LeDaro

"The fundamentals of the economy are strong" - Those words were first uttered by Herbert Hoover circa 1929/30. All the students of history and the rest of us know what followed: The Depression of the 1930s and millions of people suffering as a result in the US, Canada and the rest of the World. Then, of course, the world was drawn into the Second World War and it took decades to recover from it. Is there something in those words which bode disaster? Or is it a wrong statement to make at the wrong time in history. However, that is where the pedigree of these words begin, with Herbert Hoover.

The US economy has been in trouble for a while now, with faltering housing markets and tumultuous financial institutions and markets. In that environment, John McCain uttered those words for the first time this year, 2008, in January and repeated them again according to some reports up to 20 times since.

On September 15, 2008 the Dow Jones tumbled by over 500 points, the biggest drop since 2001, and John McCain re-stated that "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." The same day the Toronto Stock Exchange took a similar beating and our "majestic leader" Harper reiterated those words, but he went a step further and came up with a TV ad repeating that sentence, "The fundamentals of the economy are strong."

Now we know where Harper's lineage and pedigree are from. Should Canadians be worried? The way our economy is taking a beating and also with its connection to the US economy, we should be worried. We have heard no economic plan from Mr. Harper to deal with the perils that our economy is facing. Moreover, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Harper supports, are going nowhere but more and more there is burden on human lives and finances. I do not want to be the prophet of gloom and doom but we should look at Mr. Harper carefully and whether he is the right leader to lead our country at this juncture in our history.

Labels: Herbert Hoover, John McCain, Stephen Harper

// posted by LeDaro @ 11:48 AM