Pension Ponzi

The vast majority of Canadians are blissfully unaware that every man, woman and child in Canada now owes a $35,000 share of government debt and must pay this back, with interest!  Make no mistake, this debt will change our country and affect every single Canadian in the decades to come. You may think you have planned for your retirement and are safe, but the government must find a way to recover this borrowed money, and they can only do that by raising your taxes and reducing your hard-earned benefits. How did this debt come about, and why can't we simply pay it off? Pension Ponzi lays the blame squarely at the feet of the politicians who refused to stand up to Canada's public sector unions. The fact is Canada's public sector, which accounts for 20% of the workforce, has been grossly overpaid relative to their counterparts in the private sector with cushy pensions paid for with your taxes and new debt.  There is no denying that the country does not have the financial resources to ensure that the next generation of Canadians will have the same standard of living as the ones before it-or to support our growing seniors population. Meeting our public sector pension obligations will break the current social safety net that is a pillar of the Canadian way.   Can you escape this bleak future? Can you afford to live longer? Nationally-recognized pension expert Bill Tufts and award-winning journalist Lee Fairbanks explore how this catastrophe came about and then suggest ways that government can fix what's broken, and how you as an individual can protect yourself from the financial calamity that is about to engulf Canada.

Foreword v Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Elephant in the Room 13 Chapter 2: The Devil is in the Details 31 Chapter 3: The Role of the Unions 47 Chapter 4: Politicians and Bureaucrats at the Trough 69 Chapter 5: Ontario Hydro: Power to the People 85 Chapter 6: Education: The New Sacred Cow 101 Chapter 7: Police Pensions 115 Chapter 8: How Much Do You Really Owe? 131 Chapter 9: A Ten-Step Plan for Pension Reform 145 Chapter 10: Steering the Titanic 157 Endnotes 177 Index 199