Live Small and Prosper: Pt 1 The Money is Still Out There

I wrote and wrote and wrote about Canada’s national debt recently, so much so that some people likely started to think I’m trying to become a brilliant budding economist.

(Trust me, I’m not. However, I included the series of posts, entitled ‘National debt, a silent, deadly avalanche’ and ‘Politicians are silent about debt’ and ‘Is the money out there’ in the right side margin with other ‘Series of Some Significance’ - and I thought that was a brilliant idea).

In part, I touched on the following main ideas:

Our national public debt will soon be above $620 billion

Our provincial public debt will soon be above $205 billion

Our collective private debt is higher than the above

It is uncharacteristic for the federal government of Canada to pay down debt

Since 1960, 80% of the federal budgets added to the national debt


It is uncharacteristic for the provincial government of Ontario to pay down debt

Since 1985, 69% of the provincial budgets have added to Ontario’s debt

There are several real dangers associated with growing debt, e.g., ever-higher debt charges.

Federal debt charges now swallow all revenue gained from corporate taxes, and more

Canadians burn up billions of dollars per year on non-essentials, e.g., bottled water, cookies, candy, soda pop, cigarettes, etc.

Canadians pay billions per year on secondary and tertiary costs related to bottled water, cookies, candy, soda pop, cigarettes, etc.

I mentioned these topics and more and concluded with the following:

We may be spoiled rotten in a lot of cases and have far more goods than we actually require.

We also have more debt than we require.


["Smile. The pig ain't dead"]

What must we do to pay down national debt in this vast land of essentials and extras?

Should we consider a fairer income tax system, higher consumption taxes?

I also mentioned several of these topics and more in three weekly columns and concluded them with the following:

In summary, the money seems to be out there to pay down debt, but I think the majority of Canadians would say ‘no’ to attacking it head on.

Out of several interesting responses I’d like to share two with you.

The first, from DP, directed me to Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis and I learned that we might be worse off than we think we are.

After visiting the link I said, yipes.

The second comment came from an acquaintance, and I quote:

“If I had known I was going to live this long I would have been a little more thrifty.”

To that I said, “Unfortunately, we can’t turn back the clock.”

Though we seem to be squeezed tightly inside a pickle jar of our own making, I still think the money is out there to solve our monetary problems.

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More to follow.

No, I haven’t invented an all-new, invisible, painless revenue stream.

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