Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Canadian Political Free-for-All -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: fresc who wrote (4783)	4/25/2005 2:47:56 AM
From: Gulo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 37817

The recession didn't hit Alberta until the NEP, and then it hit hard. The NEP didn't affect rates of course, but it shut down the Alberta oil patch at a time when the world desparately needed more oil. The high interest rates didn't help, and some business would have struggled through the 80's even without it, but when the NEP hit, a lot of planned oil patch activity was cancelled and the workers were laid off within a week. Rates climbed slowly in the decade leading up to 1973 due to increasing deficits and debt burdens in liberal democracies worldwide. The oil embargo of 1973 finally broke the system and increased inflation. The 70's were good years in Alberta, and the rest of Canada did OK until the recession in the 80's. Interest rates peaked in the early 80's, in both the U.S. and Canada. FWIW, I credit low interest rates in the 90's for Chrétien and Martin's ablility to eliminate the deficit ($20-40 Billion less in interest payments than what Mulroney faced). And for the record, here's the Canadian January prime lending rates (not bank rates, which are a bit lower) since 1935: bankofcanada.ca 1935 5.50 1936 5.50 1937 5.00 1938 5.00 1939 5.00 1940 5.00 1941 5.00 1942 5.00 1943 5.00 1944 5.00 1945 4.50 1946 4.50 1947 4.50 1948 4.50 1949 4.50 1950 4.50 1951 4.50 1952 4.50 1953 4.50 1954 4.50 1955 4.50 1956 4.50 1957 5.50 1958 5.50 1959 5.25 1960 5.75 1961 5.75 1962 5.50 1963 5.75 1964 5.75 1965 5.75 1966 6.00 1967 6.00 1968 6.50 1969 7.00 1970 8.50 1971 7.00 1972 6.00 Then, in 1973, the rates jumped more than 50%, but stayed below 10%... <pr> Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1973 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.50 7.00 7.75 7.75 8.25 9.00 9.00 9.00 9.50 After 1973, rates were mostly below 10% until 1979/80... 1974 9.50 1975 10.50 1976 9.75 1977 9.25 1978 8.25 1979 12.00 1980 15.00 1981 18.25 1982 16.50 1983 12.00 1984 11.00 1985 11.00 1986 11.00 1987 9.25 1988 9.75 1989 12.25 1990 13.50 1991 12.25 1992 7.50 1993 6.75 1994 5.50 1995 9.25 1996 7.25 1997 4.75 1998 6.00 1999 6.75 2000 6.50 2001 7.25 2002 3.75 2003 4.50 2004 4.25 Lest you think I am just anti-Liberal, I do give credit to Pearson for cleaning up Dief's foreign policy mess. Unfortunately, he was the last decent Liberal PM. -g P.S. A couple of IRPP articles on evaluating PMs. You don't consider IRPP to be a mouthpiece of the extreme right, do you? irpp.org irpp.org