Shooting the hippo (was greed, etc)

[lk]

> Canada's gross government debt in 1997 was 94% of GDP, the second-
> highest in the G7 (after Italy) and exceeded only by Belgium and Greece
> in the broader OECD. Canada's net international investment position was
> -US$243 billion in 1996, or over 40% of GDP. Doesn't this sound like a
> debt problem? 

I think that Linda McQuaig's argument was that if Canada's central bank
had settled for a 3-4% inflation rate in the early 1990's, rather than
striving for zero inflation, the economy would have been in a stronger
position.That the benefits of this zero inflation policy went to holders of
wealth, and the costs (higher interest rates, slower growth, increased
interest costs on the national debt, appreciation of the dollar, higher
unemployment leading to increased social spending and a decrease in
tax revenue) were high. And even though the recession in the US at the time
would have had an effect on Canada, it's recession would have been milder.