Quote:
Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
I won't presume to speak for Azure, but I agree with the statement.
The national debt was primarily racked up during the Trudeau and Mulroney years (68 thru 93), when the boomers demanded government services but didn't want to pay for them, we just borrowed the money. In 1970, around the start of the Trudeau years, total federal spending was 16 billion dollars per year. By the end of Trudeau's era, in '84 we were spending 22 billion IN INTEREST CHARGES ALONE!! Total government expenditures was now 109 billion. Sixteen billion to 109 billion under one prime minister (well, and Joe Who, but he doesn't count). And it didn't stop there. Mulroney increased spending up to 161 billion in '92. And it took Mulroney's GST and Paul Martin's slashing of transfers to the provinces to get us out of the banana republic state, but we still have a massive federal debt and are paying 31 billion in interest payments every year. It was the boomers that racked up that debt, but it's the Gen X and Gen Y that are trying to pay it off now.
However, it's only going to get worse. The boomers still control the politics of the country. They have the numbers and the votes. They will not be happy with any cuts to OAS, CPP or any other benefits they have coming to them. They will require more and more health care spending as well as social services for the elderly. The government just won't have the money to support the boomers in retirement, in part because of the overspending by the governments voted in by the boomers.
|
Surprisingly good post for the most part. My concern is that I do not believe the boomers "demanded" those government programs.
In 1971, Nixon effectively took the world off the gold standard, which up to that time was the mechanism to limit government spending by not allowing them to print money at will.
Once that limitation was removed, politicians were able to promise the world in order to get votes. Not only here but also in the States, governments grew massively since then, all because they could rob from future generations in order to gain power by spending at will. Trudeau's "Just Society" started the ball rolling rapidly down the slippery slope. And as much as Conservative governments said they would curtail spending and shrink governments, they have been just as much at fault since then.
Yes now the boomers are hooked now, but in fairness they have been paying into these programs for decades. One could argue that the blame isn't really with the boomers, but with a system that didn't have the appropriate checks and balances to ensure it was sustainable.
All of this is a central issue with Ron Paul (and has been since the 70s). I am surprised more young people on this particular board haven't figured this out yet. There are a ton of them south of the border that have though, and win or lose this election, Dr Paul's message is getting through. It is a good start.