Correction of McKenna & Martin: "But We're Golden Because We're Less F****d Than Rest"

Don Martin has a great anecdote from Montreal: "As former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna whispered to former prime minister Paul Martin halfway through debate on one of the intractable problems: "We’re f****d". Responded Mr. Martin: "The whole world is f****d."" But they're both wrong, and no-one should know that better than Martin, since he was co-architect of our good fortune. Our great advantage is "We're far less f****d than the rest" because our public finances are in relatively great shape. What matters is winning the race, not how fast you run. It's nice to set world records, but it's better to get the gold in a slow race, than set a new record and yet lose to even faster, more record-breaking competitors. Thanks to generations of decent policy-makers, we're the prohibitive favourites to take gold, no matter how fast the race, though it looks to be fairly slow. v-à-v our pertinent competitors.

We're streets ahead of the USA, our uniquely important competitor & partner, and the EU. No other non-asian nation is as well set for selling to and getting investment from China, India, Korea, Japan, Indonesia etc.. And all those asian states have enormous, brutal structural adjustments to make, politically, environmentally, and yes, economically, that we made years/decades/centuries ago. So if you look at things in context, we're far and away the best-off. The whole world is not about to commit mass suicide. The globe will keep on spinning, and arrangements will be made to deal with things. And whoever is best positioned when those arrangements are made will do best. Take an extreme example, we all mutually cancel all our debt, everywhere. Even if the USA, France, etc., were all debt-free, the conditions that led their societies to ruin persist, they don't have our natural resources (per capita), etc..


We are golden. We can only screw ourselves up with under-investment or over-indebtedness, either one which throws away our advantage. But given our margin for manoeuvre, we're got more leeway for debt and investment, than in the opposite sense, even lower debt and corresponding under-investment. We need investment more than we need even lower debt load. Our debt is fine. But investment to ensure continued future growth is vital. One must never never NEVER forget the relative situation, vs. the absolute. In matters of national competition, the relative is always ALWAYS way more important.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, scaremongering leading to extreme counterproductive policies, which will have perverse effects. Changes, adjustments, renovations must be made, particularly to deal with high-priced hydrocarbon future and climate change. But we have obvious advantages on all these fronts, and Dion having woken us up, we're well placed to take the necessary measures (soonish though, eh boys?).

So buck up fellas, we're golden, as long as we get some decent rational government. The sooner the better.