Canadian Budget

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Guns or Butter?

According to the Postmedia News reading of the just released Canadian Budget; Flaherty, Harper & friends "... plan to leverage billions in spending on military equipment into making Canada an arms exporter." 

The chart to the left suggests there is plenty of room for Canada to move up in rank.

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The Star reports that the new Canadian budget passes along their survey of forecasters who have a very bullish call for a big spike in growth next year.

Unemployed? Underemployed? 

Get thee down to the retraining center for a placement in the bullet and bomb department. 

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I wonder who the  Economic Growth Forecasters are. They do not appear to be business people at ground level. 

As the chart left demonstrates, the PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) which reflects Business Owner Confidence, has been in a downtrend since the peaks in 2010-2011. 

But only two weeks ago to the question: “How much of a kick are we going to take on the revenue side because of lower nominal GDP?"

Mr. Jim Flaherty replied "Significant, it’s significant.” 

The Military Industrial Complex Northern Edition

The Huffington Post Canada notes that the Tom Jenkins OpenText Corp report (commissioned by the Canadian Public Works Department) said that the production and trade of military goods is "powerfully influenced by governments" that can encourage the development of a country's defence industry. 

The Canadian government will move this spring on Jenkins' recommendations and will begin an analysis that will look at "selecting a series of interim key industrial capabilities to help guide immediately pending defence procurement projects."

Global News picks up the story with:

"But the budget affirms the core message the Jenkins report delivered: that the government must ensure future purchases of military equipment be used to "create economic opportunities for Canadians by developing key domestic industrial capabilities" on future procurement."

"A key opportunity for doing so is by targeting, as estimated by Mr. Jenkins, the $49 billion in Industrial and Regional Benefits obligations that foreign prime contractors are expected to accumulate by 2027 to support high-skill and high-value opportunities and jobs in Canadian industries."

"The budget document said the overall strategy would "provide Canada with a stronger manufacturing base with a capacity for leading-edge technology and innovation. The potential benefits for the Canadian economy are significant."

OpenText Corporation is a software company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. As Canada's largest software company, it produces and distributes computer software applications designed to enable enterprise content management solutions for large corporations across all industries.

OLD NEWS DEPT:

The Times Colonist in Victoria tipped us off back in August 2011 with "Citizens not consulted about buying drones. Military to spend $1 billion on ARMED drones for Arctic patrols" 

Follow the money.

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