World Issues Book Review
Shooting The Hippo by Linda McQuaig
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.
English: Deficit to Change in Debt Comparison in b...
An event where NDP candidate Linda McQuaig spoke w...
An event where NDP candidate Linda McQuaig spoke w...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...