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The same golfer putting to save par will be more successful than when trying to make a birdie.

It’s due to the loss aversion effect – a psychological tendency in us strange humans to hold onto what we have with more urgency, focus and fight than we would for an equal gain that we don’t yet possess.

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That’s why Jason Kenney’s bold assertion that, if one day elected premier, he’d balance the Alberta budget in three years by slashing spending down to the same per capita level as neighbouring B.C. is likely an exercise in wishful thinking.

Because not giving a raise to someone in the first place is much easier than trying to take it away later, which is what the would-be leader of the recently formed United Conservative Party is suggesting.

Sadly, there’s no realistic way to whack $10 billion from a budget of about $54 billion without taking a chainsaw to salaries and benefits enjoyed by many thousands on various public payrolls.