pMe7 Deficit wisdom One of the joys of journalism is writing on subjects which one knows nothing at all. You don't have te be ignorant, of course. But as- the old saying gees,- there are times when it helps enormously. An example: the current popular "wisdom" about Canada's deficit. Current popular wisdom says that publie debt is a bad thin g to have. (By deficit let's lump together al public e t:federal, provincial, municipal, along with that of Crown corporations, and maybe, Ontario Hydro. Your computers needs' twenty gigglebytes of storagejust te printthat in colour, mosty red.) Most journalists will teli you that: debt is bad. Don't believe it. To get this country going, we need te treat debt as a friend. Along with its constant companion, inflation. Let's have a look. Say you go te buy a house. Maybe it cost a hundred thousand dollars., Maybe a million. Who cares? Just buy it. Borrow the money from a bank maybe. Okay. So you got a mortgage. The trick is, everybody got te do this. Then we have inflation. That means, a year from new, y ur house which cost a hundred thousand, ail of which is mortgage, is new worth two hundred thousand, half of which is paid for. Wow! Se four years frein now, maybe the house.is w orth, oh, heck, four hundred thousand dollars. Which is three quarters paid for. And who 1 ask, did ail the paying for this house? No you, wi your crummy little mortgage payment cf a thousand a month. No sir. Inflation did it, tbat's wvhat paid for it. And some people would caIl inflation bad. Ha. They've neyer had inflation pay off their mortgage. But wait. It gets better. See, not only is inflation making your bouse worth more and more. It aise is . giving you pay raises beyond your wildest dreams. Really. See, y(ou buy your hundred thousand dollar bouse today Zin your- pay check is two thousand a mionth. Tight pinch, eh? In a year you gotta be making twenty-two hundred a month . In two. years, twenty- five hundred, in three years thirty-seven, in four years four thousand. That's with moderate inflation, mildly under control. Se what you gonna choose? A solid,. stable economny, where a- buck is a buck, where inflation is zero, and your- puny ay raises -are equal te what you've earned? (Zip.) Or would you rather have your bouse increase four turnes in value in four years, your pay check increase fifty percent, your portion cf the federal debt ten gigglebytes bigger? See, now matter how big ail that debt gets, you get te pay it back in two, four, ten years in dollars that ain't worth swat. ltes a great life. The only tbing you getta worry about is smart- arsted oleoconservatives, who believe a dollar is a dollar is a dollar or something, like it meant anything. These guys would have you pay off ail that de bt when your pay check is shrinking, ie in diddly dollars. Well, inflation bas been wrassled te the ground. That's sure. You any happier? That's like putting a sleeper hold on grandina. And now she's unconscieus on the kitchen floor, we ail get te appreciate how good hier oatmneal raisin cookies were. Se 1 say, prime turne pump, Jean Chretien. Let inflation rip. It done us wonders way back wben you were finance minister. It done us good lots of turne since. We're outta time? Tee bad. I planned on talking a bit about The Royal Family, how it get unzipped in thetabliobAdlines.- But sorne tepics are impossible WOMEN'S PAVILlON, WIIITBY PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL, C. 1923 Ontario Premier Ernest C. Drury officialiy opened this building on Juiy 25, 1922, as an acute hospital. The men's pavilion was demolished this year te make way for the new hospital new under construction. The Whitby Psychiatrie Hospital marks its 75th *anniversary on Sunday, Oct. 23. Whltby Psychiatrie Hospital Archives photo 10 YEARS AGO From. the Wednesday,0October 17, 1984 edition of the WHITBY REE PRESS " Whitby will receive $225,000 for downtown improvemients frein the Ontaro Governinent. " Brooklin United Church wants te buiild non-profit housing for senior citizens. " Rev. Ted Stevens of Ottawa, a former rector of St. Thomnas Anglican Church, Brooklin, wiIl preach at the 135th anniversary of Burns' Presbyterian Church, Ashburn. " An anti-smoking pregrami will begin this faîl in Whitby's public sehools. 35 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, October 15, 1959 edition of the WHITBY WEEKLYU NEWS " Ontario Minister cf Health Dr. Matthew B. Dymond will attend a meeting of the Ontario Hospital's Quarter Century Club for the first turne today. " DuPent in Whitby is producing a new plastic mesh product. " Population cf Whitby Township increased by 408 in the last year, says Assessor Ted Heron. " Street lights wiii be installed soon on Garrard, Kendalwood and Thickson Roads. 125 YEARS AGO frein the Thursday, October 14, 1869 edition of the WHITBY CHRONICLE " Two women- frein Scott Township were acquitted at the court bouse in Whitby cf abducting a six-year-old cbild frorn his mother's deatb bed. " Oshawa is complaining that several flags loaned te Wbitby for Prince Arthur's visit on Oct. 6 were net returned. " The Brooklin firm of Holliday and Hlarrison bas been declared insolvent. " The Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway will eiect its board of directors for 1869-70 on Oct. 19.