SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | It may be that, living across the river from the nation's capital, we here in Aylmer, Quebec, receive more than we wish about all things political. The famous warm air, apparently, blows off in another direction, but all the analysis, pronouncements, and sound bites spread out like ripples in a pond, and, since we're nearest to the sinking stone, the sound-bite ripples are higher and faster here than elsewhere in the country.

Perhaps this qualifies us for a tax deduction, the opposite of isolation pay, or maybe credits for hardship duty of a different sort.

For example, in the last two weeks we've read or hear in the capital's media that this recession is "the worst downturn since . . ." the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Kennedy's term was . . . like Obama's is going to be.

First, it's curious that our country's economists hang their references on foreign regimes, rather than on our own.

We read an occasional reference to Trudeau -- he spent too much -- or Mulroney -- he also spent too much -- but otherwise Branch Plant America - Ottawa just tagged along on all the foreign ups and downs, according to the economists. Likely true, but the real question is did it and does it have to be so?

Wait a minute, there's that word "economist!" Who are these experts who are quoted in the media every day? Are they registered? Do they have a code of professional ethics, as do, say, veterinarians? Can you be an "economist" just by having an opinion about business or finance or money supply, or do you have to have a PhD behind your name, no matter if it's from Bob Jones University in the States or not?

The answers aren't definitive.

True, anyone with a PhD from Hells Know Where can be an economist. Also, anyone with a certain point of view about business profits can also be an economist, as far as our media is concerned.

Here's an example of thinking which is well beyond my capabilities and which is called economics: the Montreal Economics (get it?) Institute has called for the privatization of Quebec Hydro. Their reasoning is that Hydro is too efficient and profitable to be a government-run service; therefore, it belongs in the private sector.

Only the private sector, controlled by our betters from the land of Truman, Nixon, and Clinton, etc., can deliver service efficiently, and make a profit. At least this is how I read all the MEI's blather -- which may only show my lack of education.

The commentators and "economists", whose words waif across the Ottawa River to lovely Aylmer, are telling us that more stimulus is needed to fight this recession. The public should cough up even more. On the other hand, other economists are telling us that government contra-cyclical stimulus will not work.

What? Put your hand on your wallet, quick.

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Copyright © 2009 Fred Ryan/Log Cabin Chronicles/02.09