The Trillion Dollar Swing

[BitWhys]

Poking around StatsCan and running spreadsheets, admittedly in pursuit of factoids to annoy conservative apologists with, I stumbled across this one...


If the government of Canada only had to pay back the money its needed between fiscal years 61-62 and 04-05 dollar for dollar without interest it would be ahead of the game to the tune of $450,756M instead of StatsCan reporting a net debt of $514,089M for 2006. That's a difference of $964,845M in Bay Street's favour.

not that there's a simple solution, but I do find it to be quite the food for thought.
I'm in Winnipeg. Which direction do I face when I want to bow down to the rule of the marketplace?

 

[Colpy]

Poking around StatsCan and running spreadsheets, admittedly in pursuit of factoids to annoy conservative apologists with, I stumbled across this one...


If the government of Canada only had to pay back the money its needed between fiscal years 61-62 and 04-05 dollar for dollar without interest it would be ahead of the game to the tune of $450,756M instead of StatsCan reporting a net debt of $514,089M for 2006. That's a difference of $964,845M in Bay Street's favour.

not that there's a simple solution, but I do find it to be quite the food for thought.
I'm in Winnipeg. Which direction do I face when I want to bow down to the rule of the marketplace?

Yeah.

Even I'm ticked at the Conservative budget.....

Want to make Medicare sustainable?

Want to do the same for CPP?

Want to be able to afford a military AND social programs in the future?

PAY OFF THE DEBT!

Before interest rates take their inevitable surge upward.........

 

[TenPenny]

It's such a simple concept - pay down the debt, then you have more money left over to work with in future. However, that takes a longer-term view, and unfortunately, there are too many people who can only see the short term immediate future, who demand tax cuts NOW instead of a longer plan.

 

[stevek]

A far right scary conservative party with a hidden agenda puts out a budget like that. I'm so confused!!

 

[BitWhys]

...Want to do the same for CPP?
...

CPP is doing just fine. Is this that "unfunded liabilities" thing? We've been over that.

You know, its quite possible to think inside the box without resorting to scare tactics.

 

[crit13]

The Conservatives paid dowm over 13 Billion last year and almost 9 billion this year towards the debt.

That's 22 Billion dollars of debt gone within 2 years.

The reason the Conservatives appear to have more money to throw around is because they aren't losing a few Billion a la the HR boondoggle or skimming a few billion for their friends a la Adscam.

 

[BitWhys]

the conservatives are just as bad as the liberals in failing to put together a long-term framework in which to deal with the debt. closest thing they've come up with is turning the savings interest into miniscule taxbreaks, a practice that is more valuable for the airwaves it occupies to their benefit than its economic effect. toying with spending and socking away parts of the surplus is an utterly random approach.

btw, the point of the OP is that it seems to me an average 4.75% above inflation on a lead pipe cinch is a hell of an easy investment. takes money to make money, I suppose.

 

[Toro]

I'm in Winnipeg. Which direction do I face when I want to bow down to the rule of the marketplace?

South.

And I'm sorry that you're in Winnipeg.

 

[Jay]

And I'm sorry that you're in Winnipeg.

Without sounding mean...but using a favorite word of a dear friend of ours...."Looserpeg" would seem more appropriate.

Feel like “bowing down to market forces”? Bow like the rest of the country does…to Ontario. "The Greatest “State” in all of North America”.

God Bless Ontario (as he has always done).

Thanks Lord

 

[Pangloss]

There is an old socialist saying:

"Pay off the daily debt with the daily labour."

Paying down debt isn't right or left wing - it's prudent.

Pangloss

 

[Pangloss]

The Conservatives paid dowm over 13 Billion last year and almost 9 billion this year towards the debt.

That's 22 Billion dollars of debt gone within 2 years.

The reason the Conservatives appear to have more money to throw around is because they aren't losing a few Billion a la the HR boondoggle or skimming a few billion for their friends a la Adscam.

Give 'em a majority gov't and see what they do. Agreed, they'd have to go a long way to smell as bad as Cretien's regime did, but still. . .

Alberta has a (in name, at least) Conservative gov't, and they manage to spend like drunks in a *****house. Crack-addled drunks.

Sigh. . .throwing our future away.

Pangloss

 

[Pangloss]

Interesting - the server filtered out W. H. O. R. E. Without the periods.

Ok, that sounded gross.

Pangloss