pension max to jump up, lower incomes already

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/canadians-will-see-less-take-home-pay-starting-jan-1/article2285163/

Workers are seeing their EI premiums rise by five cents per $100 of insurable earnings to $1.83 on Jan. 1, while the maximum insurable pay increases to $45,900 from $44,200. In addition, the maximum pensionable earnings rise to $50,100 from $48,300.

“Between the employer and employee, you have $6,630 of payroll taxes. That’s the price of hiring a Canadian.”

A spokesman for federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the government has ushered in significant tax relief since 2006 and that the tax burden of Canadians is now the lowest in 50 years.

“There will (also) be absolutely no increase to the CPP contribution rate,” added Chisholm Pothier, Mr. Flaherty's director of communications. “What is being adjusted is the maximum CPP contribution room only, something that happens every year to account for inflation.”

He noted that the maximum CPP benefit increases by $320 to $11,840 in 2012.

( In addition, the maximum pensionable earnings rise to $50,100 from $48,300. )

-----------------
D - a few points.

Payroll taxes discourage employers from hiring new workers. In theory, flexible hire 'n fire policies would still encourage hiring new workers instead of maxing out overtime for existing ones (also an expense). But such policies would leave workers with no steady source of long-term income, and they would stop buying luxury goods, as well as obtaining house mortgages. A GAI (guaranteed income) program could mitigate this, and still reap the benefits of a flexible labour force. Unlikely to happen though.

So that is a 3.7%

Whereas the increase in CPP-able earnings is more like 1%.

D - I guess the future favours a low-inflation, German-style approach to monetary policy. Otherwise the pensioners either find their effective income decreased by inflation, or the CPP fund rapidly becomes unsupportable due to adjustment-to-inflation and huge strain on a small worker base.


D - then there is concern about what happens to the stock market when Boomers start to cash out.

http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/features/boomers-capital-markets-crash/

If baby boomers retire and sell off their assets, this will drive down stock prices causing a fall in the markets worldwide. The basis of this argument is that the baby boomer generation represents a large cohort with their retirement savings tied up in the financial markets. When they try to sell all their assets to prepare for retirement, they will be selling to a younger and much smaller cohort who will simply not have the demand to meet the supply. Economics 101 tells us that when supply is greater than demand, prices must fall.

----------------------------

D - one need not talk about sensational crashes. If stock market returns remain stagnant or low for a few decades, then the CPP fund may become untenable to support intergenerationally.
Do you suppose retired Boomers will accept pay cuts? From c. 2/3? When CARP -their lobby group - if pushing for a shift to more like 3/4 income payout?
Do you really suppose a CUT instead, to, say, 1/2 or 3/5, would be politically tenable? Financially necessary, maybe, but that's not the same thing.
The CPP fund, after paupering the GenXYZ (particularly the Z gen, which will pay the largest share of their working career income from beginning to end), would need inevitably succumb to these forces. It would, after gen XYZ has paid in at dear cost, not be able to continue past the death of the last Boomers. GenX shares some qualities with 'Baby Boomers', and might gain some use of high CPP payout rates, particularly Freedom-55 GenXers who would be able to function on par with age-then-65 Baby Boomers. In other words, the richest of the Xers.

Not a very cheery scenario, huh?
I just read today about the Italian gov't debt sales not going as well as hoped. And the Americans are bleeding jobs again. We're not out of the woods yet.
This year's end, the future is not so bright that I need to wear shades, as the song goes.
This year, I need low-light amplicifation Starlight goggles to see a silver lining on all those dark clouds.

coming OAS crunch. CARP adds gasoline to fire

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/old-age-security-for-baby-boomers-heads-toward-100-billion-a-year/article2280064/

“By 2030, the number of beneficiaries of the basic OAS pension is expected to double with expenditures projected to reach $108-billion,” states the June, 2011, briefing note, marketed “secret” and obtained under access to information legislation. The number of Canadians receiving OAS – a program that pays a monthly pension of up to $527 to virtually all seniors in Canada – is expected to climb from 4.7 million in 2010 to 9.3 million by 2030, before falling back.

...

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Sara McIntyre, responded cryptically when asked whether the government is planning policy changes to the OAS to limit its cost.

“All seniors will continue receiving their benefits. Our country faces demographic challenges,” she wrote in an e-mail. “We will ensure our retirement security system remains strong and sustainable for generations to come.”

----------------------
So the gov't, in the face of crashed stock markets (permanently depressed as the Boomers cash out) plans to stay the course in the face of austerity measures.

Now let's talk about a group called CARP on retired persons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CARP_(Canada)

The original mandate of CARP was to represent retired persons specifically, but for various reasons it has since expanded to cover the rights of all persons over fifty.
...
In early 2008, Moses Znaimer became executive director of CARP, and a Znaimer-controlled company now known as ZoomerMedia assumed responsibility for most of the organization's marketing and membership services.[1] ZoomerMedia also publishes Zoomer Magazine, previously titled CARP Magazine.

D - a Zoomer is anybody older than a Boomer. Meaning Gen XYZ are excluded.
That's OK - that IS the (fairly) natural fault line between generations.
In terms of math variables, we ARE X, Y and Z respectively. (Z cannot vote yet.)
That makes Boomers W. And the Great Generation (and I mean that) the V generation.
Z IS the end of the line. Why? They will inherit the equivalent of fiscal smoking ruins.

But surely, you say, Harper has a handle on things... right?
Not if everybody else can help it. I'd like to say now that I by and large despise the man and his party. But on this issue, his is the only party willing to 'hold the line'.

I think there is presently about 300,000 members in CARP - c. 1% of the population.

http://www.carp.ca/category/news/top-stories/

D- let's look at 1 of their top news stories.

CARP Open Letter calls on Finance Ministers to enhance CPP, cap PRPP fees and fund Home Care

D - "Enhance" CPP? What does that mean? Glad you asked.

"The CPP has successfully provided an affordable and reliable source of retirement security for the broadest reach of Canadians. However, the level of CPP benefits alone is inadequate and CARP has called for increasing CPP coverage and benefits.

To counter the criticism that increasing CPP premiums to pay for increased CPP benefits would be “job killers”, CARP offers a rough calculation [attached] of the dollar amounts that would be required to increase CPP benefits by a modest 10 percent. Subject to verification by finance officials, CARP estimates that employers and employees would each pay $45 more per month..."

D - About 50 per month. To bump up the payout of CPP from c. 2/3 to c. 3/4.
And why? Cuz some Boomers, spending like there is no tomorrow both at the public trough and in their private budgets, much like Aesop's grasshoppper, failed to save for retirement. Somehow, they view it as an affront to their dignity that they must then experience some loss in their standard of living.

D - and all this at a time when we have Gen XYZ saddled with (relatively late in Boomer careers) sudden spikes in CPP payout, a world economic meltdown, and pressure from credit rating companies for fiscal austerity from gov'ts.

D - CARP concluded that letting by saying the above policy would not be a "job killer". Funny, there'd be a hue 'n cry if we hiked income tax by $50/month. Why? Cuz the Boomers have felt entitled their entire lives. Entitled in youth to suddenly public universities with massive tax subsidies. Entitled to no-strings-attached student loans - which they then revoked after abusing so Gen X would carry their debt for up to ten years before default.
Then, as Boomers entered the workplace, entitled to low CPP premiums far past the point they realized the program had been rendered unsustainable demographically. After its reform, entitled to reduced income taxes, even though by then everybody knew they would be straining the social program funding with their 'Boomer Bulge'.
Entitled to GST and HST cuts (look up who voted for that), even though we desperately needed to demolish the debt before Boomers retired, instead of just passing the buck down the chain of gov't levels so that consolidated gov't debt levels, particularly when 'infrastructure deficit' is considered, changed not at all.
And now - lo and behold - (I hope you are sitting right now) the Boomers, as they reach age 55 and begin to retire, ... still feel ENTITLED.
I cannot say that I am surpised.

And how have the various political parties reacted to this CARP overture?

http://www.liberal.ca/issues/retirement-security/

"We will support a gradual increase of the defined benefits under the core CPP to enhance the retirement security of all Canadians."

D - they go on about how many private sector employees lack a pension plan through the workplace. And I DO sympathize. But notice how they support the CARP proposal, though using the incremental "boiled frog" approach so popular in politics. More like "death of 1000 cuts", IMHO.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20110404/layton-pensions-110404?s_name=election2011

To remedy this issue, Layton said an elected NDP government would immediately work with the provinces to double CPP and QPP benefits. But he would allow Canadians to "prop up" their CPP savings with their personal income.
"This would be a low-cost, guaranteed alternative to Canadians fed up with the high mutual management fees and who want a more stable option when it comes to retirement investment," Layton said.
The NDP believes that doubling CPP and QPP benefits could require a 2.5 per cent increase in payroll deductions.
Layton also pledged to add $700 million to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) to help out seniors in the lowest income brackets.
The move would help "lift every Canadian senior out of poverty," he said.

D - so he is basically for the immediate implementation of CARP pension proposal.
Note the reasoning - as an anti-poverty measure.

D - just how bad is senior poverty, anyway? Not very, says this insurance association.

http://www.creditcards.ca/credit-card-news/how-much-retirement-income-do-canadians-really-need-1278.php

"Canada has a strong retirement income system. Alain Néemeh, Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) chairperson, stated in a recent speech that Canada's retirement savings system has helped reduce poverty rates among Canadian seniors from 35 per cent in 1980 to just 5 per cent today."

D - note that OAS is intended for "(up to) low-to-middle income". Yet the clawback does not begin until much higher than that.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/portfolio-strategy/how-to-avoid-the-dreaded-oas-clawback/article2037894/

"OAS is a federal social program designed to provide a very modest pension to low- to middle-income retirees. The maximum monthly benefit right now is $526.85 or $6,322.20 a year. The clawback of OAS benefits starts with a net income of $67,668 and it completely eliminates OAS with income of $109,764."

D - the only way to avoid the OAS clawback ought to be being poor, period. Yet that is not the case. "Low-to-middle income" - really?!
Since when was $67,668 the thresh-hold for "low to middle income"? I assume that phrase is meant to mean upper-lower class.
Let's examine this amount more closely.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/110615/dq110615b-eng.htm

"After-tax income for unattached individuals remained stable at $25,500, though this was not the case for all unattached individuals."

D - in no way does StatsCan support the hypothesis that single income earner without dependants is 'average' up to the OAS clawback. What we have here is 'creep' to subsidize not the poor but everybody up to upper-middle-class incomes! For that matter, the fact that somebody earning SIX DIGITS qualfies- to $109, 764, is simply scandalous.

D - well, if senior poverty is the issue, then here is my counter-proposal: just re-arrange OAS/ GIS funding and cut off the rich jerks feeding at a public trough intended to address poverty. Here is my proposal. Reboot OAS with its existing funding to focus exclusively on its original (and true) mandate- preventing poverty in retired seniors in a lower class income situation. How? Linkage. Link the clawback start and end to the level that other gov't policy suggests is an important middle class break point.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

"Federal tax rates for 2011 are:

15% on the first $41,544 of taxable income, +
22% on the next $41,544 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income between $41,544 and $83,088), +"

D - my suggested OAS start/end points for clawback are the top of the 1st and 2nd income tax tier at the federal level. $41, 544 and $83,088 respectively.
Take OAS funding from wealthy middle-to-upper class seniors and redistribute it to the poor ones, who are nominally the intended recipients of the OAS program.

But we won't see this proposal put forth into public discussion. You see, Boomers feel entitled as middle-to-upper class members of society to waste OAS funding intended to alleviate senior poverty. They feel entitled to hike pension payroll deductions in the very year they begin to retire at the age of "Freedom 55". Boomers are like the first date nobody wants. She orders the lobster, but is only getting started. The dessert and more champagne are also on the way. Care to guess which generation gets to pick up the tab, though?

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/sis13539

D - I detected a similarly strong correlation in the age Boomers entered the workplace and suddenly clamped down on student loans.

D - A coupla comments. I know that periods ought to stay inside quotation marks at the end of a sentence, but I don't like how they look. You also might be wondering about the images for this blog. Well, a CARP is a fish known for hoovering up every bit of low-end biomass, leaving nothing for anything that arrives later, too late for the feeding frenzy. CARP even went with the fish motif! I chose a snake - let's refer to it as an asp. Why? ASP stands for "Advocating Sustainable (social) Programs" - as in each generation paying for itself, particularly when the Boomers are twice the size of any other 1. Also, when I was generating visual graphs of Boomer spending and taxation patterns, the Hippocratic double helix of entwined snakes appeared, as did the fish motif. It looks like 2 sine waves cancelling each other out. One wave is the Boomers USING public funding for programs. Early in life, the Boomers used this funding for subsidizing post-secondary educational institutions. Now they begin to eye pensions and health care with the same avarice. Conversely, the other sine wave represents their opinion on taxation (particularly income tax) once they entered the workplace. The fish motif appears simply by drawing a coupla vertical lines, though I like to add fins and eyes too.

I am not accusing the Boomer generation of some grand conspiracy. No, this is simply a matter of benign neglect- and an overwhelming pervasive sense of ENTITLEMENT. When university students, they supported tuition subsidies and generous student loan terms. When working as adults, it was "income tax" that occupied their vision - with blinders on to all else. Finally, now and in the next few decades, they will remain par for course and do their best to gut social progams of use to them on the way out the door. By that, of course, I mean health care as well as income programs.

I know what their epitaph will be . "Entitled". Or: "Cuz we're worth it1"
Right...

the subtle cost to society of high tuition

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214102926.htm

D - this is a USA study. But the implications of deregulated tuition for us are there.

The researchers, who reported their findings in the current issue of the American Economic Review, said a shift occurred in the 1990s as more low-income students began to struggle to access credit to pay for a college. During the 1990s, youths from high-income families were 16 percent more likely to attend college than youths from low-income families.

According to Monge-Naranjo, constraints on financial aid could have far-reaching economic impacts. When poor but intelligent workers are unable to earn a college degree, their career choices are restricted, Monge-Naranjo said. That could mean less qualified and less productive workers will attain those positions.

"It's a matter of economic efficiency," said Monge-Naranjo. "Are we choosing the best individuals for the job, or just the individual whose parents are wealthy? In the long-term that may have an effect on the economy, although it may take a couple of generations to find out and, even then, perhaps be hard to quantify."

--------------------------------------------

D - the Republican "Texas Miracle" ignores this creeping long-term cost of slashing funding.

D - if student loans don't cover the actual cost of tuition (and sundry associated costs), then if private credit cannot be accessed, and the job market is not reliable, highly talented poor students will opt out of more expensive school options. Don't get me wrong- a trade apprenticeship or college diploma can be a highly sensible career choice.

Jubilee, debt slaves and student loans

D - I just read "The History of Russia" in which their serfs were freed - but needed to pay landowners for their land. The limit on how long they could owe their debt was 49 years.

Why is that? The Old Testament- Jubilee.

Jubilee (or "jubile," in the King James Bible) deals largely with land, property, and property rights. As with most cultures, the property rights regarding land, slaves and indentured servants was less absolute than for other property rights such as for tools and personal artifacts. As examples, in Leviticus, God is speaking to Moses:

Leviticus 25:10
Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you - and you shall return every man unto his own clan, you shall return every man to his family.
Leviticus 25:23
The land must not be sold permanently, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners, my tenant farmers.
Leviticus 27:21
When the field reverts in the Jubilee year it shall become holy unto the LORD, as a field set apart; and it shall become owned by the priests."

Jubilee (Google blog just changed my margin. I hate you Google...)

the long and short of it is you forgive your own tribe debts every 7 years, but foreigners only every 7x7 years - 49 years.

Why do I mention this? Presently, Canada student loans can be defaulted upon after 7 years. In other words, our nation recognizes students as members of the tribe.

BUT.

It was 10 years before that. The implication of this in a Xn nation is significant. The message was sent loud and clear - students weren't worth considering as members of the tribe. They're outsiders, renegades - failed citizens who failed membership requirements. Therefore treating them as outsiders was acceptable.

You know, I was 'that guy' in high school. The guy who stood earnestly at attention for the national anthem at school. The guy who volunteered for the local army reserve. I was quite the patriot.

I got over it. Being raked over the coals for most of your adult life can do that.

Canada indicated I am not a member of the tribe. Good for them - I no longer consider myself one. I am not a tribe member. I am no longer a patriot.

When the rule changed to 10 years, I wondered if it would get hiked to 25, or life. Sound a bit like a prison sentence? Exactly. The terms of repayment were changed after the time I assumed the debt. Eventually I realized the gov't was bargaining in bad faith. I was so concerned that I looked into Lithuanian citizenship as a back-up option. It seemed eminently reasonable to consider.

So I'm not a tribe member any more - and don't identify as one either.

Congrats. That took a lot of doing. But I finally got the message.

high stakes pension case in court appeal Ontario

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/supreme-court-to-hear-high-stakes-pension-case/article2256460/

The Supreme Court of Canada will weigh into the high-stakes debate about whether pension plan members have a claim on an insolvent company’s assets to cover shortfalls in their plan.

The court announced Thursday it has agreed to hear an appeal of a landmark Ontario court ruling that reversed the traditional pecking order for distributing corporate assets when a company goes bankrupt. The June decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal concluded former employees of aluminum processor Indalex Ltd. had a priority claim on their company’s assets to fund a shortfall in their pension plan.

------------------------------------------------

D - This is significant. If the world economy crashes then Canada will get mired in it too. Regardless, Ontario's manufacturing sector is being gutted by the strong dollar, which has been increased by western commodity exports, primarily to support the Chinese these past few years.

My roomie pointed out that the glory days of the stock market will be past once Boomers retire in droves and try to cash out their investments.

Ontario undergrad tuition fees, analyzed

D - the devil is in the details.

If gov't funding was basically frozen for 3 years, and tuitions were hiked in reaction, then where does that leave the Ontario Liberals with their promise of a tuition grant?

Certainly, Ontarians seem to pay more than the rest of Canada.

-----------------------------

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/abysmal-youth-vote-prompts-call-for-a-remedial-strategy/article2248509/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Politics&utm_content=2248509

But the voter participation rate of people between the ages of 18 and 24 rose from 37.4 per cent in 2008 to an only slightly less abysmal 38.8 per cent in 2011. Among Canadians between the ages of 24 and 34, it actually dropped from 47.9 per cent to 45.1 per cent.

D - the very young adult vote spike can be attributed to the awareness-raising of the leadnow.ca group.

Leadnow.ca is an independent advocacy organization that brings generations of Canadians together to achieve progress through democracy.

We're working together to build a stronger democracy that protects our environment, creates economic opportunity while increasing equality, and guarantees that everyone receives the care they need.

------

D - the Federal Liberals have been decimated. Whether they can reinvent themselves remains to be seen. But what is clear is they've lost their core supporters. So what to do?

Well, the voters are old and white. The disengaged are more young and multicultural.

There are sufficient young adults disengaged from the political process to form the basis for a reinvented Federal Liberal Party.

There is still some discussion about merging the centre and left into one super-party, much like the Conservatives and Reforms did to the left. Honestly, the sheer grassroots fund-raising of the new Conservative Party is such that we won't see any other party win a federal election for a very long time.

The Federal Liberals have been in an intellectual coma for at least 2 terms. Paralyzed by the fear of right-wing attack ads, they became petrified at the idea of introducing new platform planks. So they went obsolete. The # of times I saw how to hit the Conservatives on some terrible policy or person in charge, and watched the Liberals do nothing, well I cannot count it on my fingers. The Liberals don't deserve to be even the opposition- they have not been a functioning party for quite some time.

The youth vote would lead to uncharted territory for federal politics. There has always been a right leaning tendency in ageing and well-established voters. But this trend has never been quite so clearcut before. For the Liberals to adopt policies with intergenerational sustainability in mind would essentially create a age-based generation us-and-them dynamic in federal politics.

cost of dying

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/end-of-life/how-much-does-dying-cost-canadians/article2252845/

Almost 70 per cent of people die in the hospital, including some in high-tech intensive-care beds, which cost about $1-million a year to operate. Many patients fail to complete advance directives or communicate preferences to their families, meaning they could be subject to costly, invasive treatments they did not actually want.

...

Prof. Fassbender’s research shows it costs the health-care system about $39,947 to treat a patient with organ failure near the end of life; $36,652 for a terminal illness; and $31,881 for frailty. Sudden death is the least costly at $10,223.

D - the # dying should be c. 2x now by c. 2030.

Some suggest that by filling out advance directives, it can help ensure that patients receive treatments they want at end of life. The Royal Society of Canada’s report on end-of-life decisions earlier this month pointed out the need for people to express their wishes.

D - just inform folks, and they will make the choices for themselves that also serve society. Most realize that expensive painful treatments with almost no chance of success are a waste.

Perhaps, like organ-donation, require a living-will 'do not revive' option - or every ? 5yrs for the new photo health cards.

Empower people to make choices for themselves and balance the budget as a fringe benefit.

rebuild credit after bankruptcy

So your student loan proved too much for you. You went bankrupt.

Now what?

Get a secured credit card. There are 2 choices:

1) Capital1 Mastercard, $300 min.

2) Hometrust secured Visa, $500

Both have comparable fees - about $60 annually plus lotsa sneaky fees. C. 20% interest.

Your goal is to spend about half your max. monthly and to repay it promptly.

There are tricks.

Don't check your credit rating online in the middle of the night - that implies you can't sleep since you are worried about it.

Certain products are linked to stable financial situations - such as premium bird seed.

v.v. - chromed hub caps.

Don't check your credit report often - that hurts the rating.

Your goal is to eventually have 2 rotating lines of credit - no less, no more.

This puts you on the map of the big credit rating companies.

undergrad is the 'new high school diploma'

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/11/17/the-job-market-for-bachelors-degree-holders-infographic/

D - the shift happened a decade ago.

But here is a question - is the loss of income during those years plus the student loan worth it?

Does the delay in entering the work force pay for itself?

Entry level jobs likely don't justify the above considerations.

Ontario health care spending to double by 2030

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/top-economist-warns-canada-against-two-tiered-health-care/article2239426/

Mr. Drummond’s report for the Ontario government will not be released until early next year. But he says the government won’t meet its commitment to erase the province’s deficit by 2018 unless it caps annual growth in spending on health care, education and other programs at 1 per cent for the next six years. The province is facing a projected deficit of $16-billion this year.

Reducing spending will not be easy. Canadians spent $192-billion on health care in 2010, accounting for just under 12 per cent of the country’s economic output or GDP, the report says. In Ontario alone, government spending on health care has climbed an average of 7.6 per cent a year over the past decade.

The grim reality is that provincial revenues will not grow fast enough to offset rising health-care costs, the report says. The report is the latest foray into public policy by Mr. Drummond, one of Canada’s most influential advisers to governments. In a report last year, he warned that left unchecked, health-care costs are set to reach between 70 to 80 per cent of total program spending by 2030, up from just over 40 per cent today.

In the earlier report, Mr. Drummond and TD Bank economist Derek Burleton proposed that the provinces bill affluent seniors for their drugs and pay doctors based on the quality and cost-effectiveness of their care.

generational twist on haves income disparity

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/07/wealth-gap-grows-between-young-and-old/

The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt.

The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of new census

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/07/wealth-gap-grows-between-young-and-old/#ixzz1d5UpGibK

support informal caregivers for retirees

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/andre-picard/we-need-a-health-plan-for-boomers-now/article2220127/

But Dr. Chappell shoots down this dire notion, noting that 75 to 85 per cent of care is provided by informal caregivers.

Family, friends and community groups provide care and they do so willingly. While much attention has been paid to the negative consequences of care giving – stress, depression, physical and emotional strain – the report notes that most caregivers also experience enjoyment and a sense of satisfaction caring for their loved ones. In fact, many of those who provide care to older adults don’t even define themselves as caregivers nor see what they do as work.

These data again challenge the assumption that there is going to be a massive shift to expensive, institutional care as boomers age.

But the key message of Dr. Chappell’s report is this: Caregivers should be supported in the care they willingly provide.

The system that exists in most Canadian provinces today is precisely the opposite. There are some modest tax measures such as compassionate care leave available through the Employment Insurance program. There is also some respite care offered in three guises: sitter services to give caregivers short breaks; adult daycare a few days a week; and temporary beds in nursing homes to give the family a break.

-----------------------

D: subsidizing informal caregivers is still vastly cheaper than placing the retired in retirement homes. And allows them the dignity of living semi-independently for longer. It is highly cost-effective.

origin of US student loans, present huge debts

http://www.economist.com/node/21534792

Signs of strain are everywhere. In September the Department of Education reported that in 2009 the default rate, which is defined as non-payment for 270 days, had reached 8.8%. By some estimates delinquency rates, an earlier indicator of stress, for student loans exceed 10%, ten times that for credit cards and car loans. Ms Loonin’s average client has a low-paying job, $30,000 of debt and is in arrears.

This is despite punitive laws to enforce repayment. In response to clever students burying their obligations in court during the 1970s, anti-default provisions were imposed to make it almost impossible to shed student loans in bankruptcy. In 1991 the statute of limitations for non-repayment was eliminated.

Many troubled borrowers could avoid default if they used government options to consolidate their loans and make minimum payments, says Ms Loonin, but they are unaware of the possibility. Their primary contact with the industry after being granted a loan is through collection agents who are compensated based on how much they collect, and who therefore have little incentive to explain alternatives.

There are increasingly loud calls for reform of the system, with demands that range from a full-fledged bail-out of borrowers to a phased curtailment of government lending. For now the bail-out is the bigger priority for politicians. For many years government-backed loans were distributed through banks which earned a fee and occasionally had to assume a little bit of risk, but in 2009 the business was entirely absorbed by the federal government.

------

D - similar to the Canadian situation in that respect. The Boomers used generous bankruptcy laws to belly-up on their student loans. (You could not even list it on their credit report!) Once finished their education, they then sealed the loophole - and increasingly clamped down through the mid to late '90s.

Nice.

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/learning/canada_student_loan/Publications/annual_report/2009-2010/tables/default_institution.shtml

Default by institution type. Oddly. college grads do so more than universities, though less than private institutions.

lj.ca/archive/articles/37_12_schwartz.pdf

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/hip/cslp/statistics/08_st_DefaultRatesCanadaProvinces.shtml

D - the default rate was lower '97 to 2000. Why? That is exactly when they introduced the 2 -then 10- year rules for defaulting. This is exactly the gill net that scooped up this fish.

These days, students default cuz they're broke, not cuz they want to.

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/learning/canada_student_loan/Publications/annual_report/2009-2010/glossary.shtml

Looks like my knowledge of student loans has become a bit dated.

verbal sparring between gen X and Y writers

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/generational-warfare-what-comes-between-gen-x-and-gen-y/article2217023/

Then, Gen X Gixmodo writer Mat Honan, who is 39, issued a smack-down on his blog aimed at those pesky kids.

“But Generation X is tired of your sense of entitlement. Generation X also graduated during a recession. It had even shittier jobs, and actually had to pay for its own music." Gen X, he goes on to say, is used to getting the short end of the stick.

“This urge to define generations is also about a yearning for a collective memory in an increasingly atomized world, at least where my generation is concerned.

“Indeed, where the Millennials tend to define themselves in terms of the way they live now, people in my cohort find fellowship more in what happened in the past, clinging to cultural totems as though our shared experiences will somehow lead us to better figure out who we are.”

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D - other than Boomers being born after WWII, there are no real and clear cutoff lines between generations. Even late Boomers share some problems with early Xers.

And the X and Y distinction is pretty much arbitrary.

I'm trying to think of any clear cutoff lines.

There is the Double Cohort graduation in high school in Ontario. A few fast-tracked graduation to beat the crowd.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2003/08/31/doublecohort030831.html

So those who were 18 in 2003? Um, born 1985 and later? I thought that was the wrong direction to go. If all those new jobs require more than high school, then doesn't that make a 2-year college program the 'new high school'? Now less and not more covered. A 4 year U degree only does what a 3 year did before due to the loss of 1 year. Essentially, post-secondary education amounts to paying directly for what used to be publicly funded. How about going the other way to reflect trends, and fully publicly fund the 1st 2 years of post-secondary education? Matched to small-biz seed funds and apprenticeships/ job placement incentives, the young adults would hit the ground running in work. The typical small business can be started with an additional 10-15,000 bux - this is comparable to a couple years of education funding.

university south of the border

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/26/pf/college/college_tuition_cost/index.htm?source=cnn_bin

Stop the tuition madness

Unfortunately, since family incomes have been falling for the last three years, even these lower net prices are taking up a higher percentage of most families' incomes, says Sandy Baum, an economist who is the lead author of the College Board's report.

Low- and middle-income families are getting squeezed because many colleges and states have shifted financial aid dollars into "merit" programs to attract top students more likely to come from higher income families.

While community college tuition posted a sharp 8.7% gain, it's still a bargain: only about $3,000 a year for full-time tuition.

The sticker price of studying and living on campus at the average public university rose 5.4% for in-state students, or about $1,100, to $21,447 this fall, the College Board estimated.

Many campuses, however, had increases that were drastically higher. California State University San Marcos posted the highest percentage increase in the country by raising tuition and fees by 31% to $6,596, according toCollegedata.com.

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D: USA can afford a huge prison system and a giant military machine.

But not affordable decent post-secondary institutions.

Choose your poison.

Here in Canada, on the left we have a c. 2 BILLION dollar gun registry boondoggle.

On the right, the new Harper gov't is revoking that registry- then introducing equally useless and expensive tough-on-crime legislation.

We are choosing poison too.