Letters: Debate Old Age Security with facts
A reasonable debate about changing Old Age Security payments should begin with facts. Unfortunately, supposed analyses often begin with statements that are attention-getting rather than informative. A good example is the Fraser Institute statement that “two seniors living together could have household income exceeding $300,000 annually and still receive partial OAS benefits.”
The maximum OAS in 2025 was $8,732.04. If each spouse had a net income of $150,000, the pension would be reduced by $8,481.90 each. The $250.04 is taxable, so each would end up with about $13 a month.
Using $300,000 household income gets attention, but we don’t have household income tax. If we did, it should include all households, not just those of seniors.
It would be interesting to know the impact of OAS reduction on provinces. The payments come from the federal government but some of the income tax paid on OAS goes into provincial coffers.
David Steele, Saskatoon
How the AI boom ends
The bursting of the AI bubble will be upon us very soon and it is now time to reflect on how the last few years have exposed our deeply immoral society.
The AI bubble won’t end because it steals our art, music, literature, and knowledge, and then tries to sell it back to us.
The end won’t come because it burns more power than several countries and wastes our much-needed water in this time of climate crisis.
We won’t get rid of it due to its pollution of our political environment with propaganda, deepfakes, and misinformation.
No, the end will come simply because it is unprofitable; the promised ROI is not there and likely never will be.
This is the sign of our immoral society, that the only end to this madness comes because it turns out corporations can’t lay off enough people to make money from it.
Sean Cocks, Saskatoon
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