Comment 42702

By A Smith (anonymous) | Posted July 01, 2010 at 15:44:19

JonC, the things that Ryan talks about are the benefits of LRT, densification and less reliance on oil. Is he repetitive, yes. But if he's correct, should he change his message just to make me happy? No. But he should be willing to answer questions, such as...why is Burlington's downtown more prosperous, even though it has less transit service than Hamilton? If he can't do that, which he hasn't, then why should anyone believe that more public transit will do any good?

Kiely >> Show the benefits of what you believe, don't just say this is wrong and it is all the fault of government and lefties.

I have on many, many occasions, but people don't want to hear the truth. For example, under Bill Clinton, the government spent LESS in real dollar terms than George Bush II. Curiously enough, the economy did much better under Clinton.

Or, during the Great Depression, total government spending went from 9.46% of GDP in 1929 to 17.21% in 1932. During this time period, when the government nearly doubled it's role in the U.S economy, it produced the worst contraction of private investment in modern history. Those are FACTS.

If you would like to debate these facts, I would like that. Please explain to me why I should believe in more government spending if the lesson from the Great Depression is that larger government equals bad economic growth. Where is the evidence that supports the idea that higher non military spending increases GDP or employment? If you could show me numbers in favour of big government, then I will gladly look at them. Don't just downvote and move on, that just proves you are incapable of using facts to defending more government spending.

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