Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.

William Shakespeare.

 

Although Shakespeare wasn’t referring to senior’s discounts being scrapped by an economist here in Canada when he gave the above timeless quote, King Lear was talking to (whom he perceived to be) his ungrateful daughter.

The same could be said of the author for a recent study, No Seniors’ Specials: Financing Municipal Services in Aging Communities. reported by CBC.

This seems to happen a lot these days as the problems of Canadian Health Care are routinely blamed on a growing senior’s population, unsustainable pensions, and God forbid, people are actually living longer. We used to think this was the great promise of medicine, but somehow it has mutated from a blessing to a curse.

Where we once were taught to respect our elders, today, trashing seniors is the politically correct thing to do. Unfortunately, this is one example of a society disintegrating from virtue to money, from the public interest to partisan politics, from strong morals to a frenetic criminal justice system that can’t keep up with the offences, breaches of trust, fraud, criminal threats and violence. Even the police themselves have an increasing number of casualties that have indulged in theft or crime.

Harry Kitchen, a retired economics professor from Trent University wastes no time in declaring war on seniors’ discounts offered by municipalities. He scorns this practice as being unfair because, “most seniors don’t need them…..” As published in on CBC news, Mr. Kitchen asserted, “A lot of these discounts and special programs were introduced back in the 1960s, 1970s when a vast percentage of the seniors were poor.”

Speak again? Who are these seniors? What did they look like? Did they have serious health issues? How expensive were their medicine? Where did they live? – in large and expensive post-modern urban centres or in faraway rural communities? Did they reside in subsidized housing facilities or private for profit facilities? Did they have private pensions in the 1960s or do they have them today in 2015? Did they have any families or were they all alone?

Which seniors, who specifically did not need a helping hand from a society, people and governments who by and large have benefited from a lifetime of taxes being paid and contributions that built the Canada we live in today?

What was meant by poverty in the 1960s and what is meant by poverty in 2015? Poverty in 2015 is much more complicated. There are many services available today for the poor, whereas in the 1960s very little. In the 1960s poverty meant virtually total destitution. Today there are many shades of poverty – middle income poverty – single parent families struggling to make ends meet – grandparents raising unemployable children and grandchildren – seniors who can’t afford their medication – seniors who have undiagnosed or otherwise untreated mental health issues -bankrupt families and seniors – low-income poverty (beneath the Low Income Cut Offs) – and, of course, destitution.

Many other things are soooo different. How much money would you need in the year 2000, to have the same “purchasing power” as $500 in year 1960? Some suggest that the “the simple purchase power” answer is $2,910.00.

The population in Canada was 18 million in 1961. Today it’s 33 million. The population of Vancouver was 330,000. Today it’s 2 million.

Finally, consumer debt was essentially non-existent in the 1960s. Still in its infancy, by 1975 consumer debt (excluding mortgages) had reached $20 billion in Canada. Since then, lower and middle income groups have borrowed more and more each and every year up to the staggering total of $530 billion (excluding mortgages) in 2015. Coping with all of this debt is a modern challenge that claims many victims, including a growing and significant number of seniors.

In a 2009 study by Statistics Canada it was revealed that 34% of retired individuals aged 55 and over, whether single or in a couple, held mortgage or consumer debt. The median amount owed by these individuals was $19,000.

Debt loads were much higher among those in the same age group who had not yet retired. Among pre-retirees aged 55 and over, two-thirds held mortgage or consumer debt and their median debt load was $40,000, double that of retirees.

Among retired people with debt:

25% owed less than $5,000

32% owed between $5,000 and $24,999

26% owed between $25,000 and $99,999

17% owed $100,000 or more.

Divorced people (43%) who were retired had the highest incidence of debt. They were followed by people in a couple (35%), those who never married (30%) and widows or widowers (28%).

How many seniors forgo their necessary medications rather than default on creditor payments?

Governments need to stand up to the plate. The reality plate – the gap between the rich and poor in Canada. In recent Statistics Canada releases, the richest one-fifth of the population accounted for 44% of the annual incomes and held 69% of the accumulated wealth. That is the root of the unfairness in Canada. 1/5th of the entire population owns most of the wealth and almost half of all of the incomes. Canada is a very wealthy country. It’s not the seniors who drag the economy or future down. What is needed is a much fairer distribution of wealth where the middle class – middle and lower income families receive their fair share of the economic pie.

Currently, the middle fifth of households received 17% of the incomes and 8% of the wealth. The poorest fifth of households claim a meagre 5% of the incomes, and possessed absolutely no wealth.

Meanwhile household incomes have not kept up with the accumulation of debt. Individuals and families have been spending more than they make. Much much more. Consumer spending increased at a triple pace of incomes. Debt has simultaneously risen seven times faster than incomes since 1990.

The amount that Canadians owe compared to their disposable income rose to an all-time record in 2014. Statistics Canada reported that the level of household credit market debt to disposable income increased to 163.7 per cent. That means Canadians owe nearly $1.64 for every $1 in disposable income they earn in a year.

A balanced perspective on seniors and today’s families would see something quite different from Harry Kitchen. They would see the elderly as those who have entered the twilight of life, or in Shakespeare’s words,

Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Retirement or old age is a time to say thanks, a time to honour our parents, our grandparents and our ancestors. It’s a time for respect and dignity.