From the Toronto
Globe and Mail:
S&P upgrades Saskatchewan on low debt burden
Saskatchewan suddenly has a new shine.
The province joined an elite club of provinces on Tuesday when Standard & Poor�s upgraded its debt rating to triple-A. The only provinces to share the triple-A honour are western neighbours Alberta and British Columbia.
The new rating caps off a dramatic turnaround for a province that was a fiscal mess in the 1980s, and in more recent years saw skilled workers leaving in droves for oil-rich Alberta. But no longer. Saskatchewan is now home to everything from potash to grain and oil, and the money from these resources has made balancing the provincial budget far easier.
Rather than quickly spending its newly-earned wealth, the provincial government has put its tax revenue toward paying the bills. S&P gave special credit to Saskatchewan for its �low-and-declining debt burden.� As of March 31, the province�s fiscal year-end, Saskatchewan�s debt totalled $4.6-billion, representing 38 per cent of this year�s projected operating revenues and only 8 per cent of its gross domestic product. Canada�s federal debt-to-GDP ratio sits at around 35 per cent.
Emphases mine -- meanwhile the US Debt is sitting at 100% of GDP. From
FOX News of August 4th:
U.S. Debt Reaches 100 Percent of Country's GDP
The U.S. debt surpassed 100 percent of gross domestic product after the government's debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed Wednesday, according to AFP.
The debt, which had been in somewhat of a holding pattern over the past several weeks, rose $238 billion after President Obama signed the debt-ceiling deal into law Tuesday to avoid the country's first-ever default.
This is not the way to run a business...