One of the main reasons I love Economics is because of the prospect of attending government shindigs where everybody’s discussing their pie-in-the-sky dreams of lollipops and ponies for every voter. And you, the harbinger of bad news get to pee on their corn flakes by reminding them that this is a world with unlimited wants and scarce resources. Case in point: my old professor from the U of A, Paul Boothe.
Calgary Herald: Deficits loom, Tories warned
Alberta could be running a deficit within three years if the Klein government doesn’t move sharply to rein in its out-of-control spending, a top economist warns.
In a presentation to the Conservative caucus this month, Paul Boothe, an economist at the University of Alberta, showed MLAs their recent spending of oil and gas royalties on programs and infrastructure projects will put the province back into a deficit within five years if energy prices remain at today’s all-time-high levels, and as little as three years if energy prices fall.
He knows what he’s talking about.
