Sitting around the table for a family meeting, the heads of the household stand up and announce to the kids that they are now going to have an equal say on how the family budget will be spent.  In a serious voice they try to explain to the kids that there is a large amount owed to credit card debt but the card has not been maxed out yet.  With the amount of money coming in we can only afford to pay the household bills and make the minimum payment on the credit card but there is no money left over to buy any new toys.  The kids are then asked to vote: do we go without new toys and live within our budget or buy new toys and add to the balance of the credit card?  How do you think most kids would vote?

This analogy comes to mind with Canada’s Election for Prime minister only a few days away.

It seems many people think that change for the sake of change is good.  With this belief there are 2 main options to choose:

•  The first is for raising taxes for corporations.  Although at first thought this sounds like a good idea, one of the biggest problems in Ontario along with the rest of Canada is large companies like the auto industry are relocating to other countries to save money.  By raising the tax they pay here, would that not only encourage them to leave and take 1000s of jobs with them , cause higher unemployment and undermine our economy?  Maybe we should even be lowering corporate taxes to attract more companies and jobs to Canada.
• The other option is to borrow more money to stimulate the economy.  With Canada’s current debt over 1.2 trillion dollars, is our economy that bad that we need to add to that?  Do we even have the right to borrow money that future generations up to our great, great, great etc. grand kids will have to pay back.  Even if we do decide to borrow more money, should we not wait until absolutely necessary, after all Canada is not an economic Island and is swept along with the rest of the words economies.  What if China’s currently shaky economy collapses?  Besides the problems a world economic downturn could cause, what if interest rates currently below 1% go up even just a little, how would that effect the 1.2 trillion dollars we owe?  Could Canada become another Greece, but with no one to bail us out?

I, like most Canadians voting don’t have a degree in economics, yet we are all making these decisions unsure of the consequences.  Because of our lack of expertise, do we sometimes elect people that are better skilled in salesmanship then being able to run a Country?  Would we elect someone who had the best plans for our Country if they weren’t good at being a salesman?

Now a days, newspaper adds aimed at the majority of Canadians no longer show the price, interest rate or amortization period of that new car, only the low weekly payment.  The 2 year contract for a new phone only shows the discounted price for the first 3 months and not what you have to pay for the other 21.  When advertising like this works for many voting Canadians and without economic degrees is my analogy of giving our kids credit cards very far off?

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com