Squandered opportunity

Lorne Gunter has a very, very good post on the Liberals tax cut announcement and the squandered opportunity of the last decade.

So the Liberals are contemplating giving you and me some of our money back. Yeehaw!  ...  But let me put this well-meaning, well thought out, economic stimulus into perspective. The Libs' last big tax cut was on the eve of the 2000 election...Those cuts worked out to about $200 per family per year, but the cuts being proposed now, we are told, will be less than that. Since the 2000 cuts amounted to about one one-topping pizza per family per month, what will these cover, the breadsticks? The dipping sauce? ...

And here's another interesting little fact I came across today: Since it balanced the budget in 1997-98, the Liberal government has taken in an extra $500 billion -- with a "b" -- in revenues. If it had held revenues steady at '97-'98 levels, Canadians would have kept half a trillion -- with a "t" -- more dollars in their pockets than they did over the past decade. That's about five months worth of the nation's GDP. What a difference that would have made in the economy.

In the hands of the feds, though, that half a trillion has had no discernable impact at all. Are waiting times shorter for health care? No they are not. Since the Liberals took office, waits have increased from an average of 9.3 weeks to 17.7. Are fewer Canadians poor (as a result of better social programs rather than a booming economy)? No. Are there fewer homeless, more contributing immigrants, fewer crimes, richer aboriginals? No, no, no and no.