Quote:
Originally Posted by GP_Matt
I feel that while debt is a great tool for a young family it makes less sense for an older mature family. For most people the idea is to take out a mortgage when you are first starting out, maybe expand the mortgage as you move into a bigger house and then slowly pay it off. Once you are established I don't think it makes as much sense to be taking on debt as an ongoing budgeting tool.
Taking something like schools, Alberta is growing so new schools are needed but it seems like they should be able to build a steady supply of new schools with cash flow. Assuming you borrow money to build each school and make payments over 25 years it will work great for the first few years, but as you get closer to year 25 you are paying the full cost every year in payments alone and are stuck in a cycle. (And yes, I know that is a bit of an over simplification)
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I think that the campaign against debt in general is more ideology than logic. Take the new south hospital here in Calgary. It will likely be used for what, 50 years? (Assuming they don't blow it up first!). Why pay cash when you could finance that over that time? Its just not sensible at all.
Of course if you're borrowing money to keep the lights on thats a different story. No party is in favour of that kind of debt though.