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From: robinson@ubc-ean.CDN (Jim Robinson)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Doing only that ...
Message-ID: <753@ubc-ean.CDN>
Date: Wed, 22-Aug-84 22:53:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: ubc-ean.753
Posted: Wed Aug 22 22:53:50 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Aug-84 04:06:25 EDT
Organization: UBC EAN, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 87

> 
> I am always amused by the argument that business should be left to
> businessmen, because they know how to make a profit.  I suspect a
> large proportion of them are just as adept at losing money as our
> favourite whipping post.

Perhaps, but business people who continue to lose money do not remain
business people very long -  unlike our favourite whipping post.
If you are indeed always amused by the above I guess you must go into
veritable hysterics once a year when the Auditor-General releases his report
which invariably lambastes the government for its inability to spend
taxpayers' hard earned money in a responsible fashion. 


> ("Ah, but that's different, because when
> businesses lose money, all that happens is that people lose their jobs
> and go on pogey, and then businesses can claim to have a 'lean, tough'
> new outlook and apply for government subsidies.")

First off I don't believe in government subsidies for businesses.
In a properly operating economy intelligently managed businesses
which have employees who are realistic concerning their wages will 
thrive, and companies not so inclined will die. To ask taxpayers to
subsidize companies run by incompetent managers and/or ruled by 
greedy unions is asking too much.

Secondly, I think it is necessary to define just what the role of 
government in our society is supposed to be. If one of its jobs is to
employ people for employment's sake then some of the above has a
bit of substance to it. ( That is one of the reasons given for keeping
Canadair hooked up to the respirator - "Think of the 2900 employees
who would be unemployed if Canadair folded" ) 

However, if employing people for employment's sake is not one of
the jobs of the government, then, theoretically, when a purely 
business venture of the government ( e.g. said Canadair ) continues
to lose money, it should be shut down. 
The Communist block countries employ people for employment's sake,
and they make the Canadian economy look darn good in comparison.


> I am always amused when business leaders blame the government for
> their financial woes (invariably getting a sympathetic ear), and
> yet when our government says that maybe the policies of our Good
> Friends down south have something to do with our financial situation,
> the same people cry foul.

One of the concerns of business people is government over-regulation.
A real life example being a music radio station in Windsor which has
lost most of its following to its Detroit counter-part. Reason: CRTC
regulations which require a minimum amount of spoken words ( as opposed
to music ). The Detroit station is not encumbered by such regulations
and since people generally listen to music stations to hear music, and 
not to find out the latest and greatest way to grow tomatoes in your
basement using ultra-violet light, the result is that the Windsor
station can't compete ( yes, I know that that is a four letter word
to some of you out there, but I left my thesaurus at home ) with the
Detroit station. ( Yep, I watch W5 too ) 
[ 10 to 1 odds that the liberty loving Liberals would sooner jam the
Detroit station ( if they thought they could get away with it) than
loosen up regulations for all Canadian stations ] 

This may seem like a trivial example but it is symptomatic of the 
problems facing an absurdly over-regulated country. And, since
the future holds for Canada more competition with other countries, not
less, this problem will continue to get worse, not better.


As for the policies of our Good Friends down South - I've previously
voiced my opinion in another article. To blame the USA for Canada's
problems is a red herring.  The Liberals seem to think they can take credit
when everything's rosy, and blame the US when the economy sucks. Well,
if the US's policies are so destructive why do they have 7.1% unemployment,
while Canada has 11.1% ? Both countries had about 7.4 % unemployment
back in 1980.

Maybe there is something to that voodoo economics those barbarians are
practising down there.

> 
> I suppose ethnics like me are easily amused.
> 
> Eugene Fiume
> U of Toronto
 

                                      J.B. Robinson