I walked the full walk for the Coldest Night of the Year 2017 for Start Me Up Niagara. Start Me Up Niagara's business is booming, but for the wrong reasons. Sadness and hurt is ubiquitous with personal pain taking priority over social peace. The organization tries to put into place hands on solutions that produce long term change for people, instead of just feeding an empty belly for a night, or for a few days. They pursue the concept that all people have value, not just those that are reaping most of society's rewards.
This winter has been rough for me with the death of my mother last fall, only to be followed by the knowledge and helplessness of my father dying before me. To me, it is though society has been taking a turn in a different direction and we all feel like helpless pawns trying to fight against the forces that try to keep us all down. Members of my profession are susceptible to mental health issues because people do not approach us when their lives are doing well, when optimism speaks the day. We spend our time receiving, analyzing, outputting and speaking out, filing complaints, approaching people who are less than happy to see us, only to be misunderstood by those for whom we speak at times, as well as our colleagues.
Niagara Region is not a nice place to live and do the type of work that I do, without expecting to have some of it rub on you. It is part of the compassion of my advocacy and my practice. I actually give a damn about the people that come in to see us. I've often considered the work of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ... my people are at all sorts of levels of that ladder, although nobody I know has truly reached the top of personal fulfillment. At this time of the year, it is so hard to keep going ... people around me are talking about the spring as though the spring can only bring blessings and freedom from this chronic darkness. I spoke to the cab driver that took me here who told me as he let me off to keep your stick on the ice. His eyes seemed to know how I was feeling, though I mentioned none of it ... he did mentioned so many people are hurting and cranky today.
This world is not the world that folks like my mother and father built. My mother and father lived in a different world, in a different time ... perhaps, when we didn't know so much about the dangers of smoking and other things like that. Growing up, I always noted people being mostly of an 'average' type, although I tended to thrive among the intellectuals. We intellectuals would discuss anything, ranging from the eventual usefulness of learning the Pythagorean Theorem, to remembering the name of every bone and muscle in the human body and the periodic table. At the same time, I watched the world evolve into something that I no longer understand or want more of. My grandfather who I adored throughout his long life is probably rolling in his grave if he knew what the world has consisted of today. He always taught me to remain strong, think for myself and keep fighting for justice.
In my working world, it is all computers, cloud technology, server technology and legal rigidity. It is a controlled environment in some way, where we can give others the gift of a certain amount of peace and control in their lives. Experiencing things, hearing things, doing things and then writing up memos about all of that becomes the life of law. I continue to want and need the people around me that I have, as when I am not at work there is less of that, but more raw human emotions and amorphous anger directed at no particular direction. I walk out of my office tonight. One fellow is yelling and screaming obscenities down King Street, kicking over every garbage can or other chattel that moves. Another fellow mumbled words only he knew what they meant, while giving us all the starry eye and that scary grin. In the housing of the bank machines, people lie down and make themselves at home there. They tell me they won't go to a shelter.
The world my mother and father were part of was one where everybody worked for a decent wage or produced decent wages for others, while looking forward to a decent retirement where the thought of mere survival and struggle was distant. During my mother and father's time, people cared for one another, for their neighbours and did not mind having a government that also gave a damn. My mother would tell me of how she grew up in a time that even rock and roll music was so new, so different and unabashedly rebellious. Nevertheless, she felt the growth of illicit drug use led to where we are today, but then again, she faced her own comeuppance. She married the man she thought would take care of her and us for the rest of her life, but that did not turn out right. My father picked up and left my mother for what he saw were greener pastures, though that did not prove rewarding for him in the long run either. At one time, there were consequences for one's actions ... or at least some expectation that one would apologize or at least forgive.
The fact that my mother passed away and my father is on his way to his own fate reminds me of the era that both of them lived through and hoped for our next generation passing on as well, and moving to a new ambiguous future where public anger results in the rise of people like Donald Trump and favouring policies like Brexit ... looking for solutions in politicians that create both impossible expectations and unanticipated grief for way too many ... the people want this, so why not they justify their stake into the very heart of society. Society becomes an unnecessary force, as worship of the individual takes over, the thought that one strong man can make it right, is as scary as it sounds ... I try to explain to people the elements of contagion theory and a voice of authority quietly condoning violence and hatred of the latest scapegoat group, or even joking about it to a large crowd of angry supporters ... is something that is as dangerous today, as it has always been. Sometimes our first instincts, our first spark of anger and our desires arising from them are not necessarily the panacea we should be seeking.
In today's unabated community of 'alternative facts' and so-called fake news, society is approaching its pinnacle in its anomie. The progressive forces of society not only have to fight the tendency of celebrity worship sharing the same old neoliberal concepts to run a government, whilst ignoring the very real consequences of a society going under, but to help people away from harming their own interests. I tell people close to me what it was like for me to work in the mental health system when our province was headed by Mike Harris, who as his first move when elected slashed welfare rates, fired numerous civil servants and started the downward curve in health care coverage. This is when I realized that the old era had ended and a new, scary reality was taking shape. I do truly believe we never truly recovered from that period. In my darkest moments, I still remember those who have died or have lost everything they owned or even their families or loved ones through Mike the Knife's slash and burn policies.
Those who worked alongside me back then are either dead or still wear their scars. Occasionally, I meet one of them who appear very surprised to see me owning a legal office and partaking in rights-based litigation these days. At the same time, I try to provide support and avenues for others to practice and to partake in profit sharing with me. I also provide ongoing support and mentoring to others in the profession, many of whom just had too much. Many stopped believing in what they do or what they are worth. It's about the world and what it has been coming to. It's about society telling people they are on their own, regardless. I don't want to see the world turn out like that. I want to stand up and make a difference where I can. It is just sometimes so hard to see where I am going with this. Some tell me it is about the ripple in the water the stone I make creates, as it broadens it scope to cover more ground. Being a survivor is not all about glory and celebrity; it is grit and hard work, and many times hard feelings.
Click the links throughout this post and you will hear songs/videos replaying elements of the world I am referring herein. Would be interested in your thoughts.
Showing posts with label myth of the middle class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label myth of the middle class. Show all posts
Monday, February 27, 2017
Sunday, May 15, 2016
THE CULTURE OF DESPERATION, ISOLATION AND GEOGRAPHIC IMPOVERISHMENT
It was a few weeks ago that I noted that the Piano Man was back. He was perched up in his usual bus bench in front of the Farmer's Market playing an endless array of demo strings on his organ. One was particularly memorable, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. This was played out loud and clear at two o'clock in the morning to an empty audience on a clear, but cool night in April. I was struggling to continue to overcome my stint in the hospital, which whacked me more emotionally than physically, although I am still medicated. I spoke to the Piano Man once. He told me lived close by, so each time he was able to bring his equipment by pulling it in his cart. The last time was when my husband and I were waiting the last bus home, he came to tell us about a hundred "refugees" from Fort McMurray had arrived at Niagara. I thought to myself, "Those people must be really desperate to come to Niagara, of all places, with no jobs, no money, no future". Then, it was realized they had come back to their families they had left behind when they first left to Fort McMurray.
The Piano Man was around last year too, when my husband and I would go to the bars, have a few drinks, cheer on the Blue Jays and come back to rest up and then go home. I haven't been out anywhere in a long time because simply I can't afford it. Too many people around me in this region are experiencing the Cloud, you know that big hanging gray thing that doesn't leave your stream of consciousness as you attempt to go about your business. There's a whole section of King Street, especially towards Ontario Street where businesses have literally closed down. Even Jumpin' Jaxx, one of my favourite after-bar eats when we all used to hang out at Open Mike nights at the Strega Cafe. We'd sit outside on clear nights and chat politics, philosophy, hopes and dreams, none of which ever became true for any of us. I meet the same people we used to do this with ... many are gone already to Toronto or other better climes, but the ones here are left aimless, with a Cloud over their head, even those who had cheerfully graduated from Brock, even those from Brock's Badgers and others who once held down the fort in this Town.
My illness has left me for broke. All the bills still come in, even if I am not able to bring in any money. This is something that two income families do not have to worry about or people who have high paying jobs with the kind of benefits that would carry you over for a short or long-term illness. I've longed for the days when I was able to secure good high-paid employment with these kinds of benefits, but this is not possible in Niagara. Niagara Region has a culture of gigs, low paying part-time jobs and if you are lucky, you can win a lottery or inherit some money and buy some property by the lake. It is not that there is nobody that is doing well in Niagara. I know a few of them, but unfortunately, there are not enough of them to invest in the entire infrastructure we once had and has now collapsed. There are large companies that feed off the poor, such as payday loan companies, household rental agencies, temp employment agencies, pawn shops and similar enterprises that have scarred our once pristine real estate.
As my husband and I left to catch a cab earlier in the week, a man was shouting to himself as he awkwardly walked down the street. His eyes, glittering from the dose of whatever hit he took, gazed at me then quickly turned away. These are part of the downtown landscape these days. All the days when I used to enjoy time together with my husband and even on my own, are gone. I leave my decrepit home to go to my office, where the stress and threat level always seems so magnified, that nothing I do relieves this anxiety. It's not my inability to do my work that is an issue -- it is the kind of problems that walk through my door that create the anger, the sense of hopelessness that I have in this region. We do many kinds of disability claims, which we are largely successful in but they can be a high climb. People I deal with often have mental disorders and their visions and anger and lost dreams are part of what they bring through my door. I compartmentalize. However, regardless of well I do that, I still remember when private practice was fun. Those were the days people had more agreements, more hopes, more dreams and we were consulted to assist them with business plans, board training, workshops, etc., which I enjoyed delivering as much as those receiving them enjoyed attending. I looked forward to this and did not have to think, just put one foot in front of the other and soon, this one will be dealt with and done. These times were memorable.
Unfortunately, there is not much of that going on anymore. Many small businesses have disappeared or gone bankrupt. Even a few of my colleagues had left their practices in less than glowing terms. There is a high rate of pain and depression among those in my profession. Around Ontario, I am aware of some who've had to go to rehab, others who have attempted suicide, others who have quit their practices and others who have had health crises, a heart attack, a stroke or something like I just had. To the contrary, leaning on one's fellow colleagues is not always a great thing, especially when we all are feeling the same way, but many will not admit it. We have to put a look of strength on our faces, while we work to save the folks who come to us who are literally worse off. Working in the Niagara Region in any small business can be a challenge for anyone. People have a much lower average and median income than most other parts of Ontario, At least half of those that have jobs are working precariously. Most new jobs in the region are low-paying, low skilled positions. Too many people are resigned to be happy just to get a call centre job, an occupation with high turnover, high stress and in many ways, hard on the family.
I know when they come through my door - the names of the culprits tend to be repeated, as we prepare to go through our third, fourth, fifth or sixth round with the same parties. I try not to be too insular at this, as even these parties are hurting in their own way and as Jesus lie dying on His cross, he prayed to His Father, "Forgive them, Father, for they do not know" or words to this effect. It seems when the Cloud falls over us and we become ensnared in her difficult web, we become outwardly more nasty to one another and unable to come to a consensus. At the worst of this, I see more hate crimes committed against people, our most vulnerable. These are the folks that are so distressed that they believe that somehow very vulnerable people are getting something that they aren't and therefore, they must churn their aggression on them. I've witnessed people kicking a homeless man right on my street, as well as a group of teenagers pushing an older woman off her wheelchair and told her tauntingly that she can walk. While I do report all of these incidents, I never see how they are dealt with, and it appears that nobody is surprised when I tell them what I saw.
I walk down the streets of downtown. I notice many businesses closing down, only a few new ones opening up. The tenure of the new ones always seems uncertain as sometimes it seems a business has a remnant of permanency, but appears to lose it once the economy even slips yet another impossible notch. When one is at the bottom, one cannot believe how much further we can go. The fact is Niagara has become more and more bimodal in terms of success patterns. I've met someone I knew in the 1990's who was always investing money in properties, in businesses and various activities. The last time I seen him he was receiving ODSP, after a series of heart attacks. One may say, he should have purchased disability insurance. The point is he did, and yes - he did collect for a bit - until they decided he was on it for too long and he got kicked off, like most claimants eventually are. ODSP is becoming more and more the point of ONLY resort and not last resort.
There are others who I will refer to as the Temporarily Better Off (TBO). These are folks that appear to have jobs that last more than a couple of years, pay people enough to eat and have a roof over their head in the same month and might even pay well enough for the person to own and operate a car. However, more and more studies are pointing to the fact that a majority of these people when asked, believe they are one paycheque, one spouse or one illness away from abject poverty. One of my female acquaintances who was forced onto CPP after long term disability basically dropped her after she had to sue and settle with them, still does not recognize that she is one spouse away from desperate poverty herself. Her spouse is a nice man, very ambitious and successful enough to claim and actually keep middle class status ... but like anybody else, all it takes is an illness, an accident or some other issue to lay him out and then he can no longer support the family. One's own empire of assets gets torn down instantly when you ask for help. You have to live on your savings, your retirement savings, sell your second property, etc. until you are down to next to nothing, before you can get help. I don't know what that accomplishes other than keeping people in need of financial support, making it very difficult for them to climb back up, but somehow the TBOs of our society think this is okay. ODSP keeps stats on how people exit the system. Less than one tenth of one percent leave the system through employment or self-employment. Most leave through reaching the age of sixty five or through premature death. Some get married and leave the system as well, but that number is very low as well.
I hear the folks at ODSP wondering why more and more people are getting on this system. How can we stem the flow, they ask. Well, if people can just stop getting sick, stop getting into accidents, stop divorcing their spouses, etc., we'd all be happy. However, misery tends to compound misery and over the past several years, I've watched so many couples separate and/or divorce. To think this does not affect the upcoming generation is a complete understatement! Niagara Region has become a bastion of depression, apathy, division, scapegoating and poverty. One fellow I spoke to said he read a study that said that there are 100 unemployed workers seeking jobs for every single vacancy. That's not very good and certainly not a unifying factor ... for those that get these jobs, there are always people who think they got these jobs for reasons of nepotism, being a minority, etc. I have met men in the region that feel that they have no protection under the Human Rights Code or Charter, when in fact this isn't true. The majority of folks I've represented before the HRTO were white males and we have met with successful settlements and a few times, successful hearings.
The provincial government wants to pick a region to test the guaranteed annual income. I say, don't pick a region - just implement the damned thing. However, if any region needs to be picked, pick Niagara Region, as to me, this area seems to be the one that is so badly covered by that gray cloud and is followed by lingering misery and longing for days gone by. The people here need a boost to their morale, their sense of hope and to aid them in becoming the creative, capable people they were meant to be, and maybe then my practice will grow back into more of what it used to be ... to help people build things, as opposed to constantly fighting for the declining set of crumbs our social safety net offers, or to assist in conflicts with others that led to each one's demise. Maybe then, the Piano Man will continue to play, but aside from himself, he will have others with him playing guitar, drums and violin, and get invited to play in bars, clubs and other places. He will no longer be alone playing musical demos at three o'clock in the morning.
Your thoughts?
The Piano Man was around last year too, when my husband and I would go to the bars, have a few drinks, cheer on the Blue Jays and come back to rest up and then go home. I haven't been out anywhere in a long time because simply I can't afford it. Too many people around me in this region are experiencing the Cloud, you know that big hanging gray thing that doesn't leave your stream of consciousness as you attempt to go about your business. There's a whole section of King Street, especially towards Ontario Street where businesses have literally closed down. Even Jumpin' Jaxx, one of my favourite after-bar eats when we all used to hang out at Open Mike nights at the Strega Cafe. We'd sit outside on clear nights and chat politics, philosophy, hopes and dreams, none of which ever became true for any of us. I meet the same people we used to do this with ... many are gone already to Toronto or other better climes, but the ones here are left aimless, with a Cloud over their head, even those who had cheerfully graduated from Brock, even those from Brock's Badgers and others who once held down the fort in this Town.
My illness has left me for broke. All the bills still come in, even if I am not able to bring in any money. This is something that two income families do not have to worry about or people who have high paying jobs with the kind of benefits that would carry you over for a short or long-term illness. I've longed for the days when I was able to secure good high-paid employment with these kinds of benefits, but this is not possible in Niagara. Niagara Region has a culture of gigs, low paying part-time jobs and if you are lucky, you can win a lottery or inherit some money and buy some property by the lake. It is not that there is nobody that is doing well in Niagara. I know a few of them, but unfortunately, there are not enough of them to invest in the entire infrastructure we once had and has now collapsed. There are large companies that feed off the poor, such as payday loan companies, household rental agencies, temp employment agencies, pawn shops and similar enterprises that have scarred our once pristine real estate.
As my husband and I left to catch a cab earlier in the week, a man was shouting to himself as he awkwardly walked down the street. His eyes, glittering from the dose of whatever hit he took, gazed at me then quickly turned away. These are part of the downtown landscape these days. All the days when I used to enjoy time together with my husband and even on my own, are gone. I leave my decrepit home to go to my office, where the stress and threat level always seems so magnified, that nothing I do relieves this anxiety. It's not my inability to do my work that is an issue -- it is the kind of problems that walk through my door that create the anger, the sense of hopelessness that I have in this region. We do many kinds of disability claims, which we are largely successful in but they can be a high climb. People I deal with often have mental disorders and their visions and anger and lost dreams are part of what they bring through my door. I compartmentalize. However, regardless of well I do that, I still remember when private practice was fun. Those were the days people had more agreements, more hopes, more dreams and we were consulted to assist them with business plans, board training, workshops, etc., which I enjoyed delivering as much as those receiving them enjoyed attending. I looked forward to this and did not have to think, just put one foot in front of the other and soon, this one will be dealt with and done. These times were memorable.
Unfortunately, there is not much of that going on anymore. Many small businesses have disappeared or gone bankrupt. Even a few of my colleagues had left their practices in less than glowing terms. There is a high rate of pain and depression among those in my profession. Around Ontario, I am aware of some who've had to go to rehab, others who have attempted suicide, others who have quit their practices and others who have had health crises, a heart attack, a stroke or something like I just had. To the contrary, leaning on one's fellow colleagues is not always a great thing, especially when we all are feeling the same way, but many will not admit it. We have to put a look of strength on our faces, while we work to save the folks who come to us who are literally worse off. Working in the Niagara Region in any small business can be a challenge for anyone. People have a much lower average and median income than most other parts of Ontario, At least half of those that have jobs are working precariously. Most new jobs in the region are low-paying, low skilled positions. Too many people are resigned to be happy just to get a call centre job, an occupation with high turnover, high stress and in many ways, hard on the family.
I know when they come through my door - the names of the culprits tend to be repeated, as we prepare to go through our third, fourth, fifth or sixth round with the same parties. I try not to be too insular at this, as even these parties are hurting in their own way and as Jesus lie dying on His cross, he prayed to His Father, "Forgive them, Father, for they do not know" or words to this effect. It seems when the Cloud falls over us and we become ensnared in her difficult web, we become outwardly more nasty to one another and unable to come to a consensus. At the worst of this, I see more hate crimes committed against people, our most vulnerable. These are the folks that are so distressed that they believe that somehow very vulnerable people are getting something that they aren't and therefore, they must churn their aggression on them. I've witnessed people kicking a homeless man right on my street, as well as a group of teenagers pushing an older woman off her wheelchair and told her tauntingly that she can walk. While I do report all of these incidents, I never see how they are dealt with, and it appears that nobody is surprised when I tell them what I saw.
I walk down the streets of downtown. I notice many businesses closing down, only a few new ones opening up. The tenure of the new ones always seems uncertain as sometimes it seems a business has a remnant of permanency, but appears to lose it once the economy even slips yet another impossible notch. When one is at the bottom, one cannot believe how much further we can go. The fact is Niagara has become more and more bimodal in terms of success patterns. I've met someone I knew in the 1990's who was always investing money in properties, in businesses and various activities. The last time I seen him he was receiving ODSP, after a series of heart attacks. One may say, he should have purchased disability insurance. The point is he did, and yes - he did collect for a bit - until they decided he was on it for too long and he got kicked off, like most claimants eventually are. ODSP is becoming more and more the point of ONLY resort and not last resort.
There are others who I will refer to as the Temporarily Better Off (TBO). These are folks that appear to have jobs that last more than a couple of years, pay people enough to eat and have a roof over their head in the same month and might even pay well enough for the person to own and operate a car. However, more and more studies are pointing to the fact that a majority of these people when asked, believe they are one paycheque, one spouse or one illness away from abject poverty. One of my female acquaintances who was forced onto CPP after long term disability basically dropped her after she had to sue and settle with them, still does not recognize that she is one spouse away from desperate poverty herself. Her spouse is a nice man, very ambitious and successful enough to claim and actually keep middle class status ... but like anybody else, all it takes is an illness, an accident or some other issue to lay him out and then he can no longer support the family. One's own empire of assets gets torn down instantly when you ask for help. You have to live on your savings, your retirement savings, sell your second property, etc. until you are down to next to nothing, before you can get help. I don't know what that accomplishes other than keeping people in need of financial support, making it very difficult for them to climb back up, but somehow the TBOs of our society think this is okay. ODSP keeps stats on how people exit the system. Less than one tenth of one percent leave the system through employment or self-employment. Most leave through reaching the age of sixty five or through premature death. Some get married and leave the system as well, but that number is very low as well.
I hear the folks at ODSP wondering why more and more people are getting on this system. How can we stem the flow, they ask. Well, if people can just stop getting sick, stop getting into accidents, stop divorcing their spouses, etc., we'd all be happy. However, misery tends to compound misery and over the past several years, I've watched so many couples separate and/or divorce. To think this does not affect the upcoming generation is a complete understatement! Niagara Region has become a bastion of depression, apathy, division, scapegoating and poverty. One fellow I spoke to said he read a study that said that there are 100 unemployed workers seeking jobs for every single vacancy. That's not very good and certainly not a unifying factor ... for those that get these jobs, there are always people who think they got these jobs for reasons of nepotism, being a minority, etc. I have met men in the region that feel that they have no protection under the Human Rights Code or Charter, when in fact this isn't true. The majority of folks I've represented before the HRTO were white males and we have met with successful settlements and a few times, successful hearings.
The provincial government wants to pick a region to test the guaranteed annual income. I say, don't pick a region - just implement the damned thing. However, if any region needs to be picked, pick Niagara Region, as to me, this area seems to be the one that is so badly covered by that gray cloud and is followed by lingering misery and longing for days gone by. The people here need a boost to their morale, their sense of hope and to aid them in becoming the creative, capable people they were meant to be, and maybe then my practice will grow back into more of what it used to be ... to help people build things, as opposed to constantly fighting for the declining set of crumbs our social safety net offers, or to assist in conflicts with others that led to each one's demise. Maybe then, the Piano Man will continue to play, but aside from himself, he will have others with him playing guitar, drums and violin, and get invited to play in bars, clubs and other places. He will no longer be alone playing musical demos at three o'clock in the morning.
Your thoughts?
Sunday, October 11, 2015
TOWARDS THE FINISH LINE: THE WORLD SERIES AND THE FEDERAL ELECTION
The Blue Jays just won the right to continue in the American League Division Series with a score of 5:1 against the Rangers at their turf in Arlington, Texas. There will be another game tomorrow and if the Blue Jays win that one, they will return to the Rogers Centre for the fifth game in the Series, whereupon if they win this, they move to the winner of the other pair in the American League. I was alive and aware when the Jays won the World Series in both 1992 and 1993, the latter of which I was in Toronto and witnessed the crazy train going on well past twilight and into the wee hours of the morning. Since 1993, the Blue Jays did not win past regular season. Hockey has also started its regular season, whereupon tonight, the Montreal Canadians won the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference. It is such a good thing to be surrounded by Jays fans when we have baseball in October and fans of any Canadian team going into playoffs. We make our gentleman's bets (or ladies' bets) on who was going to win, with entire cities exchanging jerseys at the time of the playoffs. This is all part of the community spirit that many of us enjoy. However, we enjoy this even if our team does not win the grand prize, being respectively the World Series or the Stanley Cup. The outcome does not impact on our lives in any meaningful way, whereby we get hurt if we lose or benefit over others if we win (unless you are playing for money, which I don't do).
However, the outcome of federal elections can do just this. While many see elections as a kind of a playoff season, the debates being the games where there are winners and losers. However, those watching the elections also realize that from the results, there are real winners and real losers and as Canadians, we need to try to make these elections work for everyone, not just for those that stand to gain the most from a party intent on giving you back even more money that you don't need, somehow convincing the public you will still be spending it in your community despite the fact you already have everything you need/ For the purpose of this post, I want to explain to people what is on offer in general for the federal election and what this means for people in Canada, and especially underlining why it is important to cast your vote even if you don't know who to vote for.
First, the unfortunate focus of the federal parties has been on tax credits. Tax credits are fine if you have a strong annual income with money left over at the end of every month. If you use some of this money to pay for your children's participation in sports, you will be able to claim a children's fitness credit, or if you pay upfront for home renovations, you might qualify for a small renovations credit. Tax credits are offered everywhere by the Conservatives, thrown about like candy mostly to their supporters, but at the same time putting on a charade when attempting to address regular Canadians. Unfortunately, many regular Canadians might actually believe that the Conservatives will be handing you a cheque if you fall into an increasing number of categories, while the fact remains that if you are only earning a modest income, you likely cannot pay the upfront costs for children's hockey, home renovations, carpentry tools, etc., so any tax you have to pay will be at its maximum as the Conservatives will not be offering you any cheques or tax reductions just for you being alive. At the same time, if you are a single earner in an upper middle class family earning at least $93,000 a year on your own, while your spouse stays at home with the kids, you can haul up to $50,000 of your own money (on paper) to your non-earning spouse to save on your taxes for a reduction of almost $2,000. This doesn't assist single earners that earn much less than that.
Further, because the Conservatives do not believe anybody needs child care and that all families have somebody who is able and willing to stay at home for many years to look after their own children, usually the woman (so her income can be further cut back and even demolished upon the 50% chance of your marriage ending in a divorce, but oh well...), they do not support funding daycare for any child. At the same time, Conservatives reprimand single parents who are stuck on welfare and unable to work because they have no child care. Their solution is, I suppose, is to find yourself a man who earns a family wage to take care of you. Good luck. About the intact families where one earns money from a job and the other is at home because of disability, the losses are borne entirely by the one working as well as the person who is disabled. This convoluted gift for the wealthy has no benefit whatsoever for caregivers (unless they were able to quit their jobs and look after their loved ones full time, with a tax credit - wow). If you are a single earner and earn less than $44,000 a year, you won't be getting any help from the Liberals either, as their magically constituted middle class earner earns between about $44,700 and $89,401. I can't remember the last time I earned more than even $40,000 for my family, so I guess I am stuck with all the taxes, the clawbacks and other punishments I am to tolerate for being married to a man who is disabled.
The Conservatives have extended the Universal Child Credit Benefit (UCCB) to those adults with children between the ages of seven and eighteen, which is fine, but it is just $60.00, albeit the benefit IS taxable. Many of Trudeau's middle class families will be losing most of it through taxes at the end of the year. I presume the Conservatives' intent for this money is for parents to put it into an RESP or something for their children. Most lower middle and working class families I know do not have the money to put into an RESP. The money from the UCCB, while appreciated, will likely go towards paying the hydro bill, or paying to put food on the table. It is impossible to save when you have no money from which to draw from to put into any kind of savings instrument. At the same time, people are constantly bombarded with talk about how Conservative policies will put "more money in your pocket". I am saying, this would not put any more money in anybody's pocket who needs it ... and for those that do benefit, they are unlikely to spend it in their communities. Like the large companies that have already benefited from Liberal and Conservative largesse for years, this money is likely to be hoarded in savings accounts or even in offshore accounts. How that helps our economy, I am puzzled. It certainly isn't going to go towards hiring even one additional worker.
The Liberals have a few selective benefits, such as an expanded child benefit that will be targeted to lower and middle class families and add up to more money per child on an annual basis. They will also tax earnings from those earning $200,000 or more in a new tax bracket at 33%. Corporate tax rates will remain the same (even though as some pointed out, many wealthy people flow all of their income into a privately held company and draw in accordance to the corporate rate as opposed to their general taxation rate). That means many millionaires will continue to pay less taxes than the rest of us. The NDP wants to close a number of loopholes for high earners and hike corporate taxes. Conservatives, of course, want to scare everybody into believing that all the large companies will leave Canada to lower tax havens. This is not what will move them. The Trans Pacific Partnership deal likely will eventually move Canadian jobs out of the country, but not a single Conservative or even a Liberal will admit that. When confronted, the Conservatives promise to pour billions into the dairy, auto and other sensitive industries to help "transition" them under the TPP; little do they admit that not a single penny will land into the pockets of the workers in these industries, just the overpaid and over entitled executives. Once the TPP takes effect and jobs are lost, those losing their jobs will join the rest of us to compete for the remaining low paid, part-time, unstable jobs that are left, while struggling to make ends meet on less and less money.
The NDP also wants to fund a national childcare scheme, as well as begin talks about home care and a national pharmacare program, although I think the TPP would put a kibosh to that one. Harper will continue to constrain Canada for years to come, even long after he had been booted out of office, which is better sooner than later. A national childcare scheme, while a good idea, might only be good a few years down the road after all the provinces and the federal government adopt it, which leaves people needing child care today still lacking. What I do like about the NDP is that they will stop the income splitting for the families (not the seniors) and will end the extension to $10,000 for the TFSA. An extended TFSA again only benefits wealthy people or at least those that have $10,000 laying around doing nothing that they can plug into one of these accounts. Most of us just hope to get through each month not falling further into debt. Who is willing to speak to us about that?
The NDP is the only major party that plans to fully ratify and implement the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Canada has signed the agreement, but did nothing beyond that, such as setting up an infrastructure so that legislation, programs and services passed by any Canadian government, federal or provincial, pass Charter muster. This would give us a chance to challenge how disability benefit programs serve to keep people with disabilities in poverty and discourage relationship formation and children staying at home beyond the age of eighteen years. It might even find a way to allow us to file in tort to get our hard earned retirement savings back, especially among us who were forced to drain them and look forward to retiring under the nearest bridge. The amount the government provides for basic OAS/GIS is sub-poverty level and given the fact that most health coverage disappears at that stage. Only the NDP and the Liberals want to increase the GIS and bring retirement age to 65 for those that wish to retire at that time. The Conservatives are probably fooling a lot of seniors into believing they will be receiving an additional $2,000 annually if they are widowed or otherwise living alone. This again is a tax credit, which means if you are receiving any GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement) as part of your retirement package, you will get nothing. Again, the better off you are in retirement, the better off the Conservatives want to make you. To Hell with the growing number of seniors who are retiring in deep poverty.
In this election, don't let the federal Conservatives tell you health care, services for people with disabilities, etc. is only provincial. If this were true, then what would happen if one of our provinces suddenly decides to opt out of medicare? If health care were provincial, they'd be able to do that with no strings attached, which is what many Conservatives like to see given they have done nothing during their tenure about enforcing the Canada Health Act (which regulates the delivery and public funding of health care, as well as federal transfers). The Conservatives plan to slowly reduce the amount of money they transfer to the provinces, despite the ageing population and increased needs, to the extent some say is as much as $36 billion. If you think you can pay more and more for your needed health care out of pocket, then that is okay for you ... but for the rest of us? Too bad. The provinces don't want to raise taxes any more than the feds do, so why does the feds always say health care is provincial? For exactly that reason! They want to download health care entirely onto the provinces by withdrawing their funding and not enforcing the Canada Health Act. Further, the Conservatives have not held a single meeting with provincial premiers on health care since they got into power, so that is because they intend to get rid of it by attrition.
They say services to people with disabilities are provincial. Canada used to have a Canada Assistance Plan, which regulated welfare payments, which ensured that no province will make deep cuts to the program that would put people's health at risk, that they had a right to retain assets, that they had a right to earn money that would not be deducted, and the right to appeal, among other key requirements, again with penalties for provinces that don't comply. In 1993, the federal Liberals scrapped the Canada Health Act, which essentially opened the door to many provinces cutting welfare rates, passing workfare requirements, etc. This is why we are so far behind in Ontario. A recent article stated that if welfare was retained even at the rate of inflation since Mike Harris came to power, it would be over $962 per person, but it is actually less than $650 per month (in Ontario). Disability rates were frozen under Harris, which is the same as a cut because the price of housing, food, transportation, clothing and other necessary items goes up, while your income stays the same. The Conservatives also deepened the regulations which continue to sit today that smother people from ever escaping poverty, unless they immediately find a good paying job with benefits. We all know where these kinds of jobs had gone. If you have one, be thankful. Many of us will never get there.
They also downgraded environmental, food inspection and health regulations, whereby industry is allowed to hire their own "inspectors" and pass on their own discretion. We all know how well that went with incidents such as Maple Leaf Foods and the listeria crisis and provincially, Walkerton. The Conservatives say it is incompetent staff, but who is setting the standards as to who should be working in these places? Nobody. It continues today. You are a friend of a friend of somebody. That is how you get jobs in most places.
The unfortunate thing is that some people still believe there are "opportunities" out there. If there were, we would not be in the economic crisis we are in. People would not be working two or three part-time jobs or trying to survive on one low income, or moving in with parents or friends and relatives because they cannot afford to pay for a roof over their heads. I would have been able to snag a position between 2000 and 2006 when I sent no less than 800 applications to various jobs for which I qualify, but was denied every single time. An Adzuna study last year deemed the Niagara Region as having only one job vacancy for every one hundred unemployed job seekers. The people telling us about these "opportunities" unfortunately already had theirs and most are enjoying at least a semblance of a retirement, something that is becoming more and more at question for most people.
Elections are important. It is too easy not to vote. However, political parties and campaigns determine their platforms and priorities by the people that vote, not the people that don't vote. The political campaigns know each and every poll in every electoral district. They obtain data from various sources, where they know the age breakdown, ethnic breakdown, average incomes, renter/ owner ratio, etc. for each and every poll. If it turns out and it does, that those in wealthier homeowner-based neighbourhoods, vote at an average of 85% of their registered voters ... while only twenty percent of registered voters in renter dominant, lower income and high youth polls, it should not surprise you why political candidates say nothing about poverty, housing, tuition fees, etc. because they know who votes and who doesn't. I do believe if the lower income neighbourhoods, the young people, students, etc. voted at the same percentage as the wealthier and middle class groups, politicians will be falling all over each other to get the "poverty vote", the "housing vote", the "student vote", etc. Don't believe me?
Ask yourself why Harper has tried to make it harder for many people to exercise their right to vote. Be a rebel and vote anyways! Surprise them all!
Sunday, May 31, 2015
TARGETING THE MIDDLE CLASS AND OTHER POLITICAL MYTHS
If Canadians were surveyed today as to where they fell in the economic spectrum with respect to class, more than 75% would claim to belong to the "middle class". Unfortunately, personal impressions and economic reality clash loudly on this question. What IS the :middle class"? There really isn't any formal definition of middle class, but examples depicted by the Media.
If you introduced this concept to a room filled with individuals and families living in long-term poverty, while some would think they belong in the "middle class" they really don't. The only source of information most of these folks can get about the "middle class" is from the Mass Media. If the Media were to be believed about what constitutes the "middle class", we are talking about families that experience the following and often take for granted and:
Articles about employment and human resources issues also address the false middle class environment as well, assuming that workplaces are all large, employing hundreds of people and utilizing several departments and department heads, hence the expression, "climbing the corporate ladder". Very few articles of this type actually address situations in employers with less than ten or even five persons, as it is assumed that everybody works for large companies. Even in articles intended to support those who have been laid off appear to reflect this myth about contacting human resources departments and checking company websites for job openings.
First, members of the Mass Media are completely out of touch with the lives of people that do not enjoy most or all of those above things, nor do they realize or ascribe this group of people as being much larger than people want to believe it is. However, there are more stories coming out about young people leaving college or university, even professionally designated courses, who end up unemployed or under-employed when they come out, hence, their trip to their parents' basement (yet they do not write about those that graduate but do not have parents that would take them back). The Mass Media wants to keep up the myth that most of us had these amenities growing up, or that those growing up today enjoy these amenities. As well, the myth is perpetrated that everybody has family to rely on and back them up, even if just on an emotional level. The writer has not experienced any of the above positive reflections of a so-called "Middle Class" fairyland, although technically, my family of origin was not poor. We just never enjoyed these other things, probably because less people than the media think have access to these things.
Second, politicians are even more out of touch with the lives of people they are elected to represent than that of the Mass Media. Politicians have identified a family income of being about $120,000 a year as being "middle class", and the idea that income splitting will benefit many members of this supposed "middle class", Politicians do not want to hear that most families, other than families of the elite 15%, need two incomes to keep up with even the basics. There is a prototypical (usually male) breadwinner that earns six figures in one of those rare jobs that can now pass along (on paper) up to $50,000 to his stay-at-home wife to save on taxes. This policy will cost the government over $2 billion but not put one more cent into the pockets of the real middle class, or into services needed by the rest of us. Don't be fooled if one of those politicians comes knocking on your door to try to convince you otherwise, especially if you are in a family like I am that hasn't noticed one iota of a positive difference in our well being since Harper took root, other than more costs.
Even Justin Trudeau who purports to speak for the "middle class" has never himself experienced being anything other than from the high priced elite. Both the Liberals and Conservatives have ran deficits over the past several decades and lately, their answer to these deficits is to further cut the programs that mostly benefit the "middle class" and the lower income individuals and families. At a provincial level, welfare and disability benefits go as far as they did in the 1970's, while paying today's prices. Don't kid yourself. Today, you may have a job, but tomorrow if you lose that job through restructuring, layoff or health issues, you too are more likely to rely on the state for survival, as less and less employers provide the kinds of benefits they did in the past to protect people under these circumstances, and according to some, less people are eligible for even EI benefits. Among those lucky to hold a steady job, which is the minority according to a recent article in the Toronto Star, their wages haven't been keeping up much either. In my own community, every second person I speak to is receiving Ontario Works, ODSP, OAS/GIS, EI, WSIB, LTD (from their workplace) or similar benefits. The mere number of these people have brought our average individual and family incomes down substantially, whereby Niagara Region is one of the poorest in Ontario.
One of the issues that is faced in Niagara is that more working poor are nervous about their own futures, so they see a need to attack those in a class below theirs. Those with jobs call those without jobs "lazy". Those that drive assume they are better than those that don't. Those that own their own homes are "better and more stable than" those that rent. This is felt throughout the community. Nobody has to say anything, but if you mention to people that you don't drive, or that you rent an apartment (particularly in a co-op or in government housing which is really faux pas here), or that you are having a hard time finding a job, the sarcastic elite of the non-elite tell people there are "help wanted| signs at Tim Horton's, etc. As if even if every single unemployed person applied for all of these jobs, that every single one of them will be employed ... Yeah, right.
Manufacturing is dead in Ontario, apart from some specialized manufacturing firms requiring high skilled workers and less of them. Other jobs, such as those in the public or quasi-public sector are under attack by the right. As if tearing down these jobs and the benefits they offer will increase the number of jobs and improve the benefits for those who are unemployed today ... the attitudes have to change. The NDP, while they pretend to speak up for the :little guy" tends to associate themselves with organized labour. While I have no animus towards organized labour, I feel those in unions represent the minority of working people and do not speak whatsoever for those in non-unionized jobs or for those who are self-employed but not running large corporations. The labour movement if it wants to be successful needs to speak up more for all workers, including self-employed persons, to push for structural changes in our political environment that would guarantee pay, benefits, time off, etc. for all of us ... and not just for those lucky enough to belong to a good union. Despite all of these issues being to the fore, the most the NDP has ever done about retirement, for example, is to push for the enhancement of the CPP - which will do nothing for the retirement of those who have not worked enough, contributed enough, or were self-employed most of their lives .... it is the OAS/GIS that needs to be substantially increased and restructured to address the retirement needs of people that don't have a defined benefit pension from their workplace or elsewhere.
Other proponents speak about housing as being the issue. Housing is an issue, but if people had enough money, housing would not be an issue. Left to the market, under conditions where people have a guaranteed annual income, the market would make necessary adjustments so that housing is available to more people at affordable prices. Most landlords today tend to measure affordability where the cost of the rent they charge should not be more than thirty to thirty five percent of what a tenant brings in, so in consequence, under a GAI system, this market equilibrium, this "market rent" will be much easier to set. As for home ownership, this should be made easier for people to get into the market and to maintain their housing after they retire, so people can "age in place". This is in contrast to these commercials that repeatedly air on TV about retirement homes that cost in the range of $3,000 - $5,000 a month to rich seniors, or Premier Care in Bathing, which provides walk-in luxury tubs, which on TV are only seen being installed in bathrooms the size of most people's living rooms. An older person on OAS/GIS will never be able to afford these upgrades and thus, will be more likely to be shipped off to a cheap nursing home, where their rights to basic medical care and even life itself might be at issue, based on costs.
After reading this, and our federal election gets under way, we need to ask our politicians what they define as the "middle class" and what the supposed "middle class" families can regularly afford to invest in right now without their help. Ask if they know what the average family income for your particular neighbourhood is. Have they researched it, or are their figures stayed from the time they stopped issuing the mandatory long form census? My bet is that politicians do not really want to talk to you if you ask these questions, because you will challenge their very assumption of who they must speak for if they did get elected.
Some of you reading this might say you don't vote or want to vote because none of the political parties speak for you, but I will tell you one thing ... this is EXACTLY what the elite want. They want people NOT to vote, so they can continue to put their puppets into power to do more and more bidding for them. I worked in elections for many years and have found that the percentage of eligible voters in well-off neighbourhoods far exceeds the number of eligible voters in low income neighbourhoods that actually fill a ballot. Politicians KNOW this, which is why you don't see politicians, or at least most of them, conducting their campaigns in low income neighbourhoods, public housing projects, and so forth. They will go to where people are most likely to exercise their vote and will target their proposed policies to those that do. Because politicians know the poor do not vote as much as the wealthier folks, they don't feel obligated to do anything about poverty ... other than address it through criminal avenues, such as law and order provisions against those poor who sleep in the wrong places or do not have anything to eat. On the contrary, if the poor voted in droves, politicians from all parties will be eager to develop policies to address their concerns ...
In addition to voting, we need to also train new voters to help them understand the impact of proposed policies from all parties and allow them to become informed voters. As an informed voter, I will not vote Liberal or Conservative in this next election because I see very little for the true "middle class" and even less for the poorest of all. But even if you exercised your vote for the Marijuana Party or the Rhinoceros Party, political campaign staff will note that you voted and that everybody in your neighbourhood also voted and this means, they will take your needs more seriously next time around.
Your thoughts?
If you introduced this concept to a room filled with individuals and families living in long-term poverty, while some would think they belong in the "middle class" they really don't. The only source of information most of these folks can get about the "middle class" is from the Mass Media. If the Media were to be believed about what constitutes the "middle class", we are talking about families that experience the following and often take for granted and:
- Live in large, single family homes in clean, safe and enriched neighbourhoods;
- Enjoy cultural celebrations of their ancestors and family heritage by partaking in community events by enjoying cultural relationships and club memberships;
- Enjoy family celebrations of common holidays like Christmas and Easter, have the resources to decorate their homes and enjoy hosting extending family during these periods;
- Have one or more children in the school system who are involved with athletics, drama, music club, student government, among other costly ventures, as well as at least one parent that has the time to participate in their children's schools;
- Have savings and resources to at least partially fund their children's post-secondary education, and would willingly support their children in this direction;
- Have resources or benefits from which to draw to cover common childhood and youth medical and dental issues, such as orthodontics, sports medical and training issues, gym memberships and other "extras" that most take for granted;
- Have at least one or two annual family vacations, which involve visiting the cottage up North or even traveling to Florida or some other similar destination;
- Have more than one personal vehicle for use by members of the family, with support for the older children to obtain their driver's license and use the family vehicle;
- Have some contacts which may assist their children in getting a start in the workforce; and
- Once the children have left the home, the parents continue to have significant resources to spend to either renovate their home to suit their needs as ageing persons or to find a smaller residence to reduce the amount of maintenance required in the home.
Articles about employment and human resources issues also address the false middle class environment as well, assuming that workplaces are all large, employing hundreds of people and utilizing several departments and department heads, hence the expression, "climbing the corporate ladder". Very few articles of this type actually address situations in employers with less than ten or even five persons, as it is assumed that everybody works for large companies. Even in articles intended to support those who have been laid off appear to reflect this myth about contacting human resources departments and checking company websites for job openings.
First, members of the Mass Media are completely out of touch with the lives of people that do not enjoy most or all of those above things, nor do they realize or ascribe this group of people as being much larger than people want to believe it is. However, there are more stories coming out about young people leaving college or university, even professionally designated courses, who end up unemployed or under-employed when they come out, hence, their trip to their parents' basement (yet they do not write about those that graduate but do not have parents that would take them back). The Mass Media wants to keep up the myth that most of us had these amenities growing up, or that those growing up today enjoy these amenities. As well, the myth is perpetrated that everybody has family to rely on and back them up, even if just on an emotional level. The writer has not experienced any of the above positive reflections of a so-called "Middle Class" fairyland, although technically, my family of origin was not poor. We just never enjoyed these other things, probably because less people than the media think have access to these things.
Second, politicians are even more out of touch with the lives of people they are elected to represent than that of the Mass Media. Politicians have identified a family income of being about $120,000 a year as being "middle class", and the idea that income splitting will benefit many members of this supposed "middle class", Politicians do not want to hear that most families, other than families of the elite 15%, need two incomes to keep up with even the basics. There is a prototypical (usually male) breadwinner that earns six figures in one of those rare jobs that can now pass along (on paper) up to $50,000 to his stay-at-home wife to save on taxes. This policy will cost the government over $2 billion but not put one more cent into the pockets of the real middle class, or into services needed by the rest of us. Don't be fooled if one of those politicians comes knocking on your door to try to convince you otherwise, especially if you are in a family like I am that hasn't noticed one iota of a positive difference in our well being since Harper took root, other than more costs.
Even Justin Trudeau who purports to speak for the "middle class" has never himself experienced being anything other than from the high priced elite. Both the Liberals and Conservatives have ran deficits over the past several decades and lately, their answer to these deficits is to further cut the programs that mostly benefit the "middle class" and the lower income individuals and families. At a provincial level, welfare and disability benefits go as far as they did in the 1970's, while paying today's prices. Don't kid yourself. Today, you may have a job, but tomorrow if you lose that job through restructuring, layoff or health issues, you too are more likely to rely on the state for survival, as less and less employers provide the kinds of benefits they did in the past to protect people under these circumstances, and according to some, less people are eligible for even EI benefits. Among those lucky to hold a steady job, which is the minority according to a recent article in the Toronto Star, their wages haven't been keeping up much either. In my own community, every second person I speak to is receiving Ontario Works, ODSP, OAS/GIS, EI, WSIB, LTD (from their workplace) or similar benefits. The mere number of these people have brought our average individual and family incomes down substantially, whereby Niagara Region is one of the poorest in Ontario.
One of the issues that is faced in Niagara is that more working poor are nervous about their own futures, so they see a need to attack those in a class below theirs. Those with jobs call those without jobs "lazy". Those that drive assume they are better than those that don't. Those that own their own homes are "better and more stable than" those that rent. This is felt throughout the community. Nobody has to say anything, but if you mention to people that you don't drive, or that you rent an apartment (particularly in a co-op or in government housing which is really faux pas here), or that you are having a hard time finding a job, the sarcastic elite of the non-elite tell people there are "help wanted| signs at Tim Horton's, etc. As if even if every single unemployed person applied for all of these jobs, that every single one of them will be employed ... Yeah, right.
Manufacturing is dead in Ontario, apart from some specialized manufacturing firms requiring high skilled workers and less of them. Other jobs, such as those in the public or quasi-public sector are under attack by the right. As if tearing down these jobs and the benefits they offer will increase the number of jobs and improve the benefits for those who are unemployed today ... the attitudes have to change. The NDP, while they pretend to speak up for the :little guy" tends to associate themselves with organized labour. While I have no animus towards organized labour, I feel those in unions represent the minority of working people and do not speak whatsoever for those in non-unionized jobs or for those who are self-employed but not running large corporations. The labour movement if it wants to be successful needs to speak up more for all workers, including self-employed persons, to push for structural changes in our political environment that would guarantee pay, benefits, time off, etc. for all of us ... and not just for those lucky enough to belong to a good union. Despite all of these issues being to the fore, the most the NDP has ever done about retirement, for example, is to push for the enhancement of the CPP - which will do nothing for the retirement of those who have not worked enough, contributed enough, or were self-employed most of their lives .... it is the OAS/GIS that needs to be substantially increased and restructured to address the retirement needs of people that don't have a defined benefit pension from their workplace or elsewhere.
Other proponents speak about housing as being the issue. Housing is an issue, but if people had enough money, housing would not be an issue. Left to the market, under conditions where people have a guaranteed annual income, the market would make necessary adjustments so that housing is available to more people at affordable prices. Most landlords today tend to measure affordability where the cost of the rent they charge should not be more than thirty to thirty five percent of what a tenant brings in, so in consequence, under a GAI system, this market equilibrium, this "market rent" will be much easier to set. As for home ownership, this should be made easier for people to get into the market and to maintain their housing after they retire, so people can "age in place". This is in contrast to these commercials that repeatedly air on TV about retirement homes that cost in the range of $3,000 - $5,000 a month to rich seniors, or Premier Care in Bathing, which provides walk-in luxury tubs, which on TV are only seen being installed in bathrooms the size of most people's living rooms. An older person on OAS/GIS will never be able to afford these upgrades and thus, will be more likely to be shipped off to a cheap nursing home, where their rights to basic medical care and even life itself might be at issue, based on costs.
After reading this, and our federal election gets under way, we need to ask our politicians what they define as the "middle class" and what the supposed "middle class" families can regularly afford to invest in right now without their help. Ask if they know what the average family income for your particular neighbourhood is. Have they researched it, or are their figures stayed from the time they stopped issuing the mandatory long form census? My bet is that politicians do not really want to talk to you if you ask these questions, because you will challenge their very assumption of who they must speak for if they did get elected.
Some of you reading this might say you don't vote or want to vote because none of the political parties speak for you, but I will tell you one thing ... this is EXACTLY what the elite want. They want people NOT to vote, so they can continue to put their puppets into power to do more and more bidding for them. I worked in elections for many years and have found that the percentage of eligible voters in well-off neighbourhoods far exceeds the number of eligible voters in low income neighbourhoods that actually fill a ballot. Politicians KNOW this, which is why you don't see politicians, or at least most of them, conducting their campaigns in low income neighbourhoods, public housing projects, and so forth. They will go to where people are most likely to exercise their vote and will target their proposed policies to those that do. Because politicians know the poor do not vote as much as the wealthier folks, they don't feel obligated to do anything about poverty ... other than address it through criminal avenues, such as law and order provisions against those poor who sleep in the wrong places or do not have anything to eat. On the contrary, if the poor voted in droves, politicians from all parties will be eager to develop policies to address their concerns ...
In addition to voting, we need to also train new voters to help them understand the impact of proposed policies from all parties and allow them to become informed voters. As an informed voter, I will not vote Liberal or Conservative in this next election because I see very little for the true "middle class" and even less for the poorest of all. But even if you exercised your vote for the Marijuana Party or the Rhinoceros Party, political campaign staff will note that you voted and that everybody in your neighbourhood also voted and this means, they will take your needs more seriously next time around.
Your thoughts?
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