Canada officially enters recession http://news.yahoo.com/canada-officially-recession-first-half-2015-131114485.html Reeling from low oil prices, Canada fell into a recession in the first half of the year, government data confirmed Tuesday, putting Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the defensive in the run-up to October elections. According to Statistics Canada, the economy contracted 0.5 percent in the second quarter after retreating 0.8 percent in the previous three months. It is Canada's second recession in seven years and it is the only Group of Seven nation in economic retreat. The figures are the weakest since the 2008 global financial crisis. The data reflects fears about the health of the global economy as more gloomy evidence emerged of a slowdown in China, a main engine of growth worldwide. (More at above url)
Change in government will help. Cutting taxes does nothing for the overall economy. We need stimulus, just like the U.S. did or take a page from Norway's game plan. They're sitting with $900 billion in excess, not run a deficit since the late 60's, and still have all the very generous social programs. I guess that's the difference between good government and lousy government.
When Norway discovered oil in the mid 60's, they created Statoil to make sure they could gouge their share and taxed heavily all other comers. They started a fund, similar to the Heritage fund in Alberta, except they knew enough to keep collecting taxes from everyone at the same time. Alberta thinks they're being smart by having no sales tax. Their fund is down to $17 billion and dropping. And through strong investment they reap the rewards today. They could care less whether oil goes up, down or sideways, they're getting ready to move into solar energies big time. Norway's social programs are second to none in the world today. High quality health care, tuition free school through college, comfortable old age pensions and on and on. This is all because they collect taxes and know how to invest. This idea of tax cuts serves the 1% only and all they do is bank it. One last thing: Canada had an oil company, PetroCanda, and the jokers went and sold it. Just like Ontario used to have Sunoco, now Suncor, and they went and sold that. No foresight. Today Ontario is broke. Canada, well, we all know. Market moves like today bring the rant out of me. Cheers!