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Obama’s socialist policies that are suppressing an American economy on which the Free World still depends

Spun Canadian economic data shilling for a Socialist America?



Just in time to help Barack Obama’s push for a Socialist America, a Canadian writer and novelist is suggesting that Canada is richer than America due to Canada’s “hardheaded socialism”. First came data from Environics Analytics of Toronto indicating that Canada has finally sprinted ahead of the United States economically. Their big news: The average Canadian household had net worth of $363,202 at the end of last year, compared with $319,970 for the average American household.
The data was touted by Canadian writer novelist Stephen Marche in a Bloomberg column taking the Canada-is-richer-than-the-U.S. theme to the grand conclusion that it’s all courtesy of Canada’s “hardheaded socialism”. “In a dazzling display of broken ideological running, he (Marche) takes the $40,000 wealth advantage and scores a triumphant liberal-leftist touchdown,” wrote celebrated Financial Post scribe Terence Corcoran. “The fact that there were no defensive tackles or linebackers on the field at the time made it an easy triumph for Mr. Marche. Look, Ma. Touchdown.” Marche may have run to touchdown through a prominent American news outlet like Bloomberg News. But given the time and political climate, was someone trying to give President Barack Obama a soft landing for the Fundamental Transformation of America, the title behind which his real motive of socialism hides?

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In the ongoing anti-Americanism pushed from some Canadian quarters, Marche’s Bloomberg piece could be the one that flew over the proverbial cuckoo nest. “What makes Canada better than the United States is “hard-headed socialism” is a no-sell in either nation. Even with a largely leftwing Canadian mainstream media and the Liberals and New Democrat Party trying to push the newly-elected majority Conservative government from its vulnerable perch, Canada is not exclusively a country of “hard-headed socialism”. “Canada is winning because Canadian governments, Liberal and Conservative, have firmly maintained socialist principles over the years going back to Paul Martin’s budget cuts in the 1990s,” writes Marche. “Social programs and robust capitalism are not, as so many would have you believe, inherently opposed propositions. Both are required for meaningful national prosperity.” Aside from the fact the so-called race between Canada and the U.S. on who’s richer is being hyped from the get-go, former Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin’s influence on Canada far exceeded his budget cuts. After a decade of uninterrupted Liberal reign under Prime Minister Jean Cretien, Paul Martin’s first trip to the polls as Liberal leader landed him in minority government status. When he returned to the voting polls in 2006, he lost the election. outright. Martin was executive assistant to Power Corporation CEO Maurice Strong, with whom he maintains a close relationship to the present day, before becoming CEO of Canadian Steamship Lines. On December 12, 2003, Martin became the Prime Minister of Canada. On January 28, 2004, the federal government, in response to opposition party and media enquiries, revealed that Canadian Steamship Line Group Inc. (CSL) of which Martin was CEO had received $162 million in federal government contracts, grants and loans since Paul Martin became Minister of Finance in 1993. Earlier figures released in 2003 had suggested CSL Group Inc. had only earned $137,000 during this time period. (Wikipedia). Corcoran continues: “Mr. Marche’s hard-headed socialism is apparently soft at its Canadian centre. Unfortunately, he reaches his conclusion based on an analysis that turns the story of recent Canadian and U.S. economic policy change on its head. The reason some economic data might be moving in Canada’s favour is not a function of Canadian socialism winning out over American capitalism. To the extent that the United States is losing economic ground, it’s a direct result of America’s slide into forms of socialism and Canada’s growing base as a more capitalist nation. “The United States is in the beginning phase of a slow decline into a bigger government nation that leans further and further to the left. American socialism is a threat to U.S. economic growth, a threat that is keeping the economy down. The rise of government in the U.S. since the mid-1990s--when Canada cut government deficits and spending--is traceable in national statistics (See graphic titled American Socialism). Canadian spending and debt once stood well above U.S. levels, but the tables have been turned since then, especially in the past five years under President Barack Obama and the current Congress. “The actual Environics Analytics data on household wealth also show that while the U.S. government is moving to the socialist left, Americans are still on average fairly capitalistic compared with Canadians. Averages are unreliable, but the same data show that when it comes to holding assets, Americans have way more money in stocks and bonds and bank deposits than Canadians (see table (left) on household wealth).” In the end, Marche’s conclusions on the Environics Analytics data may serve more as a crash than a soft landing for Obama, if only by reminding average Americans that it is Obama’s socialist policies that are suppressing an American economy on which the Free World still depends.


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Judi McLeod -- Bio and Archives -- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

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