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REE eather ist for the whole if you present id" at check in. T "al .Â¥ 107X #12 "#19 24 There are currently 19 retirees for every 100 workers. According to Statscan, over the next 40 years, this will grow to 42 retirees for every 100 workers. The only way our current government plans can work is through higher taxes and payroll deductions. And our taxes are so high now that we can‘t look at our traditional solutions. .. OAS was established in 1951. It was funded by a four per cent tax ‘hp-mnflhemflnupu‘;:::nhmnflthupmd federal excise tax. The fund on December 31, 1971. Since then, cheques have been issued from the federal general tax revâ€" enues. h:lmoa.msd:dwwwmnmuuw ion.:Compare that to fadenlmwrunwn&iufimwm health system which will amount to $6.7 billion. Canadians readily acknowledge that our health care system is in financial trouble but we never hear about the high cost of our unfunded pension plans. The CPP, established in 1966, has investment criteria that no This investment strategy has delivered a doubleâ€"whammy. The low interest rates have reduced the pot of money available in the fund and the abundance of cheap money has encouraged the provinces to borrow. And borrow they have! The debt load of some provinces is so high that with the chances of default increasing, these are now risky investments. Unfortunately, these risky investments still have low returns. What are you paying for CPP? In:1986, payroll deductions were 3.6 per cent. Today, they are five per cent and by 2036, they are estiâ€" mated to be 13.6 per cent. CPP provides you with 25 per cent of your previous salary at age 65. It is time to revamp our government pension systems. Why don‘t we hear our politicians warning us about the pending failure of these systems designed in the ‘50s and ‘60s for a never ending population boom? It‘s because pensions are a hot potato. Any criticism of pensions or suggestion of pension reform will be heavily opposed by seniors who use political clout to defend continued receipt of unfunded benefits. Certainly seniors should not be denied what they were promised. But just as certainly, future generations should not be burdened with growing debt they cannot afford. Britain had a similar problem and came up with an innovative solution, More about this in my next column. proper funds manager could recommend. Why? To gain control of the CPP, the federal government "bought" provinâ€" cial agreement to the system in 1966 by stipulating that surplus funds would be used to purchase provincial government bonds. These bonds have low rates of return. That‘s because they were viewed as Year end clearance _â€".â€"â€" smugglers â€" His biggest customers are firemen and those who work in fire halls across Canada. Dealing with only 110 of 3,036 Canadian fire halls, he knows that he has barely scratched the surface of the highly lucrative market, but since his is a oneâ€"man operation, he doesn‘t know how much more business he can stand. "At the moment I have too much of a variety, but business is good and I shouldn‘t complain," Woods Thoymy not be designer label wear, but Tom . Woods‘ Tâ€"shirts are very much in demand. © Out of his 152â€"squareâ€"foot office on Union Street in Waterloo, Woods, owner and operator of the Li‘l Old Shirt House, hand presses custom Tâ€"ghirts for cusâ€" tomers from Labrador, NFLD. to Trail B.C. Looking at his shop, it‘s hard to believe that it‘s the nerve centre of business serving customers from coast to coast, but Woods has files upon files of customers, with whom he deals on a monthly and yearly basis, neatly recorded in blue binders and clearly labeled envelopes. His mailing lists seems to be endless, but 50 customers at a time. § Woods doesn‘t want to sound arrogant, but he admits that he has turned customers away because he can only do so much. An order of 5,000 Tâ€"shirts would be out of the picture; he‘s restricted to pressing out 50 Tâ€"shirts an hour on his manual Heat Transfer Demand for custom Tâ€"shirts stretches from coast to coast This isn‘t his first shot at owning his own business. #7 ‘Tom Woods, owner of Waterloo‘s LI‘l Old Shirt House. 30 Weber St. N. Waterioo 746â€"4268 of his brochures to about shorts, has taken him in a new direction with the proâ€" duction of Lottery Tâ€"Shirts. The shirt, which sports a eatchy logo, has six blank round spaces where a cusâ€" tomer can have. their lucky numbers inserted. He even has a Quickâ€"Pick shirt for those who don‘t have market with virtually no repeat business. His break into the Tâ€"shirt business really came when he ordered 50 brass license plate frames and 50 firefighter labels. His supplier also provided him a with firefighter Tâ€"shirt. Suddenly, Woods started receiving mail orders for the Tâ€"shirts from across "Rather than buy these Tâ€"shirts off somebody else, I decided to manufacture my own." He also does customized license plate frames and has a display hanging on the walls at the Driver and Vdflol%wmw Many of his Tâ€"shirt and 1i frame customers are people who, while standing in line, admire his work. "Let‘s face it, a trip to get your license sticker is like a trip to the dentist. It‘s something that has to be done, so having miy stuff on display makes it a little In November of 1987, Wood‘s owned Tic Toc Tom‘s, a eustom clock business. His primary love in life is horse racing, as revealed by the pictures of Kentucky Derby winner Secretariat and other horseâ€"racing memorabilia that decorate the walls of his shop. And his love for horses was reflected in his clocks, which featured the heads of various Kentucky Derby winâ€" ners. Unfortunately, the clock business was a limited His business, which includes sweat shirts and KILY 7, 1999 â€"PAGE 11