it here, I will allow you to discover that gem embedded in the attached article on your own.  Canada is one of the few countries in the world that is successfully weathering this global recession. Harper can teach us more than a few lessons on fiscal discipline, prudent lending, personal consumption, excessive taxation, and government budgets.  The truth often hurts, but is there any doubt about Harper’s assertion that amongst other factors Reckless U.S. Consumers Caused Recession. 

Prime Minister Harper, I thank you!

LD

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 11:22 AM and is filed under American Consumers, Economic Stimulus, Economy, Obama Administration, Stimulus Plan, Stimulus Tax Package, Wall Street. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.