Roundup: More Macklem misquotes

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I’m going to revisit more of Tiff Macklem’s appearance at the Commons finance committee, because things he said were being taken wildly out of context in Question Period yesterday, and we all have an obligation to call out egregious bullshit when we hear it. For example, when Macklem admits that stimulus may have been applied for too long, nobody knew if it was safe to withdraw it yet and they were operating on best guesses and advice from observers, and more to the point, the Bank was also engaged in forward guidance, and they needed  a cycle to wind that back before raising rates, otherwise they risked damaging their reputation as doing what they way they’re going to. This is a very important consideration for a central bank. As well, the questions about the level of spending during the height of the pandemic and whether that led to more inflationary stimulus ignores that it was impossible to better target supports like CERB because the government and its IT structure had no real ability to do that. That’s why the used the CRA’s system to kludge together CERB as quickly as they did—there wasn’t an ability to be more targeted (even though it was temporary). Trying to elicit quotes to blame the government for inflation is both cheap and intellectually dishonest, but that’s pretty much par for the course these days.

Meanwhile, former governor Stephen Poloz told an audience at Western that the economy is much more sensitive to interest rate hikes than it was ten years ago, so we should start seeing inflation start to fall shortly, but he also stated that it will only get part of the job done, so other policy action will be needed to get inflation back to its target zone. This said, Poloz also says that it’s impossible to say if rates were hiked too much over a short period, because as we should know by now, inflation can move about 18 months later than the rate changes happens, so stay tuned.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 275:

As Russian bombing of critical infrastructure continue, people in Kyiv are collecting rainwater to survive, while Kherson is facing renewed attacks. Russia is openly admitting to these attacks now, claiming it’s about disrupting military command and control and stopping the flow of ammunition, never mind that they’re openly admitting to war crimes as they do.

Good reads:

  • The government unveiled their climate adaptation strategy, or the framework and $1.6 billion “down payment” on it, at least, and got panned by the NDP and Greens.
  • Lawrence MacAulay revealed that a Veterans Affairs employee has been found to have counselled MAiD to at least four veterans, and that the RMCP is now involved.
  • Unsurprisingly, Harjit Sajjan was quiet about human rights abuses in Qatar when he led the diplomatic presence at the World Cup there. Sportswashing! *jazz hands!*
  • At the public inquiry, most of the day was spent with Chrystia Freeland testifying about economic consequences, with some key PMO staff as well.
  • Those PMO staff say that Candice Bergen was privately expressing concern about the occupiers, and that the RCMP wanted the Emergencies Act in place for weeks.
  • Near the end of the day, the lawyer for the occupiers mistook a local for the guy he’s been trying to spin a libellous conspiracy theory around, and chaos ensued.
  • Here is a look at Tiff Macklem explaining the Bank of Canada’s unprecedented loss of net interest revenues in the current environment.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that police stings designed to catch people seeking sex with minors were not entrapment, and that their trials can continue.
  • Saskatchewan is still considering how to recycle the revenues of its provincial industrial carbon price.
  • Trevor Tombe evaluates Danielle Smith’s “inflation assistance” package as though it were not nakedly a bribe to voter demographics, and lo, it makes little sense.
  • Shannon Proudfoot sets up Trudeau’s testimony today at the public inquiry.
  • Althia Raj applies the familiar frame of “jurisdictional squabbles” with respect to the occupation and blockades in February, in some cases inappropriately.

Odds and ends:

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