XPost: ab.general, ab.politics, can.general   
   XPost: can.taxes, ont.politics   
   From: Some@Other.guy   
      
   Why are you a bone-head and include my entire post in your reply?   
      
   Why didn't you edit it?  Are you that lazy?  Don't you know how to use   
   a keyboard?   
      
   Canuck57 wrote:   
      
   > You didn't even read your own governments admission did you?   
      
   You didn't even read the first few lines of my last post.   
      
   > That Canadian total including provincial of $800 billion did   
   > not include what the government owes itself, CPP shortfalls   
   > for example are ...   
      
   Note what I said regarding the US federal debt:   
      
   > a) Debt held by the public:  $5,000,000,000 (5 trillion)   
   > b) debt that the gov't owes itself: $3,700,000,000 (3.7 trillion)   
      
   In all of the calculations in the rest of my post, I DID NOT include   
   the 3.7 trillion that is the anticipated future liability of the US   
   federal gov't which is composed largely of Social Security, medicare,   
   and gov't pension payments.   
      
   So I ->WAS<- comparing apples to apples.   
      
   The US federal debt held by the public is $5 trillion.   
      
   The Canadian Federal debt held by the public is $500 billion.   
      
   Each are between 40% and 45% of their respective GDP.   
      
   I made a clear case the the Provincial and municipal debt in Canada is   
   more of a problem than the federal debt is.   
      
   Why don't you say anything about that?   
      
   Entitlement programs like Medicare, Social Security and CPP are not   
   true debt because the US or Canadian gov'ts haven't borrowed any money   
   (yet) to pay for them - and their payouts (benefits) can always be   
   modified (reduced) and taxes raised if necessary to keep them solvent.   
      
   The issue at hand is just how much accumulated debt has the federal US   
   and Canadian gov'ts borrowed so far, and it turns out that they're   
   about even, and the trend in the US is up while the trend in Canada is   
   down.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)