Western Standard - May 19, 2022


CORY'S RANT： Government is the problem, not the solution.


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

196.49393

Word Count

1,360

Sentence Count

104


Summary

In this episode, I talk about inflation and how the government is at the root of it. Inflation is a problem, but the root cause of it is the government's interference in our supply and demand, and the resulting increase in prices.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 So until enough people realize, and here's where the whole base of it is, is that the government is the problem rather than the solution.
00:00:07.540 So until we realize that, until you start your thought there, we're going to keep sliding down the economic hole.
00:00:15.100 Now, I don't want to travel down the whole rabbit holes of economic theory too far.
00:00:19.380 It's a big, complicated area.
00:00:21.080 But all one really needs to know when it comes to inflation is the simple and inviolate rule of supply and demand.
00:00:27.800 When demand for a product exceeds the supply, the cost of the product rises.
00:00:31.840 It's as simple as that.
00:00:32.940 More people want it, they will bid on it, and the cost of it will go up.
00:00:37.220 If you flood a market with a product, the value of the product will go down.
00:00:41.120 We're seeing that right now with currencies, as governments use their central banking ability to create more money while borrowing to get by while they keep spending.
00:00:48.560 The money creation devalues the currency, thus the inflation.
00:00:52.300 You're flooding it, the dollars aren't worth what they were, you devalue them.
00:00:55.760 And the cost of everything else goes up relative to it.
00:00:58.740 So while borrowing temporarily kicks that can of the consequences down the road, we still always pay for it.
00:01:04.280 On the supply side, the government creates nothing.
00:01:06.720 Never forget that.
00:01:07.880 Government creates nothing.
00:01:10.060 It only takes.
00:01:11.680 It only costs.
00:01:13.640 The government impacts supply through regulation.
00:01:16.680 And this is where we see government interference causing inflation.
00:01:19.780 Energy is the number one area in Canada where there's a problem.
00:01:22.660 I mean, the cost of it going through the roof.
00:01:25.940 And where are we sitting?
00:01:26.760 Well, through shutting down coal generation, pipelines, oil sand expansions, delaying every other project from nuclear to hydroelectric with loads of red tape and regulations,
00:01:36.080 the government has choked off growth in energy supplies.
00:01:38.700 Since we can't live without energy, and since the cost of energy impacts the price of every consumer good we have,
00:01:45.260 inflation, of course, quickly follows as energy gets squeezed, and as we're seeing right now.
00:01:50.420 So when the government intervenes in energy production, we pay more.
00:01:53.980 Demand can't go down.
00:01:55.480 Turning on the lights, or turning off your lights, you know, and wearing a sweater won't cut it.
00:01:59.500 We need energy.
00:02:01.120 Housing.
00:02:01.780 It's another need.
00:02:02.760 And it's becoming less affordable all the time as well.
00:02:04.900 And again, the government's the prime culprit.
00:02:07.560 And again, it's through interference and supply.
00:02:09.820 Municipal governments have built such onerous regulations around new housing developments,
00:02:13.600 it's become impossible for builders and developers to keep up with the supply.
00:02:18.060 In Calgary, for example, it takes eight years for a housing development to go from concept to completion.
00:02:23.980 And that's assuming it's even approved.
00:02:26.160 Calgary city councillors were patting themselves on the back and crowing in pride in the fall of 2020
00:02:30.780 when they rejected applications to develop 11 new communities in the suburbs.
00:02:35.700 Now they're scratching their heads wondering why houses have become unaffordable.
00:02:39.600 Food costs as well, they're spiking.
00:02:41.620 Much of that's due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
00:02:43.960 But bear in mind, it's governments who start wars, not individuals.
00:02:47.620 Government, again, is at the root of the inflation.
00:02:50.800 It's at the root of this rise in your cost of living and putting you under pressure.
00:02:54.760 So, with energy being a big contributor to the cost of food production, though,
00:02:59.560 from everything from growing it to transporting produce, that ties in together.
00:03:03.420 Did I mention Canada's government's hindering energy development?
00:03:06.660 Fertilizer, another big factor in food production costs.
00:03:09.980 Canada is looking at raising taxes on fertilizers in order to fight climate change.
00:03:15.700 Yeah, so again, we're going broke, we can't make the bills,
00:03:18.880 and our government's working its hardest to make everything more expensive.
00:03:21.560 I mean, there's supply chain interruptions, and they've contributed heavily to inflation, too,
00:03:25.960 because products are available, they're not available, demand gets stunted, and the price goes up.
00:03:30.900 But let's not forget, it was the government that caused those interruptions.
00:03:34.100 With everything from vaccine mandates on truckers to outright lockdowns and shutting down businesses,
00:03:38.860 the government caused the supply chain disruption that we're still working through today.
00:03:42.980 It's a whiplash effect.
00:03:44.100 It's going to take years to get out of this.
00:03:46.860 Some people may or may not, as a separate discussion,
00:03:48.920 felt whether or not lockdowns were justified in fighting the pandemic.
00:03:51.280 I don't feel they were justified, by the way.
00:03:53.660 That's fine, but let's not forget, it was the government and nobody else who imposed those lockdowns.
00:03:59.180 Government can't run businesses, nor can they create products.
00:04:02.500 As I said, they're just parasites.
00:04:04.520 They're horrifically inefficient when they try.
00:04:06.800 I mean, despite countless world examples of failure,
00:04:09.340 we still hear a constant chorus of fools calling for the government to do such things as
00:04:13.320 get into the housing market or even nationalize oil.
00:04:16.520 Ask some people from Cuba or Venezuela how well that all worked out for them.
00:04:22.240 The government can and does try pouring money through subsidies into areas in order to ease
00:04:26.680 the cost of living as well.
00:04:28.060 Of course, that only increases demand on something while the supply is still missing.
00:04:32.180 So it just leads to more inflation and, of course, tax increases, and your cost of living goes up.
00:04:36.880 Regulation, another area, another tool of the government, such as rent control, is always a failure as well.
00:04:44.600 All that does is drives private money out of the rental industry and creates a shortage of supply.
00:04:49.200 Getting back to those basic rules again.
00:04:51.500 When the government tries to fill the supply directly, you know, government built houses off.
00:04:54.520 Then we get slums.
00:04:55.460 Then we get scandal.
00:04:56.400 Then we get scams.
00:04:57.760 Check out some of the housing projects in the northeastern United States if you've ever been out there
00:05:01.220 to see how well government housing works out.
00:05:03.220 It's quite something.
00:05:03.960 Using more government to fight inflation is the same as pouring gasoline on a fire in an attempt to put it out.
00:05:10.260 I mean, look at the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project.
00:05:13.360 Years of applications, billions spent by Kinder Morgan, and that was just to expand a pipeline that already existed
00:05:19.580 and has been operating safely for over 60 years.
00:05:22.160 Like, that's all we want to do is put one right next to one that was already there.
00:05:24.800 We're not even breaking new grout.
00:05:27.180 Kinder Morgan finally threw up their hands and told Canada to go to hell.
00:05:30.680 They pulled out.
00:05:31.240 The government bought the line since then.
00:05:34.160 Costs have gone from $7 billion to over $20 billion.
00:05:37.340 While the construction remains hopelessly delayed.
00:05:39.900 Some people are questioning if it'll ever get done, and I'm one of the people among them.
00:05:43.160 If the government had just gotten out of the bloody way years ago, that line would be in production today.
00:05:47.580 Just think of how well the ability to export an extra 900,000 barrels a day of oil would be serving the economy right now in Canada in light of world oil prices.
00:05:58.020 Instead, we're sitting on the third largest oil deposits on Earth and can't effectively get it out to market.
00:06:03.360 That's 100% due to the government, guys.
00:06:05.360 Keystone XL, it was killed altogether.
00:06:08.460 Biden, now he's groveling and begging Middle Eastern oil producers to increase production on the USA's behalf.
00:06:14.640 While he shunned and shut down a line capable of carrying 800,000 barrels a day from Canada into his country.
00:06:20.400 Most of that line was built.
00:06:21.580 The money was put in.
00:06:22.500 It would be near production, if not in production, if it hadn't been for years of interference from Obama and later Biden.
00:06:29.460 This is why the cost of everything's going up, people.
00:06:31.960 It's government.
00:06:33.060 Every time.
00:06:34.540 There's no quick solution to the rising cost of living, but the longer term solution is simple.
00:06:38.640 We need less government.
00:06:40.140 Get government out of the damn way.
00:06:42.340 Cut regulations, open markets, and let creative people fill the voids.
00:06:47.380 Until, though, we're willing to face that reality, we're not going anywhere.
00:06:50.280 Quit looking to the government to solve your problems.
00:06:53.660 Government is the problem.