Thread by @she_et_al

"It's a Rich Man's Game No Matter What They Call It":

A Twitter Essay in Twelve Parts

I've watched four #Barrie #Innisfil debates. Here is a Twitter essay on what I've heard from Conservative @JohnBrassardCPC. 1/12

#elxn43
#cdnpoli
#InItForYou

#Barrie #Innisfil Conservative @JohnBrassardCPC talks about trickle down and market mysticism like it's 1989 not 2019. As if this ideology had not been thoroughly discredited. It's really something. 2/12

#elxn43
#cdnpoli
#InItForYou

.@JohnBrassardCPC also denigrates the role of government, which is super awkward coming from someone who wants to be a part of it so badly. 3/12

#Barrie #Innisfil
#elxn43 #cdnpoli
#InItForYou

With no platform, @JohnBrassardCPC (and the @CPC_HQ) spends a good portion of his time fearmongering about debt and deficit. That's ideology, not economics. Modern economics no longer subscribes to the theory that public debt means the sky is falling.

4/12

#elxn43
#cdnpoli

As economist @JimboStanford has said, "So long as a country controls its own currency, and so long as spending by businesses, export customers and households is insufficient to absorb economic slack, then increased public debt is not only tolerable–it's optimal."

5/12

#elxn43

Using the post-WWII era as example, @JimboStanford explains that Canadian policymakers, facing major public debt, created decades of "vibrant growth" by increasing public spending so that eventually that debt became a small percentage of the GDP. 6/12

#Barrie #Innisfil
#elxn43

What @JohnBrassardCPC & the @CPC_HQ want to do is privatize the debt burden to individuals, rather than increase public revenue by asking the richest to pay more. They'd underfund and cut social programs to provide a small group with tax cuts and credits.

7/12

#elxn43 #Barrie

Fact is, Canada spends only 17% of its GDP on social programs. That's some of the lowest spending of OECD countries. So it's not about spending less, it's about investing in public goods & making different choices (no pipelines, no blank cheque corporate subsidies). 8/12

#elxn43

It's also about increasing revenue. For example, with the tax fairness proposals introduced by the @NDP: close tax loopholes that favour the wealthiest, institute a 1% super wealth tax that affects the top 0.1% of Canadians. 9/12

#elxn43
#cdnpoli
#InItForYou
#Barrie #Innisfil

For us to tackle climate crisis on the scale it requires we are going to need massive public investment. Think of it as what happened in the post-WWII, pre-Reaganomics era. We collectively built medicare, our pension system, highways and other infrastructure. 10/12

#elxn43

What @JohnBrassardCPC's obsessive chatter about debt & deficit betrays is a lack of economic understanding + his fidelity to the same neoliberal ideology that, under @liberal_party & @CPC_HQ, has eroded social programs + made the appalling wealth gap what it is.

11/12

#elxn43

If you care about health care, affordability, climate change, & ensuring a good future, take another look at the @NDP plan. It's about prioritizing people & the planet by investing differently and asking the richest to pay a little more. 12/12

Fin.
#elxn43
#cdnpoli
#InItForYou

Unroll @threadreaderapp, please!