I get $400 for living in Alberta.

C

calculon000

Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
Because the price of oil is so high, the petroleum revenues of Alberta has given it a $6.8-$8.8 billion dollar suplus, and the Government of Alberta has decided to give every Man, Woman, and Child living or arriving in Alberta in 2005 a $400 prosperity cheque. This $400 for each of it's 3.5 million citizens will cost only $1.4 billion of the $6.8-$8.8 billion surplus, and the rest of it will be spent of Education and Infrastructure and the like.

When the Calgary SUN interviewed 6 random people from the street, 4 were students who said they were going to spend it on tuition, one was a working mom who was going to spend it on bills, and one was someone who would use it for spending money during a vacation, so don't tell me this isn’t a good use of the money.

The cheques were mailed a couple days ago and I should be getting mine any day now.

I’ve been planning to buy a $400 processor for a year now, but whether this money pays for it, or another $400 I make via a job pays for it, this $400 prosperity cheque will ultimately go to the $2,500 I need to save up for my post-secondary education.

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Rodriguez_Jose/2005/09/23/1231356.html

Jose Rodriguez of the Calgary SUN said:
There was a bumper sticker back in the '80's that went something like this: Please Lord, let there be another boom, I promise not to piss it away this time.
Well, it turns out God reads bumper stickers and two decades later we're in the throes of the biggest boom this province has ever seen.
Alberta is awash in oil money to the enviable point of returning some of that wealth to Jane Soccermom, Joe Timecard and little Johnny and Becky, too.
The province will cut a $400 cheque for every man, woman and child by Christmas.
In total, $1.4 billion of the province's ballooning surplus will be returned to the rightful owners -- you and me.
One would think such a populist move would be met with resounding acceptance -- especially in grassroots Alberta.
Such is not the case.

A long line of cardigan-clad deep thinkers and out-of-touch politicos say giving you money is a bad idea.
Now, differing viewpoints make for nice debate, so no one should be faulted for taking an unpopular stand based on principle.
What's upsetting is that many of these folk sum up their arguments by saying Albertans will flit away the money frivolously.
Albertans can't be trusted.
We might do stupid things like buy a new TV or take a family vacation.
The suggestion is that they know how to spend your money better than you do.
And the pomposity in that is sickening.
Bonus cheques will have varying impact on Albertans according to what tax bracket they fall under.
For some, the cheques will be a welcome reprieve from bill collectors and rising gas prices.
For others, it will be nothing more than found money.
Some will buy home theatres, some will donate it to charity. (The SUNshine Fund for the Salvation Army will be happy to accept any provincial dividend cheques looking for a home.)
Still others will belly up to a bar at noon and get carted out at last call.
How you choose to spend your money should be no one's business but your own.
Governments are notorious for blathering on about sustainability and infrastructure and other eye-glazing terms only a fellow politician could stay awake through.
Seldom are governments in a position to do anything that has an immediate, positive impact on the lives of every single constituent.
As I've said before, money can't fix everything and Donald Trump's cotton-candy comb-over is a testament to that.
But money, like peanut butter, is useless unless it's spread. A point that seems lost on some very well-educated folk.
Now, given the upcoming windfall, I've taken my limited math skills and crunched a few numbers of my own.
Four hundred Ralphbucks will buy 80 shots of tequila at my favourite watering hole. Or 25 jugs of Grasshopper.
Or, if I so choose, 40 shots of tequila, 12 jugs of Grasshopper and nine holes of Golden Tee. All this and I'd still have enough jingle in my jeans to plug a VLT and give a little cash back to the province to show my gratitude.
The beauty is that I get to choose how I spend my money.
Piss it away?
First round's on me.
Click to expand...

http://www.finance.gov.ab.ca/business/budget/2005/2005_budget_in_brief.html

2005_budget_in_brief04.gif
 
You lucky bastard. I hope you cut yourself on one of those bills and die of sepsis.
 
Xavierblazer said:
Dont people in Alaska get something similar every year?
Click to expand...

Yeah, they get oil kickback revenues every year. Also, their senators are the world champions of leeching as much money off the treasury as possible.
 
Do they give this to absollutly everyone? I mean drug addicts suddenly gets given 400 dollars? Would it not be easier to just cut it out of taxes instead? Where does that black goo that lives under the toilet come from?
 
I'm afraid I can answer only one of those questions...
The answer is... no.

EDIT: An interesting question does arise here: Does the government know better than you where to spend money? Should all of this money have gone to improving living conditions? Paying debt? Given to NGOs?
 
Presumably giving people money would improve their living conditions in the first place, but hey, we all have different priorities, right?
 
Everyone except convicted criminals will get the money, so no, the drug addicts will not get it.

The money does the following things:
1. Gives the economy a little boom because $1.4 billion is suddenly being spent by consumers.

2. Help the poor the most. A single working mom with two kids can pay a lot of bills with $1,200.

3. Piss off the asshats in the east, which is always, always, a plus.

Also, it should be noted that Alberta paid all it's debt last year. This money will not be subsidized with raised taxes due to the right-wing politics that have dominated Alberta for the last 30 years and if oil stays high, we will get another round of cheques next year.

Here is information on what Alaskans get every year: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...0922/RTICKERALASKA22/TPBusiness/International

But then again, Alaska only has about 650,000 people in it.
 
But the east IS full of asshats. Asshats who vote Liberal, the party that can do anything and not get voted out.
 
That positively rocks Calculon. Free money and in large amounts. Well you people up there must work hard for it so buy what you will. The PC upgrade sounds like a good idea...

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
It's great that you got a check, but doesn't this just prove that oil producers are just profiteering?
 
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It's great that you got a check, but doesn't this just prove that oil producers are just profiteering?
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ding ding ding!

someone get this man his prize :)

of course the oil producers are just profiteering.

from what i have been told, the vast majority of Texaco's gas in the US comes from alaskan and canadian oil fields. yet their prices go up and down like the other gas pumps. there is no reason for it as their oil refineries are in alaska, canada, and the NW of the US so they should have been unaffected by the hurricanes for US distribution other than loss to their customer POS locations.

i am wondering when price gouging investigations will happen.
 
TheWesDude said:
ding ding ding!

someone get this man his prize :)
Click to expand...

You’re right... DUDE, you’ve won a PRIZE... A date and romantic dinner with THIS GUY.

dude.jpg


You lucky bastard.
 
Just wanted to point out, convicts not getting kick backs doesn't mean that drug addicts won't be getting the money, it just means that the ones with wrap sheets won't.
 
It's "rap sheets", btw. I only mention it because at first I thought you were making some poetical allusion to dead people by saying "the ones with wrap sheets" and was a little confused.
 
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