Trudeau’s economy is a total failure

There are many funny games the government and elites play in order to hide the true state of the economy.

For example, they love talking about “GDP growth,” while almost never wanting to discuss GDP per capita.

That’s because GDP growth includes population growth, and while it claims to be “inflation adjusted,” it often seems that real inflation far surpasses what the government claims.

Why would the government want to make sure population growth factors in to how they report economic ‘success?’

Turns out, if immigration numbers are high, it’s almost guaranteed that the economy will look like it’s growing—even if things are actually getting worse.

For example, Canada’s annualized GDP growth for the first quarter of 2019 was a paltry 0.4%. Population growth over that time was 1.2%.

So, Canada’s economy declined by 0.8% on per capita terms. And since each of us is only one person, it’s the per capita measurement that matters for our actual well-being.

As an example, Monaco—the independent city-state in Europe—has a GDP of about $6 billion. North Korea has a GDP of about $25 billion. So, North Korea has a much bigger economy than Monaco.

But Monaco has a population of just 38,000 people, while North Korea has a population of around 25 million.

So, on a per capita basis, Monaco is dramatically more wealthy than North Korea. And each person in Monaco experiences only their own level of wealth, thus giving them a higher standard of living than people in North Korea who each experience their own much smaller income.

Yet, here in Canada, we still constantly hear about national GDP as the marker of how great things are going, ignoring the actual per capita picture.

The reality is that if our economy is growing just 0.4%, while our population is up 1.2%, then it means most Canadians are actually getting poorer.

Imagine that our population doubled in a year and went to 74 million. Then, imagine that our GDP increased by 50% in that same time. Technically, our GDP would have surged massively, yet each Canadian would be dramatically poorer and worse off.

Of course, measuring by per capita GDP on a regular basis would more often show that things are stagnant or getting worse, so the government doesn’t talk about it.

And when we look at the inflation rate, things are looking even more dire for Canada.

The most recent measure of inflation showed it going up at 2.4%, a big increase to the cost of living.

Rising inflation can be a good thing, if it accompanies an economy that is growing at a strong rate.

But that’s not what’s happening in Canada.

Here, the cost of living is rising, the population is growing, and the economy is stagnant. Thus, it’s no surprise that Canada’s household debt—already among the highest in the world—is rising even more, with bankruptcies going up as well.

Just contrast the economic numbers in the US with the numbers here in Canada.

The US population is growing at 0.7%,while their GDP is growing at 3.1%, meaning they have real growth.

Their inflation rate is currently 2.0%.

So, the US has lower population growth, higher GDP growth, and lower inflation than we do.

And all of this occurs as the Trudeau Liberals are running large budget deficits year after year. At the very least, those deficits should create a temporary economic boom, but we simply aren’t seeing it.

The reality is that Justin Trudeau’s economic policies have been a total failure. And while Trudeau and the elites can escape the consequences, the Canadian people are paying the price.