“The bank would lend me more money then I could ever repay. I didn’t take it.” Quoted from my Dad when he was a man and I was a boy.
My parents were simple people. They were short on education and long on common sense. My father and I discussed politics regularly and he was an avid CCF and NDP supporter. He had several simple principles.
“If the Co-op doesn’t have it I don’t’ need it.”
“Assist those who cannot truly take care of themselves.”
“Be responsible for your actions.”
“Live within your means.”
“Only borrow money that you can repay.”
“Put back into the community.”
“Only rich people can afford to by junk, because they can buy it again and again.”
I don’t ever recall my dad talking about the ratio of debt to GDP or the world inventories of commodities and their affect on market prices. He never delved into Keynesian economic theory or speculated on how a raise in the Bank of Canada interest rate would affect inflation. He did not understand these things, and with all do respect, I’m not sure the people we put in charge do either.
The dust has now settled on the 2017 Federal and Provincial Budgets.
Investors reacted positively to the projected $28 billion Federal deficit as bank stocks rose nicely the day after the budget. How sad is that when we applaud irresponsibility. Of course, the applause comes as no surprise because we were given exactly what was promised in the last Federal election. You cannot blame the Liberals for making good on a direction they clearly laid out for the Canadian people.
In Saskatchewan, there is the typical hand wringing and outrage that comes when a budget is presented. The sense of entitlement is front and center as we try and determine what is, or what is not in the budget, for me. How sad is this for a Province that has produced some of Canada’s greatest leaders. We want more services and yet we still have a 2017 projected deficit of over $685 million. Irresponsibility is not just reserved for our friends in other Provinces.
Simple question – I can’t operate my life with deficit financing, so why can governments? Answer – because the people demand it and vote for it.
I hear with considerable regularity that, “the government is wasteful, they squander resources, they don’t spend enough on this, they spend too much on that, they need to tax the rich more, it’s the government’s fault, the government needs to create jobs…..” The fundamental flaw in these tirades is that this assigns the blame to the government, thereby, removing the responsibility from the people. In a democracy, the people elect the government and they govern at the behest of the people.
We live in an increasing global society that has embraced deficit financing to provide and enhance government services for the people. We are paying for these services with debt that presumably must be paid off in subsequent years. Our priorities are skewed and the current excessive entitlement priorities will have lasting affects in the coming years. As Canadians, we care about many causes and we demand the government finance them with debt and let someone else pay for them down the road. This is a short term, selfish view that makes me wonder how we can blindly burden our children with this debt to satisfy our current wants.
Current deficit financing will ultimately affect the poor more then the wealthy. People with money will always be able to access health care and other services world wide. Not so for the poor.
We pride ourselves on the universal access to many services in Canada, not the least being health care. These same universal services will be eroded if we are not responsible with our government spending today. In the future, money that would otherwise be available for services will go to reduce debt. Compound this with the fact we have an aging population that will require even more services and we are facing a colossal financial problem. For those who believe this is or should be someone else’s problem, then I must respectfully disagree. We have spending problems in this entire country and not revenue generation problems.
I always find it is helpful to review a few numbers to enlighten myself. The Canadian population is roughly 36,000,000 and the Saskatchewan population is roughly 1,100,000. We make up about 3% of the Canadian population and I can only assume that is why we are sometimes viewed as irrelevant in Ottawa and Toronto. The Saskatchewan population also includes our children and our friend’s children who didn’t have to go to Alberta to live and work in the last 10 years. Think about it – this is a big deal to our family and should be for yours.
It appears the accumulated national debt is about $636,000,000,000. The accumulated provincial debt is about $7,600,000,000. That’s a lot of zeros. I had to bring out my fancy calculator to do the ciphering.
The following are the average debt amounts for EACH person in Saskatchewan.
2017 annual Federal projected debt – $778 per person.
Accumulated Federal debt – $17,667 per person.
2017 annual Provincial projected debt – $623 per person.
Accumulated Provincial debt – $6,909 per person.
Therefore, the combined Federal and Provincial debt accumulated to date is almost $25,000, and growing, for each person in Saskatchewan. When you consider that there is a large segment of any population who has no ability to assist in paying this debt, it seems a bit daunting.
Now some of you may think it would be a good idea to pack your bags and move to another province to be part of a lower overall debt. Best rethink that move because Saskatchewan has the lowest debt per person in Canada if you believe the following website that tracks both Federal and Provincial accumulated debt numbers.
Life is about choices. We can choose to pay our way now or we can leave it for our children to pay. You decide.
My father was a simple man. I miss him.
My second cup is now empty…………………
