We’ll never escape debt

Dear editor: When I arrived in West Germany in October 1961, I was part of the reinforcement troops being added to the Canadian NATO brigade, because of the Berlin Wall crisis that occurred in August of that year.

At Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, before the wall was built, U.S. army and Russian tanks stood toeto-toe from each other. One shot fired could have started the Third World War.

Canadian troops did not serve in West Berlin; we were deployed on the eastern edge of the Rhine/Ruhr industrial complex on the Soest plain ( NATO's front line) where if the war had started, Soviet and Warsaw Pact armoured troops would have had to go through us.

NATO staff officers located the Canadians in a tough spot because of our record in the Boer War in South Africa, the two Great Wars and the Korean War.

During the years from 1955 to 68, before P.E. Trudeau, all volunteers were considered to be the pride and envy of the alliance.

I worked in an infantry battalion dental clinic – there were four of us. I soon discovered how popular the West German lottery was. A person could play the lotto for three Marks (75 cents). Each week an average of six winners won 500,000 marks, which equals $125,000 Canadian.

The Germans ran the lottery to move the money supply through the economy. It was a powerful incentive to drive the market: Ten or 12 winners won 200,000 marks, a million people won three marks.

One of my mates won 20,000 marks or $5,000 Canadian. He invested the money and bought a house after returning to Canada. My salary in those days was $150 per month.

The German port of Hamburg has 35,000 deep-sea ship arrivals annually. Around 8,000 oil and gas tankers arrive in Rotterdam, Holland, annually.

The German people save their money, they pay cash for everything they buy except the mortgage on their house. That is one reason why Germany has very little long term debt.

As long as Canadians elect the poor quality mayors, MLAs and MPs which we do, we will never get out of debt. Imagine how the quickly the economy would grow if 60 people won a million dollars every week; instead of just one winner.

Only in Canada, eh? The people in charge of the lotteries could not run a peanut stand.

Ernie Slump Penticton