trivia@watcsc.uucp (Dave Nuttall) (11/23/88)
In article <6761@watcgl.waterloo.edu> drforsey@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Dave Forsey) writes: >Dare anyone speculate on what happens to Canada if the good-old USofA goes >down the tube because of its trillion-dollar deficit? Will the FTA help >or hinder? Or is Canada already too inextricably intertwined with the US >economy? Would it be better to be part of "1992" in Europe (to whom the >US owes a lot of this money)? One thing that people should look at, in my opinion, is that Canada has an annual deficit of about 30 million, while the States pick up over 1 billion dollars of additional debt last year. Canada has around 25 million people, while the USA comes up with 250 million people. Therefore, the states with 10 times the people, has over 30 times the annual debt. (Hmm...) Another point I've noticed involves the crime rate. Toronto has about 2 million people while Ney York has about 10 million. New York has a lot more than 5 times the murders than Toronto. This is also valid with other crime types as well. \sg{David Nuttall}
trivia@watcsc.uucp (Dave Nuttall) (11/23/88)
In article <6761@watcgl.waterloo.edu> drforsey@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Dave Forsey) writes: >Dare anyone speculate on what happens to Canada if the good-old USofA goes >down the tube because of its trillion-dollar deficit? Will the FTA help >or hinder? Or is Canada already too inextricably intertwined with the US >economy? Would it be better to be part of "1992" in Europe (to whom the >US owes a lot of this money)? One thing that people should look at, in my opinion, is that Canada has an annual deficit of about 30 million, while the States picked up over 1 billion dollars of additional debt last year. Canada has around 25 million people, while the USA comes up with 250 million people. Therefore, the States, with 10 times the people, has over 30 times the annual debt. (Hmm...) Another point I've noticed involves the crime rate. Toronto has about two million people while Ney York has about 10 million. New York has a lot more than 5 times the murders than Toronto. This is also valid with other crime types as well.
rimajpruz@watsol.waterloo.edu (Rick Majpruz) (11/23/88)
In article <1988Nov22.164836.8598@watcsc.uucp> trivia@watcsc.UUCP (Dave Nuttall) writes: >One thing that people should look at, in my opinion, is that Canada has an >annual deficit of about 30 million, ^^^^^^^^^^ I heard that Wilson reduced the deficit but this is fantastic! No wonder the Tories got re-elected.
grant@looking.UUCP (Grant Robinson) (11/24/88)
In article <1988Nov22.164836.8598@watcsc.uucp> trivia@watcsc.UUCP (Dave Nuttall) writes: > >One thing that people should look at, in my opinion, is that Canada has an >annual deficit of about 30 million, while the States picked up over 1 billion >dollars of additional debt last year. Canada has around 25 million people, >while the USA comes up with 250 million people. Therefore, the States, with >10 times the people, has over 30 times the annual debt. (Hmm...) > The way economists prefer to look at it is the ratio of debt to total GNP, ie. ultimate ability to pay. Looked at that way, the US fares much better that Canada (sorry I don't have the exact figures) Much of current economic theory deals with the idea of "outgrowing" the deficit, ie. if the rate of growth of the GNP is consistently higher than the growth of the deficit, the deficit (and hence total debt) will shrink as a percentage of total GNP. Free trade will foster this process. While this may not be the best method of managing debt, it currently seems the only workable method due to the inability of our goverments to cut spending and/or raise taxes to a level that will reduce the deficit. Note that this method does not reduce the debt, it increases our "ability to pay". > >Another point I've noticed involves the crime rate. Toronto has about two >million people while Ney York has about 10 million. New York has a lot more >than 5 times the murders than Toronto. This is also valid with other crime >types as well. > As several people have pointed out, we currently have 80% free trade. Why don't we have 80% of the crime rate? Maybe crime isn't covered under the GATT? :) - grant
derome@ai.toronto.edu (Philippe Derome) (11/24/88)
In article <1988Nov22.163030.8480@watcsc.uucp> trivia@watcsc.UUCP (Dave Nuttall) writes: >One thing that people should look at, in my opinion, is that Canada has an annual deficit of about 30 million, while the States pick up over 1 billion dollars of additional debt last year. Canada has around 25 million people, while the USA comes up with 250 million people. Therefore, the states with 10 times the people, has over 30 times the annual debt. (Hmm...) >... Perhaps you should multiply your deficit numbers by 1000, and then it will sound right. Philippe Derome
jimr@hcr.UUCP (Jim Robinson) (11/24/88)
In article <1988Nov22.163030.8480@watcsc.uucp> trivia@watcsc.UUCP (Dave Nuttall) writes: >One thing that people should look at, in my opinion, is that Canada >has an annual deficit of about 30 million, while the States pick up >over 1 billion dollars of additional debt last year. Canada has >around 25 million people, while the USA comes up with 250 million >people. Therefore, the states with 10 times the people, has over 30 >times the annual debt. (Hmm...) The above firgures are *way* off. Canada's deficit is ~ 29 *billion*. The US's deficit is (and I could be wrong by severeral ten's of billions) ~ 150 billion (US). Hmm... >Another point I've noticed involves the crime rate. Toronto has >about 2 million people while Ney York has about 10 million. New >York has a lot more than 5 times the murders than Toronto. This is >also valid with other crime types as well. Darn smart of Reisman (sp?) and all to refuse to allow crime and criminals to be included in the FTA :-). Seriously, however, it's getting tiresome to be constantly told that an economic agreement with the US is going to somehow turn Windsor into Detroit and Toronto into NY. Plan B? We don't need no steeeeenking plan B! J.B. Robinson
atbowler@watmath.waterloo.edu (Alan T. Bowler [SDG]) (11/29/88)
In article <4228@hcr.UUCP> jimr@hcrvx2.UUCP (Jim Robinson) writes: >The above firgures are *way* off. Canada's deficit is ~ 29 *billion*. The >US's deficit is (and I could be wrong by severeral ten's of billions) >~ 150 billion (US). Hmm... Actually, according to the guest editorials on the Nightly Business Report the figure is actually about 250 billion. The difference is that between current collected and paid out for social security is being counted as a "surplus" and subtracted from the rest of the budget deficit. The "surplus" is actually supposed to be put aside and used to pay pensions of the people currently contributing when they eventually retire. Apparently, at some time in the next decade the accounting rules for reporting the US deficit are going to change to separate out social security. Does anyone know how the Canadian government handles the Canada Pension Plan in relation to the rest of the Federal budget? In the past I have seen criticisms of the way the CPP funds have been handled that implied that Canada already reports this separately (i.e. the 29 billion should be compared to the 250 billion), but I have no hard evidence.