Bank Bailout

      My initial reaction to this article was one of fear, fear that we have so little money yet our government seems so calm and collected about this. I had no idea that the banks were in a 75 billion dollar deficit; our government does a fantastic job of making huge problems seem like nothing, to the point that we aren't aware.

      However, in the time of a recession, we need to realize that nothing is perfect. Our system is going to be flawed, because the banks cannot simply stop what they are doing. People in our society will always need loans - companies especially - at a time when we've been having such trouble economically. We cannot expect that while the rest of the world is dealing with a recession, for the Canadian banks to be doing fine.

       It would be nice for us to be more aware of the trouble that is going on in our government. If you look at this article http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/03/24/selling-canada/ , you will see "The Great Recession has proven a big factor helping forge Canada’s brand. While the country was hit by the economic collapse, it wasn’t hit as hard as the U.S. or Europe. As our banks required no bailouts and our dollar strengthened, other countries looked to Canada’s economic policies for answers. And the more foreigners ask why Canada is different, the more it gives businesses a chance to explain and define Canada as a country and a brand."


      This is clearly a lie, one that gives Canadians a false sense of security. I think the false sense of security we have been given is the scariest part of the bank bailout, because this makes us feel like we can go into any bank in Canada and take out a loan, and we are only adding to a problem that we weren't aware of in the first place. 


      Yes, I believe that the bank bailout was more than necessary, it was unfortunate that we let it get this bad in the first place, but I believe that Canada handled it much better than other countries that also ran into the same issues. . "The federal government's [initial] $25-billion takeover of bank-held mortgages to ease a growing credit crunch faced by the country's financial institutions is not  bailout similar to recent moves made in the United States and other Western countries", conservative Leader Stephen Harper said Friday. This statement shows us how our government is able to much more easily dig itself out of a hole than other countries, as in this bailout there is no chance that we do not have to worry about the loss of this money in the future. It also shows that our government has no reason to lie and say that we weren't in the position we are in, and shows that the government has given us a real sense of security after all.


      It is so easy to focus on the downside, that we have lost so much money and allowed our country to be in such a challenging position. But I believe that we are very lucky, that while other countries are struggling, we are lucky to have a government that (for the most part) has made us feel secure and has managed to think of working with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in order to prevent further loss of money and security that we will not lose that money.