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Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
I don't disagree, however when the deficit is in day to day keeping the government in business spending that's ludicris.
If your going to spend a deficit, at least have the money going towards stimulating the economy.
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This. If it's about stimulating the economy, then let's build roads and bridges and schools.
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Originally Posted by Locke
Public Service Pensions.
They're insane. They cannot continue as they are.
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And they won't. By the time the boomers shuffle off this mortal coil, public pensions will be a smouldering ruin. These systems were set up when Canadians had a life expectancy of less than 70, the median age of Canadians was under 25, and the return on investment for pension savings was 3 times what we're can expect going forward.
Fun fact: New York spends more on police pensions than on current police.
Fun fact: In the ageing, rural parts of Canada, most municipalities are essentially a mechanism for transferring money from the few taxpayers left into the bank accounts of their retired neighbours.
Fun fact: In 1970, there were 7 working teachers for each retired one. In 1995 there were 3 working teachers for every retired one. Today, there are 1.5. Within 10 years or so that number will hit 1:1.
Fun fact: Even the fund manager for the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund has publicly warned that the current system is unsustainable, that you can't make the math work for a model where people work for 25 years and then retire for 27 years with a comfortable middle-class income.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
Public sector employees are in a resoundingly better financial position than those in the private sector, largely by virtue of their pensions. 50% of private sector employees are receiving Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits compared to just 15% of public sector employees. This ratio is only going to get worse as more boomers realize they haven't properly saved for retirement.
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Yes, public sector employees are in a resoundingly better financial position than those in the private sector. But this is the twilight of those good times. Already, teachers and other new public employees are being told they will have to work longer and make higher contributions to get the same benefits as their older colleagues. The same is happening across the country. The boomers - and especially boomers in the civil services - rigged the system to get far more out of it than they will ever put in.
Anyone entering the workforce today - public or private sector - who thinks they will retire before they're 70 is comically deluded. And yet today we get to enjoy the spectacle of 55 year old police and firefighters retiring with an excellent pension, while double-dipping to boost their incomes into the top 15th percentile. It's a criminal intergenerational looting of public wealth.