Questions put to economist Wade Locke about the province’s financial problems. Cross Talk's daily phone-in connects listeners from across Newfoundland and Labrador - and beyond.
Gross Debt: Up, Up and Away!
A Citizens Guide to Newfoundland and Labrador’s Debt Problem
In reality, the additional debt is fungible, that is, the money you receive from borrowing could be spent on other expenditures.
Having accumulated nearly $50 billion in debt for a population of slightly more than one-half a million people, the status quo is no longer sustainable.
Our provincial government is on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. We argue a strategy can be concocted using the principles and strategies that we have already agreed to or have accepted in the past. We don’t need to reinvent the Wheel.
Canadian, US, and British governments are fixated on the “prosperity of the middle class”. The US and Britain are also focused on the “Top 1%” and growing inequality. The political story: middle class has been “hollowed out” increasingly struggle to make ends meet; top 1% is grabbing most of the wealth. Does this story correspond to the facts?