While I regret that some of your friends find themselves without a job, what exactly would you and they have the government do?
Give the jobless an amount of $ equivalent to their previous salary? Create a job out of thin air?
Are your friends not eligible for EI?
Can they avail themselves of some re-training?
Can they take a job in the service sector temporarily, just to tide them over? Even if it's part-time, isn't that better than nothing?

What "fiscal action" are you and your friends hoping for?
The opposition and their supporters have been criticizing the government for lowering the GST because it means less revenue for the government.
If income taxes were lowered drastically, would that not reduce government revenue even furher?
And if they're out of a job, i.e without income, how would drastic income tax cuts benefit them?

Perhaps the government could allow limited withdrawals from RRSPs without the attendant tax.
Or allow parents to withdraw from their children's RESPs for purposes other than studies.
However, if those portfolios hold stocks and mutual funds, well, you know the story.

In any event, maybe all those critics who are pointing to P-E Obama as an example to follow could tell me (I honestly don't know because I don't follow US politics closely) whether the stimulus package and other measures are already in place, approved by Congress. Has the money started to flow? I doubt it.

I would like to add, in addition to Gabby's post, that the most highly regarded economists are saying that a) short term stimulus packages are not a good thing because they tend to turn into long term problems and b) we have to wait to see what is going to happen south of the border and that will not happen until late January. The government knows what they are doing and as awful as this is for many people they are doing what they can.

May I add something I was not aware of prior to posting my earlier comment?
Don Drummond, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the TD bank, was interviewed by Mike Duffy on Thursday Nov. 27.
In that interview, he said something to the effect that certain measures had indeed been brought in, but that readers of the economic update had to dig into it to find the information, do some number crunching, (which the opposition apparently did not do - my take).

He also said that some other measures may be coming in a few weeks' time, so he thinks the precipitous and rash atmosphere prevailing in the House is "bizarre" (his word).

Those folks were counting on the PM when he told reporters in Peru last week that he stood ready with "unprecedented fiscal action." A week later, his finance minister promised no new initiatives and, in fact, cut spending.

Along with Gabby, I sympathize with people who are losing their jobs, however I do not believe that their expectations of the Prime Minister were realistic, if that's what they were expecting.

If our Prime Minister has proven anything over the past 3 years, it is that he is a prudent and cautious man with our nation's finances. He has a need to ensure that any money being spent is going to return the greatest net benefit to the nation as a whole.

He is 100% correct in wanting to consult with the Provinces before taking action.

He is 100% correct in wanting to consult with Washington before taking action.

He is 100% correct in wanting to ensure that our own house is in the greatest possible fiscal shape before taking action.

THAT is what this Fiscal Update has been about. Cleaning house as much as possible before starting the renovations.

It would be irresponsible for our Prime Minister to act pre-emptively when there is still doubt as to the direction that the stimuli being considered by the United States is going to take. We could be going in the opposite direction and as such cause more damage than good, where a little patience and consultation could ensure that our actions will be in harmony and be supportive of sympathetic stimulus packages that our trading partners enact.

Our Prime Minister and our Finance Minister have urged Canadians to be patient and have ensured that this Fiscal Update is NOT the end of the plan, rather only a beginning, and that further announcements are forthcoming.

I believe this is a responsible position to take. Clean house, then bring forward bills/announcements through the House of Commons to be dealt with one by one on their own merits and/or flaws by all Parliamentarians.

The ugly reality is that the Opposition Parties never had any intention of working with this government, and in Jack Layton's OWN words "spotted and prepared for the opportunity and had taken the steps that were required, so that when the opportunity arose, which was when Mr. Harper made his disastrous strategic error by not providing stimulus to the economy and instead playing political games, we were able to move".

Had our Prime Minister announced the full range of intent without the necessary consultation, the process would have ground to a halt while every Premier, Mayor and Opposition Party challenged each and every issue that didn't parallel with their own "vision" as to what should be done. THIS is what the Opposition wanted, so they could enact their plan to defeat the government and carry through with the consultations that our Prime Minister currently plans to conduct.