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Lower interest rates

This afternoon brings another example of why the quick, flip soundbite is generally a bad idea when it comes to complicated economic issues.

Political Bytes

Janyce McGregor

This afternoon, Conservative MP James Moore scrummed, and told reporters: "A Conservative government supports lower interest rates. Lower interest rates will help families."

Seems simple enough, right?

Well sure — except that it only helps some families. Mostly the ones with a lot of debt. (Granted, that's a lot of us.)

As one of my closer-to-retirement colleagues pointed out, lower interest rates actually hurt other households — the ones who rely on decently high interest rates for their investment income. People who have their retirement savings in GICs instead of riskier stock portfolios. Like seniors.

So — is a Conservative government against seniors?

You see the problem.

Janyce McGregor