Viikkosanomat, January 21, 1985

              A Senior Citizens response to the Finance Ministers speciai appeal
to ali Seniors
By E Holvvell
PENSION FUNDS &
THE NATIONAL DEBT
Writing in the Toronto Star of January 985 Ruben Bellan an
Economics Professor had this to say:- -
"Weil over 90% of the National Debt consists of bonds sold by the
Government of Canada to its ovvn citizens Practically ali the interest
payments vvhich Ottawa makes each year are to Canadian individuals and
Canadian ovvned business firms"
On this basis therefore and
with a deficit in the range of
$190 billion $171 billion re-mai- ns
vvith Canadians in the
form of Canadian Securities
No doubt investment funds of
this magnitude come from the
Massive Pension Funds con-tribut- ed
via payroll deductions
by the hundreds of thousands of
people in the work force and I
exclude the Canada Pension
The term Canadian ovvned
business firms obviouuusly re-fe- rs
to the Pension Fund Ad-ministrat-ors
Trust Companies
play an important roll in this
connection Banks and Insu-rance
Companies vvould also be
involved
Pension Funds are one of
the fastcst grovving pools of
capital funds in the country
Therefore of the estimated debt
charges of over $17 billion
some $15 billion vvill be dis-tribut- ed
as interest to ali bond-holde- rs
THIS WILL PUT $15 BIL-LION
PURCHASING POWER
IN THE HANDS OF THE CA-NADIAN
PUBLIC
The Gross National Pro-du- ct
vvill also record this as part
of Canadians Investment In-co- me
(GNP) separate and
apart from Salaries and Wages
CONTINUING DEFICIT '
AN OBSTACLE TO GROWTH
Why does the Minister of Fi-nance
express alarm in the
follovving terms? (quote) - "the
alarming fact is that the mo-unta- in
of debt inherited as a
result of the string of deficits
over the past 10 years requires
ever-increasi- ng interest charges
12
on the debt And these rising
debt service charges are the
driving force behind the con-tinue- d
pattern of high deficits
and rising levels of debt This
means that vvith each year
more and more government
money must be diverted from
productive uses just to pay the
interest charges (unquote)
The fact that the Minister
uses the term "mountain of debt
inherited" indicates that his go-vernment
vvill use every means
possible to blame the precious
administration for its ovvn in-abil- ity
to improve our economic
future or to reduce unemploy-men- t
One vvonders also has Mr
Wilson follovved the pernicious
activities of the Tory Govern-ment
in Ontario? They have
been "borrovving" from the
funds of the Canada Pension
Pian - The Municipal Emp-loye- es
Retirement Fund and
Teachers Superanuation fund
for a number of years This
borrovving novv totals more than
$25 billion and the actual in-terest
vvhich the Province pays
for this borrovving is not made
public although it is touted as
being very lovv The CPP vvas
set up Federally vvith the
collaboration of the Provinces
and the Act permitted ali Pro-vinces
to borrovv according to
contributions received The
first interest payment vvill not
become due until 1986 The
Canadian Provinces have milk-e- d
the CPP to date of a total of
$225 billion And Principle
payments vvill not be due until
1 99 1 In the meantime Pension
payouts vvill necessarily be
W P- - '' ti' vi]
rl
'fr'
adjusted accordingly
HIGH LEVELS OF DEBT —
POTENTIAL THREAT
says Wilson
What is the real reason for the
high level of debt? Here is
evpmple 1 From the Toronto
S t ii uf January 1 185 we get
the follovving
The Federal Government
plans to fuel an economic re-cove- ry
vvith defence spending
that vvill rebuild the Canadian
Armed Forces Defence Mi-nister
Robert Coates says The
defence dollar can be "invest-ed- "
to increase economic acti-vit- y
and create jobs
VVith 1 12 million unemployed
this government is thinking in
terms of VVARH to solve Canada's
problems Remember 1939 vvhen
hundreds of thousands of the
unemployed vvere recruited into
the armed forces and so many of
them did not return
Quoting again from the
Finance Ministers published
documents Example 2 "as
much as tvvo-thir- ds of recent
economic grovvth has been
attributed to technological
change and there is every to
believe that its influence vvill
grovv"
"Federal financial com-mitme- nts
to Research & De-velopment
are exstensive some
$26 billion this year alone
apart from tax incentives
vvithin the federal government
there are 37 programmes con-cern- ed
vvith technology in-novatio-ns
and diffusion"
Therefore billions of dollars
are used to increase pro-ductiv- ity
for the private sector
This is one of the major causes
of the current unemployment
Once again a project by Gov-ernment
to assist private en-terpr- ise
forces to increase
productiviiy ai the expense of
manpovver
Again quoting the Finance
Minister:- - "there is little point
in accelerating the development
of new technology in Canada if
they do noi quickly spread
throughout the economy"
Mr Wilson and his gover-nment
seem intent on trying to
force an issue vvhich is being1
resisted The question is WHY?
The current deficit repre-sen- ts
ali the unpaid corporate
taxes numerous tax breaks and
outrieht hand-out- s encouraged
and permitted over the years by
Governments It is not a debt
ovved by the Canadian People
i#s~— JÄI y
)'JAnS(m w hi
VMlVH
ihc U S (Jciiitnst! ation oi
Nrengtl in il" fi'i:tral America
1§85
Peacelovinpr policy Washington
slyle
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Jospeh U Kaksonen
Dearer Crime
Insurance
In Britain rising crime
has placed insurance firms
in a quandary Prudential
Assurance the largest do-mes- tic
insurance company
has been obliged to increase
its premium by 50-1- 00 per
cent depending on neigh-bourho- od
burglary statis-tic- s
Announcing the rise
one of its managers John
Powell iaid burglary had
assumed "epidemic
Over the Hill
We sometimes hear the 'smarties' say
About Seniors: "over the hill"
Oh sure we're gone but like to stay
Our health is good and strong our vvill
So many more are trying their best
By striving hard and climbing still
To reach the top — the very crest —
To join us Seniors over the hill
Here we may linger in the sun
Lead life in peace vvith mind at ease
Can vvork can play may love have fun
We're free to be just as we please
In paints and arts and crafts we find
Real joy even leam in our schools
We stay in shape in body and mind
How can one think we are old fools?
We exercise we bovvl and dance
We go on tours we sk or skate
And who's too old for some romance?
True love can sometimes blossom late
M