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To: TobagoJack who wrote (41992)	11/23/2003 9:32:32 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

On <<massive exposures>>. The situation got to this point because one government pushes to the next the task to tell the populace that the party is over and it is time to pay the bill. As soon as the next administration is elected, they discover that they don't want to give the populace the bad news. They only hinted at it to bait the crowds into get them elected. So they push it to the next administration the hard task, meanwhile the opposition is hard at work hinting at the oncoming catastrophe to get itself re-elected and so it goes... Who's got the balls to tell that government needs to be deflated instead of raising taxes? Have you ever heard a government saying they want to cut their costs in line with a tax cut? I tell you what you hear, you hear governments saying they want to cut taxes to get more taxes, that means cutting taxes to revamp the economy to generate more taxes. Meanwhile the exposure gets more and more massive. Meanwhile, keep away from holding accepted means of payment that are at the mercy of governments

To: TobagoJack who wrote (41992)	11/23/2003 9:55:39 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Can't stop governments going bust. They become stifled. Their institutions start to calcify, the whole country becomes cast in plaster. No change possible. There's a little to everyone in the whole deal and no one wants to face the insecurity of a brave new world. The country become impervious to any new idea or concept. There's no solution but the slow spiral into oblivion. Mancur Olson describes this: amazon.com

To: TobagoJack who wrote (41992)	11/23/2003 10:25:51 PM
From: Condor	Respond to of 74559

Thanks Jay, I sent that one off to a Cabinet member in our Federal government. I might mention that Canada has had balanced Federal budgets for the past 7 years and have led the G-7 in growth for the past ???3-4 years. I think its expected we will not do it this year though. BTW...you must be enjoying the large exchange windfall in the $ CDN vs. the US $ in the past several months?? cheers C

To: TobagoJack who wrote (41992)	11/23/2003 10:28:21 PM
From: Seeker of Truth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Jay, I will get hold of that book as fast as possible. What I don't know about is the implicit part. The explicit part shows that the indebtedness of the Canadian government has about the same ratio to the GNP that the US public debt has. But the ratio is rapidly increasing for the US and actually decreasing for Canada. Moreover Canada has a favorable balance of trade. Yet another moreover, Canada has higher interest rates than the US. ALso Canada's population is a little younger than that of the U.S. Also Canadians pay more taxes than Americans, and are used to doing so. I wonder if Heller included that? All of these are short term but rather powerful. The implicit part is certainly frightening. I will certainly track it down and report back. Unfortunately I have to go to Tokyo on Tuesday. If I get hold of the book I'll try to post in the next few days. Chugs, Malcolm

To: TobagoJack who wrote (41992)	11/24/2003 5:57:48 PM
From: Seeker of Truth	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Jay, The book "Who Will Pay" by Peter S. Heller has not yet been printed. Amazon will send me a copy as soon as they get them in stock. Then I will post about why the author considers the Canadian dollar to have such a bad future. Until then I'm skeptical. Canada is a cold country. People are used to persevering against nature. They will put up with high taxes more readily than the people of most countries. Chugs, Malcolm