Prentice is too clever to trust

We all appreciate smart people.

Jim Prentice is one of those people, but it doesn't mean you should vote for him.

The reasons are pretty straight forward.  Prentice raised taxes.  It's a Boolean decision.  Forget electronic voting.  If I could rig a machine to vote for me it would need one single line of code.  If government raises taxes for any reason, vote for another party.  Done.  My robotic voter would pick Wildrose.

Prentice is sure smart though.  That coup he pulled against the Wildrose will go down in history.  It's like something out of House of Cards.  Nine MLAs including the Leader of the Opposition taken down with smiles and empty promises.  Many of them aren't even running this time.  We all know the story but it bears retelling as brilliant maneuvers deserve.

The trouble is that Prentice is also a progressive.  One can be both smart and progressive.  This is in contrast to smart and Liberal which are attributes seldom found in one mind.   Progressives tend to see themselves as above the herd.  They are the wise shepherds who's job is to lead the flock.  Keeping with the analogy they also see it appropriate to harvest and consume the flock at will.

This is exactly what has happened.  The PC Budget takes more money directly out of our pockets to pay for their mistakes.  Their mistakes are my penalty.  Progressives, being the adults, understand why they made all those mistakes.  They fully understand why they had to lie to us about past budgets.  It had to be done in their view.  Else the sheep would ignorantly pick new shepherds and that cannot be allowed.

Redford's budget lies show that the party will go along with anything no matter how unscrupulous.
Prentice can't take the blame for the Redford years but he has to take the responsibility.  He wanted the job.  The government, the party and all of its baggage are now his.  That's fair.  If I'm the one paying the freight for it so I think its fair.

Knowing Prentice's craftiness and the unethical party he leads, what can be said about this surprise election?  We know the PC's seem destined to rule for 1000 years or more.  Alberta is broke and unsustainable (hence the taxes) so obviously we need to blow millions to immediately decide a sure thing.  The government could have just waited for 2016.

The "House of Cards" reason for the election is to kick the opposition while they are down.  Wildrose is still hurting from "the Betrayal" as Wildrosers are calling it.  Call an election and exploit the damage Prentice himself inflicted.  Ruthless political mastery of Machiavellian inspiration.    

There seems to be something else going on here.  Prentice's tax hikes were absolutely necessary because of the oil price (or PC mismanagement).  This is basically the line you've heard.  So why didn't they reveal any cuts?  Things are so dire that taxes need raising, but every part of this bloated government is essential?  Not True.

Prentice is playing House of Cards again.  There will be cuts but only after the election.  Prentice and his fat juicy government needs the votes of all those government employees.  Once Prentice gets his "Mandate" he will give a speech something like this:

"While I thank Alberta voters for the confidence in the direction of this government we have heard message from so many who voted for the Wildrose opposition.  We have heard the message that Albertans want a government that spends within its means and that is why we will look for savings for the taxpayer"

And with that Prentice will begin government cutbacks after the election.  He will betray the people who want a fat government by cutting those same people loose and then credit the cuts to the demands of Wildrose.

Astoundingly brilliant again.

Do you doubt this is the plan?  Its so obvious its almost the path of least resistance for the PCs.  It's completely in character and matches their style exactly.

We all appreciate smart people.  Smart people should be our friends.  Smart adversaries not so much.  Smart ranchers not at all if you are the cow.

We can marvel at the guile shown by the PCs and their ancient hold on power but we are subject to the rule of those same people.  This is not a TV show.  I pity Alberta.  I pity the government workers blowing kisses to PCs all while they silently sharpen their blades and set the table.

I've made up my mind.  If you are still deciding think twice about the sharks in the PC party.  They can take care of themselves.  I don't trust them to take care of anyone else.  They will cash you in like a two dollar coupon if it suits them.

I'm with Eve Adams

JUST KIDDING!

I would sooner eat glass.

Today I'm eating crow.  My last post declared my loyalty to Daniel Smith and her new party.  I'm not sure anymore.

Some might want to criticize me for switching allegiances before and now possibly switching again.  That's fine.  I'm not running for office.  I can switch allegiances as many times as I please.  I will switch allegiances based the information I have and so should you.

The idea that an effective opposition is an essential part of democracy is something I agree with.   But there is another essential aspect missing from democracy in Alberta.  Albertans need to choose their vote based on policy, not party loyalty.

Too many people, Wildrose, PC, Liberal, NDP, all of them treat politics like its a sport.  They cheer for their team like a bunch of Toronto Maple Leafs fans regardless of  what their party actually stands for.  It's all "rah rah go team" nonsense.

If people were a little less loyal and a little more reasonable Alberta would not be so deep in this mess today.  We would not have had Allison Redford.  The budget would have been balanced while the economy was booming and we would still have the full Sustainability fund and the law protecting it too.  Prentice would not have left his cushy bankers desk to run the opposition now would he?  If only Albertan's were less loyal to the PC brand.

Folks: Democracy only works if you choose the best option on election day!  Never mind an effective opposition.  You'll get an effective opposition if the parties are actually afraid they will lose your support for Pete's sake.  That's Democracy!  -not this phoney and pointless back and forth in the Legislature.

Anyway, Danielle Smith said we had won.  The PCs were being colonized by the heart of Wildrose.  That was my hope and I had no reason to doubt it at the time.  I also had no reason to doubt Rob Ford either.  I'm not a mind reader.  I listen to what people say and if they lie to me then I have reason to doubt them.

I'm sure I won't vote for tax hikes, now or ever.  Prentice has said that Alberta's flat tax is harmful to the poor.  Perhaps, but then he proposed to raise taxes on the poor and everyone else as well.  Justin Trudeau, knowing nothing, can be given a small modicum of pity for being able to say any nonsensical thing.  Prentice should know better as a former banker.  The lie of a competent man is that much worse that the lie of a fool.

Today Premier Prentice said he would slash Alberta's budget by 9%.  An interesting promise from a man preparing to spend millions in a snap election.  Perhaps Wildrose has indeed colonized the PC Party? -after exploring every other alternative.

In any case, its hard to trust any of them.  I would vote Wildrose today, but I can't shake this suspicion that there is something rotten there.  I just don't believe the narrative we've been given.  Nine Wildrosers, the best of them, all went suddenly insane?  -Or they were under a spell cast by the evil power hungry Danielle Smith?  Put your emotions aside.  Put aside your foam finger and your lapel pins and think for a minute.  Is there no problems inside a party that would drive out their best and brightest?

Maybe that's just how its done in Alberta.  Didn't the same thing happen to Allison Redford in a way?   Didn't that happen  Ed Stelmach and Ralph Klein too?  It's all just backroom politics in this province.  Election day is just a day that the government thinks it can find enough drones to be walked into an election booth to re-affirm loyalty to that government.  Until people start asserting control over their own vote the sickness in this province and its democracy will continue.

Progressively Deeper in Debt

Nobody can keep track of the Progressive Party lies.  None of their election promises were true.  They couldn't even be bothered to follow the law in the last election as far as funding was concerned.  I don't trust these guys as far as I can smell them.  This bloated nightmare of a government is way past due.
 
The white hats of this provincial western, the Wildrose Party, did the math and it doesn't look good. 

BACK IN DEBT: Budget 2013-14 by the numbers:

• $3.5 billion – New debt this year, doubling the amount to over $8 billion next year
• $16.9 billion – New debt before the next election, the original amount of the Sustainability Fund
• $5.5 billion – Budget 2013-14 cash deficit.
• $2 billion – Amount taken from the Sustainability Fund in 2013-14
• $691 million – What will remain in the Sustainability Fund after Budget 2013-14
• $1.4 billion – Operational deficit for the current budget year, 2012-13
• $451 million – Operational deficit for Budget 2013-14
• $238 million in debt servicing in 2013, $404 million in 2014, $593 million in 2015

Read for yourself:

National Post - Alberta budget 2013 marked by billions in deficit spending, service cuts
Calgary Sun - Budget a trifecta of debt, deficit and cuts
Edmonton Journal - ‘Painful’ cuts, billions in borrowing in Alberta budget
Calgary Herald - Painful cuts, deficit and borrowing mark Alberta’s budget
Globe and Mail - Canada's wealthiest province cuts deep as Alberta embraces austerity
Sun News - Debt and borrowing mark Alberta's austerity budget

The only way they can spin it is that its all because of the price of oil.  Its all because of Keystone and Gateway and has nothing to do with gross mismanagement in government.  This is a galling lie. 

Lets say Iran closes the Strait or Hormuz.  Yay war, (sarc) and now that makes Allison Redford an economic Einstein?  No.  The PCs will still suck but we won't be able to see how bad very clearly.  Wasted money is still a waste even if you can afford it. 

Conversely, lets say Chavez bequeaths all of Venezuala's oil wealth to the world absolutely free.  Yay we all drive to the Yukon for a picnic because we are out of work and gas is almost free. The PC government still spends too much and now they lost 28% of their revenue on top of that.

Its lose-lose with them.  The Progressives are bad for Alberta.  They can't manage money.  Redford herself says she's got a "spending problem."  So stop with the spending! 

Would you look at these morons.  Did you launch a man to the moon and bring him safely to the earth or something?  Oh right, you just spent the equivalent on our behalf and have nothing at all to show for it.  Yes I see very clearly why you're are so happy.  You lied your way into office and played Albertans for fools.  Congratulations!

Remember all the talk last year about Zero Based Budgeting? Zero based budgeting is a fiscal philosophy where no sacred cows are grandfathered into budget spending year after year.  Each and every program must justify its existence.  Not a peep.  Was it just last year's buzz word?

They fund anti-Alberta movies with taxpayer money but when it comes to teachers they cry poor.  Here we go again.  Why is it always the teachers and the firemen?  Cut something else you idiot bozo's!   You can start with your own damned paychecks.  You'll need it for the moral authority to start letting all these useless and expensive government consultants off the payroll.  You know the ones that recommend Agenda 21, shutting down zoo's, confiscating licenses where no laws were broken, and grabbing property?  They go first. 

These big fat piggys in government are going to need a lot of advise with their spending problems.  We have empirical evidence they can't handle it all in red ink.  Wildrose, veritable media, Think Tanks at large: please help our dear government with solutions to their problems.