Editor:
We each enjoy the lower cost of filling up our vehicle; while in our bubble of celebration we can ignore the overall cost ramification for the economy of the worlds countries, including Canada.
With lower oil prices comes the need for fewer workers, I mean the laying off of thousands of employees.
What this can mean for a great percentage of citizens with this loss of taxation is a major cut in what a government has to spend.
I knew a fellow businessman in Alberta back in 19282/83.
He was the owner of a well respected automobile dealership, Alberta was in the throws of a major recession.
I recall almost 300 oil drilling rigs leaving Alberta/Canada. Business for this man fell to the point of almost nonexistent sales. Every business exists on a line of credit.
It was not long before the suppliers of credit started demanding more and more money from him.
Don’t panic just keep anteing up the cash, he borrowed against his personal assets including his home until there was nothing more he could borrow against, the stress of all of this caused him at age 46 to have a massive heart attack, and my friend died.
The moral of this story is that there is a time when it is necessary to cut your losses. My friend kept hoping that things would soon improve and his dealership could survive.
This is a similar situation countries like Greece, Italy and Spain found themselves in, during their recent recessions.
However, these countries under pressure from other banking countries had to cut their losses by laying off thousands of employees, cutting pension plans, reducing welfare payments. So reassurances from Canada’s finance Minister Joe Oliver, is no guarantee that there will not be some adjustments as to how Canada doles out its money as the source of taxes dries up.
Oil rich Socialist Venezuela which has depended upon its oil resources to keep its socialist dream alive has a financial break even point on the price of oil at $121 per barrel; you can imagine what is going to happen here, if the price stays very long at $50 or less, possibly in Spanish, a revolución.
As an opinion writer, I also enjoy the freedom of the press; I send my sincerest condolences to all the families of Charlie Hebdo, Je Suis Charlie, translation, I am Charlie.
Doug Wilson
Williams Lake