Shooting the hippo: Death by deficit and other Canadian myths

by Linda McQuaig

Book by McQuaig, Linda

Genres: Nonfiction, Canada, Economics

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Described as ‘Canada’s Michael Moore’ by the country’s National Post, Linda McQuaig is an award-winning investigative reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star. She is the author of seven Canadian bestsellers, which have earned her a reputation as a fierce critic of the establishment.

Reviews

[Derrick Grose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been sitting on my bookshelves unread for over ten years because I seldom find books about economics very engaging but Linda McQuaig very quickly got me hooked with Shooting the Hippo. Although the book is now more of a work of history than current events it demonstrates its contemporary relevance by revealing how mainstream media can subtly shape (or virtually invent) a story to serve a right wing economic agenda that gets translated into "accepted economic wisdom." She digs into American history to show how monetary and currency policy has often been perverted to serve the interests of the wealthy rather than the best economics interests of the society as a whole. She describes the institutional struggles to preserve the role of the Bank of Canada in balancing efforts to minimize unemployment while fighting inflation. Even in a time when concerns about deficits, interest rates and inflation seem to have been subordinated to the need to spend to support economic activity and fight the corona virus, McQuaig's book serves a useful purpose by encouraging questions about who really benefits from government policies that are said to be serving the public good.

[MARC L'ESPERANCE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, learned parts of Canadian economic history that I was not aware of.

[Alex Passey]

It took me a while to finally pick this book up, because nearly 300 pages of economics talk is not the easiest headspace for me to get in. But McQuaig does a fantastic job of not only exposing the poor rationales for deficit-hawkery and cutting social spending, but doing so in an accessible manner. I expected this book to take me twice as long to read. But with a deft hand McQuaig takes us through not only Canada's disastrous fixation on fighting inflation with high interest rates in the late 20th century, but right on back to people like David Hume needlessly hand-wringing about national debt right before Britain's economy exploded in the late 18th century, precisely due to the kind of investiture he was lamenting.

My only contention with the book is that McQuaig's criticisms don't go deep enough, and she still seems to believe that our institutions as they stand are the appropriate tools for solving the problems that they have been instrumental in creating. Though perhaps her views on that now would be a big more radical given the landscape today. But still, the evidence the book lays out is crystal clear. Left to their own devices, the wealthy are fine throttling the economy for the sake of preserving the value of their assets, even at the cost of high unemployment and leaving everyone without such assets struggling to accrue the means to survive. And as we delve into this familiar ground in the contemporary, we should be wary of the idea that inflation can only be combated by raising interest rates, and downright hostile to the idea that cutting social spending is an appropriate reaction to either inflation or a contracting economy.

I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of economics.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A paragon of explanatory journalism. I picked this up from a used book sale almost 25 years after it was published, with no real memory of the era it referenced and by the end I felt I'd lived through it all.

McQuaig has a newspaper reporter's gift for plain language and she explains the interlinked worlds of deficits, interest rates, and spending arguments amazingly cleanly. It's a damning indictment of the singular focus on cutting spending while leaving the rich high and dry and comfy.

McQuaig sometimes gets a little bogged down in biography, but she admirably brings the rather dry economists who populate the book to life. She takes special care to call back to previous concepts and not lose any readers to unfamiliarity.

It never feels polemical, just strongly and convincingly argued that cutting spending to attack debt is a piss poor idea, and the years I have lived through of post-2008 demonstrate her argument amazingly well. While also sadly showing how little we've learned.

It's weird how a book about deficit reduction in Canada in the 90s can feel timeless, but there you go.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The deficit is not caused by social spending. I loved this line in the book - and I love the counter arguments to the rich and powerful's explanations as to why Canada was experiencing such a huge deficit back in the mid 1990s.

Resistance - I like her resistance.

I plan to re-read this book soon - especially now that we are hearing the same rhetoric under th Ford Nation rule in Toronto in 2011.

[Cynthia L'Hirondelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about monetary policy that reads like a detective novel. When you find out about the NAIRU you might want to throw up.

[H Wesselius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her best work and en eye opener to the cynicism of the elite.

[Adi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The point of view is so different from what I have held to this point that it made a compelling read for me.