Jason’s main point is Canada bit the fiscal bullet in the mid-1990s and so has been in a better position to weather the current economic storm. While much remains to be done to bring taxes and government spending down, by reducing spending 16 years ago (and not ramping it up outrageously since), we are coming out of the recession faster than the States. And, of course, the Liberals deserve the credit for the belt-tightening of 1995 that help leave us in such a good position today.
“While the U.S. remains mired in debt and slogs through a subpar economic recovery,” Clemens writes, “Canada is moving ahead steadily.
Its unemployment rate peaked at a little over 8.5% and is now 7.4%, and there were no bank bailouts. Real GDP growth is expected to be roughly 3% this year.” In the U.S. unemployment is over 9% and the economy grew by an anaemic 1.3% on an annualized basis in the first quarter. An economy that would need to produce 250,000 jobs a month to return employment to pre-recession levels is – when it’s lucky – producing 50,000 to 60,000.