To the editor:
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), the federal debt works out to $17,200 for every person in the country.
But that $600 billion foregone by the government is now in the hands of the private sector, and if you divide by the Canadian population, it also works out to $17,200 per person. Every government debit is matched by a credit in the private sector.
The CTF only presents half of the truth, which supports its small-government and low-tax agenda. But the other side of the coin is that more government spending means more net financial wealth in the non-government sector, and more people employed.
The biggest waste in our society is not government spending; it is our keeping 1.4 million Canadians jobless, with the attendant costs of increased stress and sickness, more household breakdowns, additional crime and alcoholism, and the degradation of skills in our workforce.
Unemployment of the 1930s was finally ended by massive government spending on armaments and soldiers. Today, the government can put people to work more productively in building transportation infrastructure, and in providing services for health and safety, education, and environmental protection.
Paradoxically, as the aftermath of the Second World War demonstrated, when the economy is sufficiently stimulated with a high level of employment, the debt-to-GDP ratio actually declines.
And now you know the rest of the “debt clock” story.
Larry Kazdan
Vancouver
