Alberta's Credit Rating Downgraded - Again

[Newview01]

http://calgaryherald.com/news/politi...edit-downgrade

The Alberta government has received another credit downgrade, with a*rating agency warning about “continuing budgetary performance deterioration and growing debt” under the NDP government.
S & P Global Ratings announced Friday it was lowering Alberta’s rating two notches, from AA to A+.*

“The province’s budgetary performance … has significantly deteriorated and is materially weaker compared with that of both domestic and international peers,” the agency said in a news release.

“In addition, we expect that for Alberta to fund its growing capital expenditure program, its debt burden will continue to grow rapidly.”

It's a race to the bottom.

[MAC]

Originally Posted by Newview01

http://calgaryherald.com/news/politi...edit-downgrade



It's a race to the bottom.

Thread title show read

Alberta's Credit Rating Downgraded - Again

MAC

[Redfrog]

WOW! who saw that coming??/

Can't wait to see the NDP supporters explain how wonderful this is for Albertans.

[pikergolf]

Some people get free light bulbs, so there is that.

[lmtada]

Kind of Hijacking your thread. This is part problem. "Me too clause".

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blog...wage-restraint

[Scott N]

Sending carbon tax rebates to a lot of people, including the dead , isn't helpful either.

[Badgerbadger]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

WOW! who saw that coming??/

Can't wait to see the NDP supporters explain how wonderful this is for Albertans.

Lots of people saw that coming, including Ceci. You apparently forgot that, eh?

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

WOW! who saw that coming??/

Can't wait to see the NDP supporters explain how wonderful this is for Albertans.

"Hey, I thought a lower number was supposed to be better... like we pay less interest. What do I know? I was the only guy in caucus who owned a tie after the election, so they thought I must know something about money and made me Finance Minister."

[sjd]

Careful what you promote. One of the solutions S&P recommend in their report to improve rating is to increase taxes in line with normal Canadian average.

NDP is spending sure but they are also collecting less per person than any other province now the magic royalty money is drying up.

Albertans of all stripes are getting a wake up that money doesn't grow on trees

[Newview01]

Originally Posted by sjd

Careful what you promote. One of the solutions S&P recommend in their report to improve rating is to increase taxes in line with normal Canadian average.

NDP is spending sure but they are also collecting less per person than any other province now the magic royalty money is drying up.

Albertans of all stripes are getting a wake up that money doesn't grow on trees

We need a change in the tax structure. Less income tax, more consumption tax. Would solve many problems. Still business friendly, but rewards the thrifty, taxes the spend-thrift. Isn't that what they want anyways? Or are they just wanting poverty for all...

[Buckhead]

Originally Posted by Newview01

We need a change in the tax structure. Less income tax, more consumption tax. Would solve many problems. Still business friendly, but rewards the thrifty, taxes the spend-thrift. Isn't that what they want anyways? Or are they just wanting poverty for all...

We all know what the socialists want. To make everyone equally poor.
Take money from those that want to work hard and earn it, and give it to those that don't want to work.

[elkhunter11]

With two years to go to the next election, I will be surprised if there is still an A in our credit rating by then.

[ESOXangler]

Originally Posted by Buckhead

We all know what the socialists want. To make everyone equally poor.
Take money from those that want to work hard and earn it, and give it to those that don't want to work.

Not all, some of us want you to be able to get that triple bypass without going bankrupt or take time off from work to care for a sick family member. Schools to educate are another one of the things "we" like. It must be terrible to want everybody be to have the same access and enjoy a good life.

The NDP have a lot of clean up to do and that costs money. The funny part of all of this are the majority of the anti-socialists are over weight 45-60 year old men. You're going to cost the tax payer more then most eventually.

[Redfrog]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Not all, some of us want you to be able to get that triple bypass without going bankrupt or take time off from work to care for a sick family member. Schools to educate are another one of the things "we" like. It must be terrible to want everybody be to have the same access and enjoy a good life.

The NDP have a lot of clean up to do and that costs money. The funny part of all of this are the majority of the anti-socialists are over weight 45-60 year old men. You're going to cost the tax payer more then most eventually.

So before the dips came along and tanked our credit rating. Before they ran a 10 BILLION DOLLAR deficit for one year, people who needed bypass surgery simply died, went broke, or did it themselves?


My dog is gonna have puppies, do you think I could get a couple months pupernaty leave with pay of course?

[ESOXangler]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

My dog is gonna have puppies, do you think I could get a couple months pupernaty leave with pay of course?

Hey if you're the father I feel it's your right!


Anyways have you been to any of the hospitals in the last few years? 3 years ago I spent 52 days in the NICU, day and night, and I saw what our front line workers go through and what they have to work with! It's sad. Klein era cuts really affected our hospitals. Plus not investing in in major infrastructure while our population doubled once again left us not sitting pretty either. Whether we like the debt or not we need the investment.

[Redfrog]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Hey if you're the father I feel it's your right!


Anyways have you been to any of the hospitals in the last few years? 3 years ago I spent 52 days in the NICU, day and night, and I saw what our front line workers go through and what they have to work with! It's sad. Klein era cuts really affected our hospitals. Plus not investing in in major infrastructure while our population doubled once again left us not sitting pretty either. Whether we like the debt or not we need the investment.

Baloney!

I have indeed had some ....interaction..with the medical field. i have not noticed any improvement since the NDP took office. If anything the standard of care has gone down and not due to the staff that deal with patients daily. It appears that policy and management is the bottleneck.

How long has Klein been gone? You really still want to blame him for the woes today?

Throwing money at the health issues never has worked anywhere.

Running huge deficits to further a political ideology is short sighted and wrong headed. these whistlers and jugglers will be tossed to the curb and Albertans will be left to clean the crap off the walls.

[Newview01]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Hey if you're the father I feel it's your right!


Anyways have you been to any of the hospitals in the last few years? 3 years ago I spent 52 days in the NICU, day and night, and I saw what our front line workers go through and what they have to work with! It's sad. Klein era cuts really affected our hospitals. Plus not investing in in major infrastructure while our population doubled once again left us not sitting pretty either. Whether we like the debt or not we need the investment.

We need a public / private system. I know first hand of the waste involved in Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Health Services. I can guarantee a private hospital could provide twice the care for the same amount of money.

And the NDP will not be improving service. What they will do is enable the slackers and lazy people to become more integrated into the system as a social justice cause. Most front line health care workers are great, but there a definitely a portion that should be fired, but thanks to the pro-union people, we're stuck with them.

[ESOXangler]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

Baloney!

I have indeed had some ....interaction..with the medical field. i have not noticed any improvement since the NDP took office. If anything the standard of care has gone down and not due to the staff that deal with patients daily. It appears that policy and management is the bottleneck.

How long has Klein been gone? You really still want to blame him for the woes today?

Throwing money at the health issues never has worked anywhere.

Running huge deficits to further a political ideology is short sighted and wrong headed. these whistlers and jugglers will be tossed to the curb and Albertans will be left to clean the crap off the walls.

Baloney all you want. The experience I had was real. There's a lot of money going to new hospitals and repairing existing ones. And of course I'll blame him, it was only 15 years ago. I'm not advocating going into debt but we had a massive infrastructure deficit and that costs money to improve.

[ESOXangler]

Originally Posted by Newview01

We need a public / private system. I know first hand of the waste involved in Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Health Services. I can guarantee a private hospital could provide twice the care for the same amount of money.

And the NDP will not be improving service. What they will do is enable the slackers and lazy people to become more integrated into the system as a social justice cause. Most front line health care workers are great, but there a definitely a portion that should be fired, but thanks to the pro-union people, we're stuck with them.

The majority of the slackers are actually above the union. It's cronyism that really slows the system down and managers having managers that have managers. Some people have over 4 layers of management before their vacation gets approved. There is piles of room for improvement no doubt! But I could never back a dual system.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Baloney all you want. The experience I had was real. There's a lot of money going to new hospitals and repairing existing ones. And of course I'll blame him, it was only 15 years ago. I'm not advocating going into debt but we had a massive infrastructure deficit and that costs money to improve.

And if we keep borrowing, and get far enough into debt, the cost of paying down the debt will be so high that we won't have money to maintain our health care system. Once that happens the level of service will fall dramatically, and there will be no way to restore it to the present levels.

[Sleddawg]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Not all, some of us want you to be able to get that triple bypass without going bankrupt or take time off from work to care for a sick family member. Schools to educate are another one of the things "we" like. It must be terrible to want everybody be to have the same access and enjoy a good life.

The NDP have a lot of clean up to do and that costs money. The funny part of all of this are the majority of the anti-socialists are over weight 45-60 year old men. You're going to cost the tax payer more then most eventually.

I work hard for my family to live a great life, on the road, in the mud, rain, -40 blizzards, why should I have to pay for someone else to sit at a minimum wage job to get the same perks as me?

[sjemac]

Originally Posted by lmtada

Kind of Hijacking your thread. This is part problem. "Me too clause".

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blog...wage-restraint

Willingly taking a zero raise is part of the problem? The clause in question holds the government's feet to the fire. They cannot selectively grant a raise to one union without granting the same to all. That just seems fair. That said, nobody is getting anything.

This government is betraying all those that voted for them. Thankfully.

Any teacher that thinks they are going to get something good off of the back end of this deal is deluded.

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Hey if you're the father I feel it's your right!


Anyways have you been to any of the hospitals in the last few years? 3 years ago I spent 52 days in the NICU, day and night, and I saw what our front line workers go through and what they have to work with! It's sad. Klein era cuts really affected our hospitals. Plus not investing in in major infrastructure while our population doubled once again left us not sitting pretty either. Whether we like the debt or not we need the investment.

I have unfortunately had to spend far too much time in hospitals the last 3 1/2 years as my daughter had a serious heart condition that needed a couple surgeries. I spent far too much time in 3 hospitals (foothills, children's and stollery) thankfully our good doctors and nurses were able to fix everything so I can't be too mad but the inefficiency of the system was infuriating. I could tell you horror stories about how they almost killed my daughter and put her into cardiac arrest doing a test that had been done a few days earlier at a different hospital but since hospitals don't share information they did it again... I could go on with many other stories but you get the drift. I haven't noticed any change in level of service or wait times since the ndp got in although I'm told the emergency wait times have tripled inspire of more money. The health care system problems have very little to do with too little money or numbers of staff, the main issues have to do with how the system is run, the procedures, being unable to do things that made sense just because, not syncing computer systems. That's just scratching the surface but you get the drift.

[Fur]

Parallel system is best solution for healthcare. Our costs are rising faster than can be paid for. I would rather see the public system have less pressure than see it totally collapse. Otherwise Redfrog will have to do his bypass on himself!

[JohninAB]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Hey if you're the father I feel it's your right!


Anyways have you been to any of the hospitals in the last few years? 3 years ago I spent 52 days in the NICU, day and night, and I saw what our front line workers go through and what they have to work with! It's sad. Klein era cuts really affected our hospitals. Plus not investing in in major infrastructure while our population doubled once again left us not sitting pretty either. Whether we like the debt or not we need the investment.

Yeah real sad. Ever hear of the Mazankowski Heart Institute? Only one of probably top 3 heart facilities in all of North America. Top of the line facility with awesome staff and equipment.

Or how about the University of Alberta hospital? Stollery?

Seen the new hospital in GP? Started under which government?

What has the NDP done? Raise taxes, take from one citizen to line the pockets of another, drive business away, spend and plunge us into debt at a rate that would make a drunk sailor blush all the while lowering our credit rating so paying back the debt they are so happy to burden the tax payers with will cost exponentially more to pay off. The higher debt servicing costs will mean lower available dollars (unless we take on more debt or tax the citizen even more) for desperately needed programs in Alberta like health care and schooling. Now pardon me, but that is no recipe for success in anything in life!

[Trochu]

I seriously question anyone's thought process who simply thinks injecting more money into the system is the ideal solution and lack of funds is the main issue with healthcare. My buddies aunt is a senior lab technician, my aunt has worked for Alberta Health for years, I visit hospitals from time to time, you don't have to be a health care professional to observe redundancy and inefficiencies in the system.

[dmcbride]

The myth that Alberta has been neglecting health care before the NDP is just that, a myth.


Per-capita spending is 33% above national average.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...icit-1.3645646

[ESOXangler]

Originally Posted by JohninAB

Yeah real sad. Ever hear of the Mazankowski Heart Institute? Only one of probably top 3 heart facilities in all of North America. Top of the line facility with awesome staff and equipment.

Or how about the University of Alberta hospital? Stollery?

Seen the new hospital in GP? Started under which government?

What has the NDP done? Raise taxes, take from one citizen to line the pockets of another, drive business away, spend and plunge us into debt at a rate that would make a drunk sailor blush all the while lowering our credit rating so paying back the debt they are so happy to burden the tax payers with will cost exponentially more to pay off. The higher debt servicing costs will mean lower available dollars (unless we take on more debt or tax the citizen even more) for desperately needed programs in Alberta like health care and schooling. Now pardon me, but that is no recipe for success in anything in life!

Still spend plenty of time in the Stollery. Do you know how the Stollery came into existence? Or do you just drive by and decide it's good enough? We have amazing services, I'm not disputing that so don't try to straw man me. But we are relying on services designed for a carrying capacity of 2.5 million. We are well over that now. So catch up needs to happen. That stuff costs money. A lot of this debt would of happened with WildRose or the PC's. Except they would of made plenty of front line cuts.

[JustMe]

Like a lot of individuals in Alberta, the government has been living away beyond its mean for years, if not decades. Guess it all finally starting to catch up now..... The thing is without a huge rebound in oil royalties, not likely in the foreseeable future, I'm not sure how any government can realistically fix this problem? Notice the word realistically.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dean2]

Health care in Alberta employs 110,000 people!!! and accounts for 21.4 billion dollars in budget allocation or 40% of the $55 billion dollar total. This is a province of 3.7 million people. Of the 110,000 employees only 2 in every 9 actually sees patients.

New Zealand has a population of 4.6 million people, spends 17.1 billion NZ (or about 10,3 Billion Cdn) on Health Care and has a better Health Care system than Canada. In fact, for the past ten years, Canada ranks 7th or worse in the annual study of health care quality among the ten richest countries with national health care.

Now tell me again there isn't a whole raft of duplication, featherbedding, theft and waste in our health care system. Despite putting the 8 Heath Districts together more than 10 years ago, there are still 8 completely separate operations still fully operating to this day.

Anyone who is hired to clean up the mess doesn't last long before they get fired. We have gone through 7 CEOs in the past 6 years. The job is so bad for political interference no one will apply on the latest vacancy.