The World Motivation
Prosperity has nothing to do with the quantity of money that we have in our pockets, but rather with the quantity of goods that we can buy.
“Prosperity has nothing to do with the quantity of money that we have in our pockets, but rather with the quantity of goods that we can buy.”
— Maxime Bernier · Goods
Prosperity has nothing to do with the quantity of money that we have in our pockets, but rather with the quantity of goods that we can buy.
Monetary policy is one of the most difficult topics in economics. But also, I believe, a topic of absolutely crucial importance for our prosperity.
I think it's motivating and exalting when we defend ideas that are at the foundation of western civilization.
Brian Mulroney came to power in 1984 and privatized Petro-Canada, brought in the GST and signed the free trade agreement with the U.S. He was a great prime minister and made bold conservative changes. That's all I want to do.
If I buy a car, I use the car, you don't, and the market for cars works pretty well. But there are many other sorts of goods, often very important goods, which are not provided well through the market. Often, these go under the heading of public goods.
I personally think intellectual property is an oxymoron. Physical objects have a completely different natural economy than intellectual goods.
I loved the fact that if you put goods on the floor, you could watch them sell.
I used to make it deep in poker tournaments without ever moving all-in because other players knew that when I raised it up, I had the goods.
In reality, every time the government takes an additional dollar in taxes out of someone's pocket, it's a dollar that person will not be able to spend or invest. When government spending goes up, private spending goes down. There is no net effect. No wealth creation.
We buy and sell goods. We buy low and sell higher - that's what we all do to make a profit. But I consider a merchant someone who has a certain intuition and instinct, and - very important - knows how to run a business, knows the numbers.