Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:
Thanos Thanos:
Keep in mind I don't even care all that much about government debt, at least as long as it's contained under a certain percentage of GDP. I don't ever want to see a repeat of the 1990's, where the governments were acting like they were in some insane competition to reduce debt and didn't care in the slightest who was getting hurt and how much infrastructure ended up suffering due to the cut-backs. The government isn't a business, nor is it a nutty old guy with a hundred jars of pennies buried in the back yard. And it shouldn't ever be expected to behave the same way as an individual would with their own rinky-dink personal savings account at the bank. So, yes, control debt as much as logically possible but, no, the government should never have a unused surplus either. Not with the kinds of responsibilities it has on it.
I think that is an incredibly short sighted opinion on your part. Billions of dollars get wasted on interest payments on that debt every year. Billions that should be going towards increasing our military capacity, building more hospitals and paying for more doctors & nurses, developing our freeway system, developing HSR networks, funding a space program, reducing income taxes, etc. If we can suffer the pain and pay our debt down now, we will reap the rewards later.
I agree we should keep debt low, but almost nobody carries debt.
And while I support some of the things you want to spend money on, not all of them are realistic (like HSR or a space program) for our country.
Going into debt to build highways, hospitals, and other infrastructure pays long term dividends that far exceed interest payments. 100 years ago, only the wealthiest could afford a cross country trip to see our wonderful country, but today because of infrastructure investments, most Canadians can afford to do it at least once in their lives. We've also come a long way in the health care arena, where until the 1960s, people lived in fear of getting sick (just like they do south of the border).
Some debt isn't a bad thing, as long as it's spent wisely. But borrowing to pay for operating costs (as the Alberta NDP are) is very bad fiscal planning.