Magic Money

As we are just wrapping up Tax Season, now might be a good time to take out your T4 and take a peek. You will see two very stomach churning boxes, with painfully large dollar amounts within. Federal Tax and Provincial Tax - and if you can stomach it - add these two numbers together. This total is what (for the sake of this diatribe) is what I will call - MAGIC MONEY.

It is also timely to look at this Magic Money, as it is spring time here in New Brunswick Canada, after a ferocious winter, and spring and winter is a time that Canadians rely heavily of the government for many of the services that we have learned to rely on to help us survive our climate. Such as snow removal from roads and side-walks, door to door mail delivery, road conditions (or poor road conditions) etc. Not for a moment to I suggest that we are accustomed to relying on our "mother government" for so many of the socialist benefits all year round, but seems the freezing and thawing time of year - these issues seem to be more present in the press.

A hot topic as of today is potholes in our roads and highways - everything from on-line competitions, to phone in programs, front page news.. and now drivers calling for the government to pay for vehicle damage as a result of the overstressed roadways.

Now, on the flip side  - our Government also has Magic Money. An endless supply of funds to quell all of the citizens complaints, and those complaints that are vocal enough are quieted with a dispersement to the very few whose voices are the loudest. Minuscule percentages of the populous that have the knack to get recognition of their issues. And for this case, bent tire rims, misaligned steering and other vehicle damage. These few unskilled drivers now demand that the government give them some of their Magic Money to repair their vehicles. What a great system. A outspoken negligent driver, gets his/her car repaired for free - vocal groups call out in celebration for this as of course it is the governments fault that the frost has cause holes in the road. It is Magic Money the government has anyway, so free alignments for all!!

The unions are incredible in accessing this magic money as well.. This winter, they were kind enough to offer a 1-800 number for citizens to call and make complaints about roads that are uncleared or not to the satisfaction of those that live off the beaten trail.. or as freezing rain is still falling this 1-800 lights up with complaints about slippery roads. It is unfortunate that many the gullible believe that this 1-800 paid for and answered by the Union is a selfless act of service that they offer us poor citizens. But as these unions approach the government for more and more, and more of the Magic Money - they have lots of anecdotes and horror stories to back up their demands for a unreasonable share of this Magic Money.

Again, a minority of our citizens become enablers for our provincial government to almost annually flip flop on language immersion programs - each change in policy costing millions - but millions of dollars of Magic Money - so what does it really matter.

City folks ranting about the loss of home mail delivery... a cost that has ballooned beyond the ability to make any fiscal sense whatsoever (again, Unions are the experts in hauling endless buckets of money from the governments bottomless pit of Magic Money)

Well of course - this Government stockpiles of Magic Money is the one and the same Magic Money on your T4 Slip. 

So, as we hear of the bent rim repair because of a pothole, or a car in the ditch because the driver was not capable of driving at safe speeds on a not yet salted road (If we had a sand/plow truck for each and every car on the road, the union and the tiny percentile of complainers would be pleased) and so one.. Just be reminded that it is your money paying for these repairs. You drive attentively, you watch your money, you appreciate how luck we are to have government service. But you, we, work every day to pay directly for these few.

Consider, as you are tempted to complain about anything beyond your own property - that you are paying for your neighbours protests for access to a bilingual ambulance attendant so their life can be saved in their official language.

Tax Increases - A New Episode of Hoarders

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"Government decision makers are hoarders"

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Federal and Provincial budgets are a complex and convoluted mechanism. So much so that we, without having Ph.D’s in Economics and/or Political Science are at the mercy of the political spin doctors and the press to see what the impact of new budgets will have on us.

As with any complex issue, lack of understanding leaves us helpless to comprehend what the real causes and effects of the messages may be. At this time, we are being prepared for increases in income taxes, sales taxes, user fees as well as new methods of taxation such as health care user fees and highway tolls.

All of these messages are being delivered hand in hand with the announcements of uncontrolled deficits, and potential reductions of services.

How about we find something to consider that might be easier to wrap our heads around. There is a rather successful television series that I confess I seem to be drawn into. The program is called “Hoarders”. A simple premise for a reality program actually. The producers seek out home owners, with the mental disorder of hoarding – filling their homes to extreme with collectables, useless items, garbage, and outdated junk. Their homes are filled to the ceilings, often impassable and dangerous.

Even with their homes filled near to collapse, many of the hoarders continue to acquire junk, to the point of bankruptcy, borrowing money to fill rented storage buildings. Even leaving a house filled with their clutter to rent a new home just to fill that as well.

A professional therapist and assistants enter the scene to attempt to change the hoarders ways. To stop buying, stop spending and clear out the mountains of expired belongings. Inevitably the hoarder fights vigorously to keep their excesses as seeing them all so important, and even on occasion continues to spend as the effort to clean out is in progress.

This is a frustrating show to watch, as a layman, even we can see that they need to stop acquiring junk, and the belongings they have serve no purpose other than take up space in their home. But it is not a complicated program to watch, nor solve their problem.. Clean the house, and stop buying junk, and for gods sake, don’t rent a storage unit and fill that also.

Back to the point - Federal and Provincial Budgets, and tax increases. Now it is much easier to understand. Our government decision makers are hoarders. It is that simple. We have an infrastructure filled to overflowing with waste, with duplication of services, with inefficiencies, with million dollar useless bureaucracy, uncontrolled spending on non necessary acquisitions. But they (our government) are unwilling to clean up this mess, this hoard of waste. Instead, they continue to spend - to near bankruptcy levels, like our friends in the television program. But unlike our friends with a finite amount of spending money, than can result in bankruptcy, our hoarding government continues to go to the bank for more money. But alas.. Taxpayers are their bank.

I wonder, if the therapists on the program, who are often successful in curbing hoarder’s behaviour  could come to the governments front door, ring the bell, squeeze inside past the millions and millions of dollars wasted daily within our government, and have an intervention. Have a nice sit down with the government, and (as they do on the show) have the hoarder, our government, sit on a chair, and look at, item by item and ask, is this expense needed, are these bureaucrats needed, is this new office lease needed, do we need to have two hundred employees doing a job that twenty-five could.. And start throwing out the trash. Part of the therapy would also require that they learn, not to continue to spend and add to the useless clutter, because although the government can’t go bankrupt – their bank sure can (the taxpayers)