Opinion
Harper: China recently made better decisions than Western democracies
“Right now, it is, I don't think it's, whether it's economics or the virus or anything, I don't think you have to be a really deep political analyst to say that, generally speaking, the Chinas Have been making better decisions in the last couple of years than d…”
Assertion Partly supported
Harper: Canada's 2020 deficit exceeded his entire final federal budget
“In Canada, and you know, we thought I had run a large deficit back in, in, in in Canada last year, the fiscal year just completed, the deficit of the federal government will be 30% higher than my entire last budget.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Harper: Post-pandemic inflation will force central banks to hike interest rates
“Now you're getting consumer inflation, and what happens, Joe, I mean, let's say we've been through this movie before, what happens is, at some point, this requires interest rate hikes. And as soon as you have interest rate hikes, you have impacts on investment…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Harper: Before Trump, no Western country agreed China was a threat
“Prior to President Trump, there was not an agreed There was not an agreed posture in any Western country that China was actually a long-term threat. Now, it happened to be my view, but it was, I can tell you, it was not really shared by very many people.”
Opinion
Harper: The modern left is nihilistic and aims to rip everything down
“The modern left you know, well called Marxist often is, is, is not really socialist. It's nihilist. It's ethics are entirely nihilist. And it's all about ripping everything down.”
Opinion
Harper: Woke university ideology cannot serve as a governing philosophy
“The adolescent egos of the woke university crowd is not an alternative governing philosophy for any society.”
Opinion
Harper: Totalitarianism is rooted in original Marxism, not subsequent distortions
“Anyone who says that, you know, Marxism was distorted into totalitarianism by the Soviets or the Chinese, whoever, is missing, you know, is missing the whole, you read Original Marxism. The totalitarianism is at its root.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Harper: US borrowing trillions at zero percent will end quickly
“The people believe the United States can continue to borrow countless trillions of dollars at zero percent. Not only do I believe that's not true, I believe that's actually coming to an end much quicker than people think.”
Assertion Supported
Harper: China relies on social control due to low natural immunity
“The Chinese population is now one of the least naturally immunized through infections in the world, and one of the least effectively vaccinated populations in the world, and actually now the extraordinary level of social and economic control they've had to imp…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Harper: Canada's slow vaccine rollout reflects Trudeau government's poor execution
“All I'll say is when we were in government, we never had any trouble, problem making sure we had vaccinations, vaccines well in advance and getting them distributed. So it's just a matter of competent execution.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Harper: China flagrantly violated international treaty obligations over Hong Kong autonomy
“Under international treaty and law, China had an obligation to treat Hong Kong as an autonomous region with a completely different system of government, and they've flagrantly violated that commitment.”
Opinion
Harper: China is the most entrepreneurial nation in the world after America
“Deng Xiaoping did sufficient reform to unleash the naturally entrepreneurial nature of the Chinese nation. Chinese nation after the Amer, after Americans is the most entrepreneurial culture in the world.”
Opinion
Harper: Canada's political culture is far less polarized than America's
“Canada's political culture then and now is far less polarized than in the United States, and the underlying polarization of your political culture, in my view, is a serious problem.”
Opinion
Harper: US parties prioritize maximizing spending or minimizing taxes over deficits
“The only priority If I'm be blunt here, the only priority of the Democratic Party has been to maximize government spending regardless of how it is financed. And the only policy of the Republican Party has been to minimize taxation regardless of levels of spend…”
Opinion
Harper: Iran's theocratic regime is one of world's most malevolent threats
“I think one of the biggest threats we face in the world besides, you know, the different Chinese model, a much more malevolent threat is the theocratic nuclear weapons seeking regime in Iran.”
Insight
Harper: Failing to stand with Israel jeopardizes Western long-term interests
“If we are not prepared to stand on the front lines with Israel against those fundamental threats to free and democratic societies, then we are jeopardizing our own long-term interests.”
Opinion
Harper: MMT falsely assumes wealth can exist without production or trade-offs
“The fundamental principle of economic science is that human desires and wants always outnumber available resources, and you have to make choices. They're trying to convince everybody you don't have to make choices. You can have wealth, go to work or not work w…”
Assertion Supported
Harper: Canada's immigration rules made importing tech talent easier than US
“A special advantage we had in Canada through all that period was our immigration policies, especially our far easier ability in the United States to bring in skilled technical people.”
Insight
Harper: Supply chain security requires redundancy, not domestic monopolies
“I don't think it's necessary in the government's interest to create, even within the country, a monopoly supply chain. You still want redundancy and you still want options. But let's make sure those options are certainly not as a minimum exclusively in countri…”
Insight
Harper: Authoritarians double down on mistakes to protect their claim to infallibility
“Authoritarians must double down because the claim to an author, authoritarian's claim to power is that he is specially gifted and always right. Soon as the authoritarian says, oh, that was a real screw up. That's kind of the end of his, of, you know, then some…”
Disclosure
Harper: I increasingly hold precious metals in my personal accounts
“In my personal accounts, I, look, I still hold US dollars because the options aren't great, but I do increasingly hold precious metals as well.”
