Ralph Goodale is so much smarter than anyone

This past spring Liberal numbers were showing an estimated $9 billion surplus, then came the Atlantic Accord: $2.7 billion payable starting this (not last) fiscal year and carried forward to future years. But Ralph piled it all into last year’s spending. Hmmm. Doesn’t sound like generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)?

Add on billions more in next (and future) year’s costs into last year’s budget and $9 billion becomes $1.6 billion. Too bad for the NDP Ralph didn’t figure the next two years’ spending commitments for the NDP Bad Budget Amendment into last year’s spending too. I told Dippers they would never see the money.

Now the only part of GAAP that Ralph Goodale actually wants to follow is applying any remaining surplus to the debt. I applaud it. But it should have been a $9 billion payment. So where is the money for tax relief, curing the fiscal imbalance, or enriching seniors’ benefits?

Follow Ralph Houdini’s shell game. Where’s the money? Is it under last year’s shell? Nope. Guess again. Is it hidden in next year’s budget? Yep.
jeff watson mp via angry in the great white north

Great to see a blogging MP draw a bead on Ralph’s hide the money game. Now the question is will Harper put it at the top of his to do list. And, I wonder, will anyone in the MSM be able to parse the shell game. Watson pretty much draws the road map and even a lazy journo should be able to get a story here. Will they??

The thing is that by this sort of flim-flam, Goodale avoids either giving Canadians a tax break or, to use the term of art, “slapping” 9 billion on the national debt. Now, 9 billion on a 499 billion dollar tab is not much; but not having to pay the interest on 9 billion would leave an extra say 50 million a year forever in the feds account. Which, next year, they could add to whatever surplus was available. And so on.

Written by jay on September 24th, 2005 with 1 comment.
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