Linda McQuaigs Shooting The Hippo: Causes And Results Of Debt

Term Paper Title	Linda McQuaigs Shooting The Hippo: Causes And Results Of Debt
# of Words	1032
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.13

Linda McQuaig's Shooting The Hippo: Causes and Results of Debt

Linda McQuaig's most recent book, "Shooting the Hippo" is about the causes and
results of the debt. It is a look at both the factual causes and the arguments
which are merely presented to us through the various elements of the media.
McQuaig delivers an insightful overview of the extensive media coverage which
has bombarded us over the past few years.  "With the excitement of a mystery
writer, McQuaig tells the real story behind the debt." .  This book explains the
history of the deficit  myth, and enables people such as myself who are not
experienced in these types of problems to get to the heart of the arguments
presented so frequently about our financial situation. I found her book an
inspiration which will hopefully help us all to devote ourselves to the enormous
challenge which we will face in the future.  We are responsible to inform and
educate ourselves, our friends, our families and neighbours in the difficult
days ahead.

To explain McQuaig's title I'll briefly describe the beginning of the "mystery."
A baby hippo, born in a zoo, is to be shot because of  recent government
cutbacks which leave nothing to feed or care for the hippo. This image grabs the
attention of the reader and leads to numerous other examples which McQuaig uses
to break down the popular myths about the deficit.  McQuaig, determined to
expose one by one, several of the current myths about the state of the Canadian
economy, backs up her arguments with interviews and publications. These include:
a chief statistician at Statistics Canada who has been working on the statistics
of social spending since the middle '60s; the man at Moody's bond rating service
in New York who is in charge of setting the credit rating on our federal debt;
and noted economists, among others.

The book goes on in its investigation as to why the recession in Canada was the
worst of the world's most powerful nations. It is noted that if  there is a
simple way to explain the reason for most of the recession then it will in turn
account for most of the increase in the debt.  McQuaig also presents a bit of
history of banking, monetary systems, and the struggle of the conflicts between
the rich minority and the rest of us.  All of this is presented in a very
readable and interesting manner.

McQuaig asks an intriguing question to all of us. Are we prepared to see our
social programs sacrificed in order to reduce the deficit?  Our political
figures would have us believe that there is quite simply  no other option but to
give them up,  a view which McQuaig effectively destroys in the 285 pages of
this book.  In the end, McQuaig warns us not to let our achievements as a
society be sacrificed in the name of deficit reduction.  Her fear is that we, as
a society  will not be able to find the determination needed in order to succeed.

Over the past few years it has been nearly impossible to open a newspaper
without seeing an article on  the deficit. The subject of the deficit has been
terribly misunderstood, and it continues to be one of our largest problems.
McQuaig delivers the message, which is consequently backed up by her interviews,
that the deficit is ...

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