Spending our Grandkids' Money - Seriously?!!!!
Here's a non-political, political post. I just read an article saying that Ontario is mad at their premier for the cutbacks. I get it, nobody likes having government spending of our money cut back. I also read comments about keeping the federal Liberals in power, in response, come October. Now before I continue, let me tell you that I have voted both Conservative and Liberal in my life. I have watched as Finance minister Paul Martin, in the Chretien Liberal government, made massive cutbacks to government spending to clean up the financial debacle the first Trudeau government left behind. Mr Martin had a tough job to do, but he did it well. I watched as other governments have had to clean up the financial messes left by previous free-spending governments. (On both sides of the floor)
Somehow the key point is lost in the middle of a spending spree and in the clean-up afterwards - IT'S ALL OUR MONEY THEY ARE SPENDING!!!!! There is no such thing as "government money", it's all taken from our pockets. Make your own call about whichever government is in power at the time, but remember, there is always a time of payback, when we have to suck it in and bring the deficit and debt back under control. And it's never, ever painless.
What really angers me is when we think we can push the debt repayment forward onto our children and grandchildren! What the hell is wrong with us?!!! When did we lose the concept of parents making it possible for our descendants to stand on our shoulders, rather than us standing on theirs to get more, cheaper benefits now? The generations coming after us might have a different perspective on the government spending of today after they've had to pay back money they never benefited from.
Saskatchewan and Alberta are in a serious downturn right now, yet I see billboards demanding increased wages and no cutbacks to certain sectors. Seriously? Where does the money come from? I haven't been able to find a magic pile of gold at the end of any rainbow yet, and I'm pretty sure our politicians haven't either. So, maybe all of us need to recognize we're in this together and that our decisions today affect people tomorrow. Time for us to grow up and realize we're in a democracy and shouldn't look to the government to spend a future generation's money buying votes from us today. I'm done. If you're offended by this, that's probably a good thing, because you're likely spending your grandkids money today - regardless of which party you support.