Baba:

Interesting that you should mention "the 30's" and the idea that there were people who were "good for nothing." I was born in the 30's to parents who lived through the depression and whose value systems were shaped for life by that experience. We lived in a small rented flat for most of my youth while my parents saved enough to buy their first home. They paid cash and my father enjoyed telling people that his greatest pride in that house was that "it's paid for." When I bought my first car and borrowed $1,500 from the bank he was mortified to learn that I was now in debt.

From that perspective my wife and I have watched as our city of Calgary has grown ever larger. Young people delay marriage until they can move into a large fully furnished home with 5% down. Then they both have to hold jobs to be able to afford the payments and to pay for their children's day care.

This is not a rant but simply a small observation to compare the extremes in life experience that seem to have lead us to where we are today. The only "solution", in my view, is a scaling back in expectations and "entitlements" towards the lifestyles that those 30's folks lived. In my recollection they didn't feel deprived, they worked hard but had relatively modest expectations in today's terms.

As an aside, I still have one of my father's early income tax returns. Two small pages of very simple arithmetic that was easy to complete and understand. We now have to hire an accountant to do our returns which we duly sign to say we understand them and that they are correct. In fact only the accountant and the boys in Ottawa have any idea what is in those documents. Sad but true.