Ted Rechtshaffen: Canada’s shifting values are leading us to a scary economic future

financialpost.com:

Canada’s core values have shifted so meaningfully that I am afraid they are destroying the economic future of this country for our children and grandchildren.

I find that explaining our financial picture can most simply be outlined through a family.

If you are the parent of an adult, let’s pretend that “child” is in debt and doesn’t work very hard, but still likes to maintain an expensive lifestyle. He wants to dress well, get teeth whitening, go on nice vacations and generally live well. But money is tight, so there could be a real problem unless he gets a new credit card approved. The solution is to ask the parents to do a little bit more to help him out.

In this little production, the adult child is the Canadian economy and the parents are the taxpayers in the middle-to-higher income bracket.

In discussions with many people since the budget release in April, there is definitely some frustration about the higher capital gains inclusion rates, but the biggest frustration is that we continue to spend more when there is already a massive debt. Canada just confirmed a $50.9-billion deficit for 2023-2024. Why are we putting in a new budget plan for the next few years that has roughly $40 billion in expected deficits?

Going back to the family analogy, it is pretty clear the adult child can’t afford to live the life they want to live. They need to cut back on spending and find a way to earn more money — maybe even by working much harder. He suggests he just needs financial support now, but his parents know there will be a lot of support needed for the next couple of years at least.

The difference, though, is that if the parents grudgingly help out their child, it is their choice to do so. This isn’t the situation with the