How to cripple a healthcare system

[oops]

It is beyond me how people think that we can continue with restrictions, and we will be okay.

Getting to the end of next year will be difficult for many businesses and households, and support programs will continue to drain the coffers of the federal and provincial/territorial governments.

The debt levels of federal and provincial/territorial governments will rise sharply in 2020-21 and the three years that follow. Over the medium term, governments will struggle to balance their books, despite relatively low interest rates, while a longer-term perspective suggests that, on aggregate, the situation for provinces and territories is untenable.

In its Nov. 30 fiscal update, the federal government tallied up the costs of COVID and the impact on the deficit — which will swell to $382 billion in 2020-21. The provinces and territories, too, have tallied record deficits — $92 billion, on aggregate, we estimate. Taken Together, the fiscal gap will account for roughly 22 per cent of GDP this year.

But the pandemic’s effect on the economy will be long-lasting, resulting in ongoing massive deficits for both levels of government. In an upcoming report from the Conference Board of Canada, we assess the longer-term fiscal outlook for Canada and the aggregate provinces and territories. The situation suggests that the finances of governments at both levels will be squeezed for decades to come.

Excluding the $70 to $100 billion in additional post-COVID stimulus announced in the federal fiscal update, current spending plans by both levels of government, coupled with a lasting negative hit to revenues, will add copiously to public debt. Over the four fiscal years, 2020-21 to 2023-24, federal and provincial/territorial governments are expected to amass $864 billion in deficits and add $940 billion to the aggregate net debt. This will bring the aggregate net debt as a share of GDP to over 95 per cent.

 

https://ipolitics.ca/2020/12/10/record-high-debt-a-long-term-concern-for-governments-in-canada/

Every month we continue with current policies we add over 30 billion in federal deficit, if you add provincial debts it comes close to 40 billion per month. For some reason people think we can continue to do this for another 8 months until we are told that we can vaccinate everyone. Even if we opened the economy fully now it would take many years to reach even a balanced budget, not a surplus necessary to start paying the debt down.  You can't keep spending money you don't have, so the government will need to reduce spending on healthcare education etc..

 

[SpankyMcFarland]

8 hours ago, Aristides said:

 The US is too often used as an excuse for not making changes to our own system.

Indeed.