Canadians Living In LA LA Land

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Public Sector Wages & Benefits Simply Not Affordable
Neither Is Old Age Pension

I feel a rant coming on, so if you'd sooner read something telling you how wonderful everything is, you'll need to go elsewhere. The reason for this little ramble is not to preach doom and gloom, but rather face our current reality with an eye to keep it from descending into true doom and gloom.

Locally our public sector employees working for the city were awarded a 6% increase in their wages over the next three years, which in itself seems reasonable. Of course when you consider the pre-raise level of wages and benefits enjoyed by those fortunate enough to have a city job, it seems less reasonable. As could be expected the local fourth estate buys into the line that we need to pay all these high wages in order to keep our good city staffers. Question? Where do you really think they are going to go, given the fact there are 4 unemployed people in the province for every job available?

This raise will no doubt result in at least a matching raise for non-union staffers who already enjoy wages and benefits the rest of us paying the freight can only dream of. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting we all engage in a race to the bottom, but reality cleary shows, the rest of Nanaimo simply can NOT afford to keep paying this level of wages. The gap between taxpayer and tax harvester has grown to an unsustainable level in recent years and something has to give.

The recent shift from industrial and commercial taxation levels, with the reduction in those areas shifting to the residential tax base, is a clear example of how over-taxation has finally hit one wall...... the business sector. The reality is, that businesses will simply move elsewhere, or close completely if they can not earn enough to support ever-increasing taxes. Residents on the other hand simply have to suck it up, and in some cases make another trip to the food bank after they have forked over the extra $100 in increased taxes this year.

Past 'Prosperity' Was But An Illusion

Long gone are the days when we can believe the lies or misinformation foisted on society by politicians and union leaders seeking to occupy the seat of power voter support provides. For years auto workers felt they could earn 'over the moon' wages with equally as unrealistic benefits packages forever. Reality is, that the North American auto industry would have completely shut down if not for massive taxpayer bailouts. It is still not clear whether those bailouts will actually have saved the auto industry, or simply postponed the day it will be laid to rest forever.

A little closer to home, how many guys and gals who worked at Harmac during the Gravy Years are getting all the pension and benefits they felt they were entitled to??

The forestry industry and much of Canadian manufacturing suffered the consequence of believing the same lines, peddled by politicians and labour leaders. Yes, I am also sure that greedy industrialists have their share of blame for our current economic mess. But at the end of the day, there has to be something of real value backstopping our economy or it is simply an illusion that we can enjoy standards of living previously reserved for Royalty, while making over-priced widgets of all kinds.

We are now faced with the reality that our Old Age Security system is seriously flawed with it's cost increasing by 32% from 2010 - 2015. The fund itself was paying out $36.5 Billion in 2010 and will be facing a bill of $108 Billion by 2030. This 'pension' is not currently funded, which means those future benefits will have to be paid by those who are actually working during this period. If all those good paying jobs supporting future OAS are in the public sector, funded by the taxpayers......... well I'm sure if you understand Mr. Ponzi's idea, you will see how it applies here.