If; “The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Then; how moral is our Liberal Government, and those who willingly support it?

http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/Daphne+Bramham+Drastic+budget+cuts+youth+care+result/9579131/story.html

Food for thought… enjoy your Friday, the weekend is almost upon us!

Your govt has better things to spend our money on. Like corporate welfare at all levels of business. Children and families be damned!

What great news on the political front. Green going away for ever ( she is so in lala land she thinks she can run federally ) back to selling trinkets for her.

Hiking the trails at Forest For the World with the family and we came across a strange creature. Little tiny thing (run over on the trail) the size of mouse with a long tail, but the head of a bird it looked like with a large bird beak on it. I have never seen anything like it. Maybe an adaptation for insects or something? Evolution in progress?

Also had a moose walk by the picnic table area like an episode of the Friendly Giant. Lots of surprises up there.

“And while the Bank of Canada may be fretting about the country’s low inflation rate (a worrying sign of slack in the economy), consumers themselves aren’t seeing things this way.

The cost of living has surpassed health care as the number-one concern for consumers, the study found.

“There is a perception that everything continues to cost more,” Bensimon Byrne president Jack Bensimon told The Globe and Mail.

Incomes have been growing slowly, if at all, and “things feel expensive because [people] don’t feel they have any more money to spend on them,” Bensimon said.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/05/19/consumer-debt-spending-inflation-canada_n_5340000.html

Posted by: Dragonmaster on May 23 2014 1:02 AM
Your govt has better things to spend our money on. Like corporate welfare at all levels of business. Children and families be damned!

————–

Some would argue it’s preferable to give breaks to corporations in order to stimulate economic growth versus handing out money to people who expect the rest of us to look after them.

Almost forgot, Keep Right Except To Pass. And please, turn your freaking lights on when you’re driving in the rain! Hell, turn them on all the time!

Teacher Union Situation –

Debating whether or not I should convince my grandkids to become a public school teacher … the pay may be a set-back, so what is

the wages for a
First Year Teacher ?

Second Year ?

after 5 years of service?

Axman….Walmart pays an average wage of $8.80/hr. in the States and is the largest single employer. Waltons are worth billions, at the same time Walmart employees are the biggest single recipients of U.S, government aide. How’s that trickle down working for those “that would argue”. Lol. A good number of economists right now are pointing to the wealth disparity as a good reason for economic stagnation.

Posted by: excusemebut2 on May 23 2014 6:34 AM
Axman….Walmart pays an average wage of $8.80/hr. in the States and is the largest single employer. Waltons are worth billions, at the same time Walmart employees are the biggest single recipients of U.S, government aide. How’s that trickle down working for those “that would argue”. Lol. A good number of economists right now are pointing to the wealth disparity as a good reason for economic stagnation.

—————

So you’d prefer that the government give all Walmart employees 15 bucks and hour and let them stay at home?

I do not like the way Walmart treats it’s employees so I do not shop there.

Beware of some FN young people hanging around Superstore. They have keyed 9 cars in the last week. The store manager has removed them from the parking lot several times but they return. Hopefully someone will catch them in the act and perform a little frontier justice.
Expensive place to shop when vandals are running loose in the parking lot damaging cars.

Axman…sure twisted that around, how are are your comprehension skills these days?? Where did I say the government should pay these people?? I said the contrary. Let me explain…in order to survive Walmart employees in the US require HUGE amounts of government aide. For the cost of a few pennies per item, Walmart ITSELF could be paying a dollar or two more an hour and reduce the burden on the tax payer, also put more purchasing power directly in the hands of people who need it and would spend it. Many federations of business owners in the States have recognized that an increase in minimum wages would be good for them and the economy as a whole.

“Some would argue it’s preferable to give breaks to corporations in order to stimulate economic growth…”

…for the 338,000 temporary foreign workers in this country.

Canada Post has some explaining to do.

I mailed two greeting cards to family members in PG at the exact same time, from the lower mainland.

Card #1 took 8 days to arrive. Card #2 took 13 days to arrive.

Prices go up… service goes down. Nice gig.

Less than six months until the Municipal Election. We need to have those interested in the Mayors position to come forward and make their case.

In addition to the changes needed in the Mayor and some Councilors, we also need some changes in Management at City Hall.

City Managers have too much power, and need to be reined in. This City is owned lock, stock, and barrel, by the citizens of Prince George, and administration works for us. There are times when they seem to forget.

Posted by: excusemebut2 on May 23 2014 6:54 AM
Axman…sure twisted that around, how are are your comprehension skills these days??

———–

My comprehension skills are fine, thank you. Since the Waltons aren’t likely to increase wages anytime soon the utopia you seek will have to be taxpayer funded. If you don’t like the way Walmart treats it’s employees, don’t shop there until they do something about it.

Pylot, a couple of years ago, I got a Christmas card from a friend across town in the middle of Summer. I thought they were playing a practical joke. Nope that’s what you got, from the postal service.

yep, I think if your going to run for mayor, you should be throwing your name in the hat.

I agree SO MUCH with Palopu; we can’t elect the City managers though. So how do we change the old guard in the management/workers of our city. Changing the elected council and mayor is just the start.

Axman…the government of the US has it in it’s power to fix this problem with the stroke of a legislative pen, in fact many States have already taken the lead, and gone to a 10 or 11 dollar min wage, as opposed to the 7 dollar someething federal one, interestingly enough the states that have done this are showing positive economics over those that haven’t. The Republicans have blocked any increase in the Fed min wage for ages, it is well behind the times. You are totally right, Walmart will not do anything, totally wrong in your thinking that Walmart really gives a damn if YOU shop there, there are plenty of people who A. don’t think they do not have enough money to shop anywhere else, or B. think that the only selling point on anything they buy is price and figure they are saving bundles as Walmart. I personally avoid the place because it is full of cheap junk, however by the full shopping carts of crap I see coming out of there, I am sure they do not miss me.

axman…quit making things up. The only one talking about government subsidies is you. The issue is that in the US government has to step in to support employees of the biggest retailer in the country. So the business with the cheapest retail prices is in effect subsidized. Utopia? How about a return to a middle class that is able to earn a decent family wage?

Mudgeman…..someone is paying attention this morning! lol I hate labels, right, left, I just believe in examining evidence and doing what makes sense. That being said, Axman seems to have his “right wing” blinders on to what I was saying, and totally turned my idea of weaning corps off of govt. funding to me wanting everything taxpayer funded. Comprehending what he wanted to comprehend.

Wondering what’s the point of the ugly cages out front of the new RCMP building? ‘Bait Boxes’ for hoboes?

This is a US editorial so some of it obviously doesnt apply, but it covers some of the same points we are facing with teachers and the teachers union.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenmeyer/2011/12/22/the-teacher-salary-myth-are-teachers-underpaid/2/

Back a few decades ago, when billionaire H. Ross Perot was running for US President this issue of the disparity between the ‘rich’ minority, (5%, or whatever), and the ‘poor’, (all the rest of us), came up as a cause of the economic distress the US was then in.

Some figures were produced that showed if all the ‘rich’ in the US were stripped of their wealth and it were equally re-distributed, (if it could be ~ which it couldn’t be, because the minority that are ‘rich’ do not hold most of their wealth in ‘money’ itself but in assets ‘priced’ in money ~ BIG difference), it would mean a one-time bonanza to the rest of Americans of around $ 20,000 each.

Not even enough to buy a new car, nowadays, though it might have bought two of them then.

It might be nice to receive, if you’re in the category of ‘poor’, as the majority would be. But it’s hardly likely to advance you economically very far, and it certainly isn’t going to be enough to continue your advancement.

In ANY country that has the ability to PRODUCE more than it has the ability to CONSUME, the notion that “the poor are poor because the rich are rich” is absolute nonsense.

They are ‘poor’ because of the way the financial system currently operates in its failure to maintain a proper nexus between ‘money’ itself and all goods and services ‘priced’ in money.

You cannot cure this by any ‘re-distribution’ of money, (or by raising minimum wages ~ which will only lead to our again mistaking a short term ‘inflation’ for genuine ‘prosperity’, which it certainly is NOT), because it is ‘money’ itself relative to ‘prices’ that is collectively insufficient. And no re-distribution of any insufficiency can ever a sufficiency make.

What is needed, as our world becomes less and less ‘labor intensive’ with each advance of technology and increase in overall productivity, is a means of DISTRIBUTING incomes to those displaced from the labor force.

This is not hard to do, but it first of all means trashing the outdated notion that we should “let no one eat who has not first worked.”

Recognise the FACT that all ‘work’ is is a means to an end. Not a desired end in itself. When we spend so much effort exalting the ‘job’ as the be-all and end-all of everything, and overlook the fact that the purpose of all sane ‘production’ is ‘consumption’, and that if the latter is impaired through lack of incomes, it won’t be long before the former will be too.

We should realise that, like it or not, the world is quickly working its way out of work as the main reason to pay anyone an income. And we’d better find a different way to do that.

Palapu & ntkr13:
I agree with you that top city admin does not give a tinkers damn about the taxpayers. THAT is supposed to be the responsibility of our elected Council members – yeah, dream on.
However, getting rid of those pesky admin staff may be kind of costly. I suspect there are some pretty generous golden parachute deals sitting in those employment contracts.

I would like to see the whole teacher salary issue be revamped to where a teacher is paid for what they actually do instead of being able to increase their salary by achieving qualifications that are not needed for their particular work. In the private sector, a person gets paid for the job being done, not for their qualifications unless those qualifications are needed to perform their job. My question is why do we have so many teachers with a “Masters Degree” working in positions where that degree is not needed. The answer is that they get more money for having a “Masters Degree” even if they are not using it in their position. Sounds like a heck of a deal. To summarize, it is like paying the pilot of a small Cessna aircraft the same wages as the pilot of a jumbo jet because, even though he is not using them, he has the skills to fly the jumbo. What is wrong with this picture?

Meanwhile….. Eagleone is finding dead mouse creatures with bird heads, at Forests For The World! Focus people! What’s really important here?!

who da thunk – are they still doing that? I remember back in the late seventies it seemed that every second teacher would spend their summers at UBC getting a Masters. The “Library” one was popular as it seemed to be the easiest.

What a waste of money…

Posted by: excusemebut2 on May 23 2014 8:03 AM
Mudgeman…..someone is paying attention this morning! lol I hate labels, right, left, I just believe in examining evidence and doing what makes sense. That being said, Axman seems to have his “right wing” blinders on to what I was saying, and totally turned my idea of weaning corps off of govt. funding to me wanting everything taxpayer funded. Comprehending what he wanted to comprehend.

———–

You hate labels yet you use them. You want a discussion yet you resort to ad hominem attacks when someone questions your opinion.

You must be a real peach to talk to face to face.

axman…sometimes when people twist what you say into something that is NOT what he said, just as you did in this thread to my comments, you have to question their ideology and motive. If you care to read exactly what I wrote, and how you distorted and misrepresented what I said you would see my point. If you do not see what I am talking about, then you do have some sort of blinders on, I won’t say what type, that would be “ad homineminating”. I do not care if you agree with me, that is not my motive, but at least try to understand exactly what I am saying instead of being obtuse.

Axman….you didn’t question my opinion, you totally misrepresented it ….

Here is a question (using somewhat random numbers) –
Is it better to have 500,000 people working at $8 per hour or 250,000 working at $16 and the other 250,000 on social assistance?

He suffers from recognition issues

A note on interceptor’s point: If the minimum goes to $16, demands will be there for (nearly) all other’s wages to go up as well. Who wins? The INFLATION calculators!

Unless we have price controls.

Posted by: interceptor on May 23 2014 9:46 AM
Here is a question (using somewhat random numbers) –
Is it better to have 500,000 people working at $8 per hour or 250,000 working at $16 and the other 250,000 on social assistance?

—————-

Everybody working an making a decent wage would be ideal but that’s just not realistic. The world is a big and cruel place.

“What is needed, as our world becomes less and less ‘labor intensive’ with each advance of technology and increase in overall productivity, is a means of DISTRIBUTING incomes to those displaced from the labor force”

===================================

Interesting suggestion socredible. It would be a gargantuan to leap to get to what you describe from what we have now, but I think it is physically possible.

The problem as I see it though, is that the businesses who used to distribute their money as wages and whom now don’t have to because of advances in technology (speaking very high level here), want to keep the money that they used to spend on wages and either invest more in capital equipment, fund retained earnings or return that money to investors. They see it as a saving, not as something that still needs to be redistributed to those who were displaced.

How do you reconcile the that and who funds the incomes to those were displaced?

Interceptor….nice question but a bit simplistic and I would imagine has no real parallel in a real world economic situation. The fact is though, the economy is driven by mass consumer demand, and smart business people realize that, money in people’s hands is good business. If you have enough people making a decent wage, social assistance should be only a safety net, and a nice one too because one may be smug today, but…..

Nuffsnuff…a slight bit of inflation is necessary for a healthy economy, otherwise deflation or stagflation will kill you, check out Japan’s recent problem with that. I do not suspect that anyone is asking for 16 dollars at this point in any case.

“Is it better to have 500,000 people working at $8 per hour or 250,000 working at $16 and the other 250,000 on social assistance?”

===================================

I’m not sure. I’d be inclined to worry more about ensuring that as many people as possible can have a reasonable standard of living and then look at ways to achieve that.

My question is why do we have so many teachers with a “Masters Degree” working in positions where that degree is not needed. The answer is that they get more money for having a “Masters Degree” even if they are not using it in their position. Sounds like a heck of a deal.
_________________________________________

In PG , the school district pays a portion of the teacher’s qualifications including a masters degree .. check it out in their C/A .. well actually it is the taxpayers who pay.
So getting a masters doesn’t cost that much to the individual even if it is not related to their teaching position.

Yah know Contractor, I was wondering the same thing myself as I was driving by the new building…..IMO it is to remind everyone that not long ago they sent people to the rock quarry for punishment and put them in cages with irons so they wouldn’t get away…….I have not been in that building yet….but I wonder is that what happens down in the basement?

Looking at the landscaping of the new cop shop reminds me of the old adage, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. As an aside I read that panhandlers outside a Portland, Oregon Wallymart make more money on a good day than employees of said business.

Posted by: mudgeman on May 23 2014 7:48 AM
axman…quit making things up. The only one talking about government subsidies is you. The issue is that in the US government has to step in to support employees of the biggest retailer in the country. So the business with the cheapest retail prices is in effect subsidized. Utopia? How about a return to a middle class that is able to earn a decent family wage?

——————-

Oh good grief. Here is the original post that initiated the discussion. If this is not about government handing out money I don’t know what is.

====================================

Posted by: axman on May 23 2014 6:02 AM
Posted by: Dragonmaster on May 23 2014 1:02 AM
Your govt has better things to spend our money on. Like corporate welfare at all levels of business. Children and families be damned!

————–

Some would argue it’s preferable to give breaks to corporations in order to stimulate economic growth versus handing out money to people who expect the rest of us to look after them.

=====================================

The middle class is making a decent wage; it’s the poor class that’s not. The issue with the middle class is that they’re numbers are falling becasue they’re quickly turning into the poor class.

What is the solution? If I knew I’d be rich but I’m pretty sure that forcing corporations to pay more isn’t going to work. Chances are they’ll just take their ball and go home. Chances are no one will be willing to take the risk of setting up a business because they won’t reap the rewards one should get for taking the risks.

And finally, the issue is not the the US government is stepping in to support Walmart employees; the issue is that people want things for cheap and somebody has to pay the price for that. But too few are willing to make the sacrifices necessary.

“I’m pretty sure that forcing corporations to pay more isn’t going to work. Chances are they’ll just take their ball and go home. Chances are no one will be willing to take the risk of setting up a business because they won’t reap the rewards one should get for taking the risks.”

====================================

Maybe, maybe not. Corporations are in the game to make money. Picking up their ball and going home could cost them more money than just taking less of a return. The flip side, of course, is that there are also corporations that HAVE to be here because that’s where the resources or markers are. McDonalds and Walmart simply aren’t going to leave the Canadian market because they have to pay their employees a little more.

Small corporations are an entirely different animal. Many if not most of these are basically like your mom and pop store with Ltd. or Inc. added onto their name. They are far more fragile and cannot adapt as easily (sometimes if at all), to stuff like minimum wage changes, increased tax load, etc.

Then, of course, there is everything in-between these two extremes.

I think we have to stop thinking of corporations as all being the same. We need to develop unique policy and unique solutions, depending on what we are talking about. I could see different approaches for small corporations, medium sized corporations and the largest of corporations.

Some may have rights that others don’t and they may receive different benefits, but they also may have different expectations and responsibilities bestowed onto them because of their size. It has to work for everyone.

Axman posted…
“And finally, the issue is not the the US government is stepping in to support Walmart employees; the issue is that people want things for cheap and somebody has to pay the price for that. But too few are willing to make the sacrifices necessary.”

Wrong…. The US government (read taxpayer) is BEING FORCED to support these people, who are supposedly employed by a profitable corporation, or they starve. Don’ you get it? The govt. is not volunteering here. The issue is that the lack of control of the corporate structure is costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Weigh that against the desire for cheap, what do you get, you pay either way don’t you. The same cheapies complain about welfare and taxes.

Secondly…they will “take their ball and go home”…. ah fer pete’s sake, not bloody likely. Smart business will do just fine thank you.

Just do the math. Those making 8.80 as quoted in the US make 352 a week or 1,400 per month or 18,300 a year on average. Multiply by the exchange rate to Canada at 1.09 and you get 9.60 per hour or 19,950 per year equivalent.

Last time I checked we have a minimum wage of 10 bucks average across Canada, the US at 9.60 average for this franchise is not far off from our country.

Raising minimum wage does have immediate consequences as small employers and large ones competing for a consumer dollars can’t immediately raise prices to reflect any changes, the only option is to lay off employees and make the ones getting paid more do more. Over the long haul of 10 years or so the prices can edge up and return the profit margins to where they can once again hire employees but in the short term it causes families a lot more havoc than paying them a little social assistance and having them employed.

Many have a different view but the last time BC raised the minimum wage what happened? I don’t have the time to look up the figures but I would guess unemployment rates edged up for the businesses affected, I do remember reports at the time but a search of the internet would show I was full of smoke or the consequences may outweigh the benefits at least temporarily as they make the slow crawl back to where we were to begin with.

Contractor…… He’s probably thinking that he’ll round up the FN at Super store and put them in those cages on victoria st.

Have to make a comment on some misinformation in Thursdays citizen.

One is the piece about the photographer showcasing climate change. First there was no clarification on the term climate change, is she and Frank Peebles denying climate changed before man? She mentions small ocean islands as if they are threatened. I suppose she means from catastrophic sea level rise, well actually they are doing just fine. Real-estate value is increasing, new airports are being built to service the numerous new resorts. Even the UN backed off. In 2009 they said there would be 50 million climate refuges from catastrophic sea level rise by 2012. Well that did not happen so the UN quietly removed that alarm from their website. No catastrophic sea level rise very inconvenient.

Oh well its all about the funding and don’t let the actual facts get in the way. I guess the arctic conference in town has to stretch the alarmism to get grants since there has been no warming for 17 years, no abnormal sea-level rising since the little ice age, no data supporting increase of tornadoes, hurricanes droughts. The grant seeking warmers are getting desperate since real world unadjusted data is not following computer generated climatic models.

Does anyone wonder why the BCTF has not been able to negotiate a contract settlement with ANY government of any party either NDP or Liberal for over 20 years? It seems that they are not able to make the connection between their wage, benefit, and working conditions demands and costs to the TAXPAYER. Perhaps it would be an idea to have a final BCTF proposal and a final Government proposal costed out by an independent third party, converted to a cost we could all understand ie, Tax Implications, and then have the entire province vote in a referendum to approve one proposal or the other. Perhaps if the entire province spoke with one voice both parties would finally be forced to put aside the acrimony, and decide to do what’s right for all the tax paying residents of BC, not just the Teachers, not just the children, and not just the politicians!

The cartoon in the Citizens Thursday paper was about tropical getaways with the Antarctic included. I suppose that was from the big headlines earlier about the western Antarctic melting. Well what was left out of the details was the tiny tiny section of the Antarctic that was being talked about. The Antarctic overall has been hitting record low temperatures so Grouse mtn. is not going to become an island anytime soon.

“Wrong…. The US government (read taxpayer) is BEING FORCED to support these people, who are supposedly employed by a profitable corporation, or they starve. Don’ you get it? The govt. is not volunteering here. The issue is that the lack of control of the corporate structure is costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Weigh that against the desire for cheap, what do you get, you pay either way don’t you. The same cheapies complain about welfare and taxes. “

You are dead wrong. First, the government is doing what the government is supposed to be doing; they are not being ‘FORCED’ to do anything; it’s part of their mandate. Second, the corporation is not at fault here (yes, they could be better corporate citizens but that’s another issue); the fault lies with the millions and millions of consumers who shop at walmart. They’re the ones who need to make the change, not the government. Stop feeding the market for cheap, made in China crap!

I wonder if Eagleone found a Masked Shrew (Sorex cinereus)? See http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Sorex_cinereus/ and http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/efauna/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Sorex%20cinereus.

Axman…how enlightening, the problem is 100% millions and millions of cheap people. Not uncontrolled corporations, or poor labour practices. I see now.
Who woulda thunk that!…

I am wrong about the government being forced to look after these poor people?…don’t think so, the corporate lobby has made sure that these low wages are legally fine, leaving the ordinary tax payer to pick up the pieces, whether they want to or not, that means being forced.

Slinky…the last raise of min wage in BC is probably not even on the radar. There are major different opinions re this issue, however no stark proof exists either way, I suspect most economists would say that some control on the floor of wages is required, and careful raises can be beneficial. Because you seldom or never have full employment, thus a free market bottom does not work. Many other economic and social factors are just as, or more important as well.

Axeman your argument of people buying cheap Chinese ( crap) are at fault is the same argument that the Japanese were subjected to decades ago . Back then one could not buy an energy efficient compact car from the big entitled three. It’s getting increasingly difficult to find made in Canada anything . When was the last time you saw ” made in England “?

This BCTF kerfuffle–sure is ruining grads and final events in the schools. Too much pay for too little work. Too bad that most teachers just see dollar signs, and not what they are showing the students-that they really don’t care that much about a students education!! My grandkids are the ones suffering.

Posted by: excusemebut2 on May 23 2014 2:39 PM
Axman…how enlightening, the problem is 100% millions and millions of cheap people. Not uncontrolled corporations, or poor labour practices. I see now.
Who woulda thunk that!…

————–

Yes, you’re right. Let’s blame the big bad corporations for our lots in life. It’s always somebody else’s fault.

eagleone, sounds like an elephant shrew, but they are native to africa, but common shrews are common here, the nose doesn’t seem long enough though from the one i have seen to the one you describe.
unlikely chance i know, but still, did you happen to count the toes front and back?
shrews should have 5 per on the front and same on the back.
there is an account of an unknown, never seen since, aquatic or semi aquatic rodent like animal in the local book ‘bacon, beans, and brave hearts’ that i am always on the lookout for. it had a disparate number of toes front and back.

Hmm, you think global warming is causing Elephant Shrews to migrate from Africa to PG? :)

New Zealand has had a $15 per hour minimum wage for some time now. No mass exodus of companies or corporations have occured, no massive unemployment either. No huge increases in the price of good and services as well.

Seems like the companies are realizing that putting more in the hands of people / workers has resulted in increases in sales volume for their goods and services… go figure!

axman, I don’t shop at Walmart either. I looked into their history of treatment of their employees and its pretty disgusting. I can buy cheap Chinese junk anywhere if I want it but I would rather buy something a little better quality and support our businesses. Our landfills are full of their stuff. I can’t understand why we even allow it to be imported.

Hey peeps, why stop at $15 per hour? Lets make it $25. Everybody wins right.

Just recently there was headlines about melting of glaciers in the Antarctic but it turns out the media made a major blunder in what was really said. The Citizen even printed related cartoon so they got taken in along with Quirks and Quarks Bob McDonald.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/05/23/climate-alarmists-make-major-blunder-in-reporting-antarctica-ice-loss-results/

I think that’s it Billposer. The Sorex cinereus from the UBC link. Although this one had what looked like a shiny black beak, and not one with any fur. Interesting find, I hadn’t seen them around before.

A British Columbian I will count the toes next time. Good to know little tid bit. Thanks

Most of all the debate here today seems to center on wage arbitrage… in particular how wage arbitrage undercuts the middle class lifestyle through cheep slave labor imports that undercut the wage supply and demand dynamics of an economy.

When we allow large multinational corporations to determine our trade policy through a corpocracy of a democracy where money paid lobbyist and money powered political party structures determine our future… we end up with trade deals done behind closed doors to benefit those that will forward globalization with the intention of using wage arbitrage as a source of corporate profit by disconnecting their costs with the local economy, while simultaneously being allowed to undercut their competitors by manufacturing overseas at a much lower costs structure… and being subsidized through their right to sell into local markets free trade where other corporations, or in our case inflation through debt based currency, are used to make the market that allows for consumption.

All of the off shoring to China in recent decades was not done to access Chinese markets of consumption… it was done to use wage arbitrage as a weapon against manufacturing companies that were loyal to the North American market and North American middle class wage earners. North American producers either joined the globalists overseas or went out of business unable to pay their employees.

You can increase the minimum wage, but this will do very little when imports are still allowed to come into the country free trade, and designed to take market share through their access to slave labor camps, no environmental costs, and little oversight of consumer safety issues.

The little guy making ten dollars an hour at Walmart stands little chance against corporate giants when it comes to import and tariff policies.

If we had fair trade… fair trade that set tariffs on goods manufactured overseas through labor arbitrage or the other free trade subsidies… then we could compete and see actual middle class incomes return.

We give up our right to safe consumer products, and environmental respect, and the wage we work for through free trade deals… so that globalist corporations can earn as profits the arbitraged difference. The 1% get ever richer and the working class get ever poorer… then as if to finish our economic society off we are expected to pay global energy prices too as if to take away any final advantage our local economies have, and thus even the playing field there to as if to cement in place the globalist gains of wage, environmental and safety arbitrage from over seas.

In BC years back forest companies were brought to their knees by consumer boycotts unless they met a certain forestry standard. They had to be certified. In fair trade imported items should be classified as to their certifications.

If a factory wants to set up in Bangladesh and it is willing to pay its employees 10% more than our prevailing minimum wage, and meet our product safety codes, and environmental regulations… then they should be certified for free trade, and we can compete with them on an even footing.

If a company wants to get labor arbitrage from going over seas making a labor saving of 80% using slavatude labor practices, ignoring environmental protections, and other such market subsidizing cheat practices… then they should not get a certification or a lower class of certification, and they should pay a tariff that makes this type of board room subsidies unprofitable.

Do we live in a democracy that works for the middle class… of course not look at our trade policies. We have politicians that will sell their own grandma for the prevailing ideology that gets them a seat at the table. Look at our local group of conservative MPs for a shining example of yes men that are there for the salary and the sense of importance, with no real clue as to what they can do to protect the integrity of capitalism and the free enterprise market place.

If teachers are not making enough it is because they look at Alberta where they get paid 20% more than in BC. Some think making 20% more to live in Alberta is a good trade off. Again it relates to labor arbitrage as a source of tension. When Alberta’s oil runs out maybe it will be the other way around.

When it comes to minimum wage if we didn’t have over seas labor arbitrage the markets would work better… we have globalist economics at play, so the only way wages go up is if we have some other local advantage like proximity to resources or an abundance of lower cost energy.

Walmart made a fortune turning America into Detroit and the only way to stop that is through government with regulation. Regulation to protect workers rights and wages, and regulation to protect from predatory imports. That said if imports are not regulated than the minimum wage needs to be more robust, because that is the spiral we are all swirling around absent regulatory protection of an economic market.

The irony of irony though is the neo-con die hards that tell us if we simply stop shopping at Walmart we can make a difference… and yet they run off to vote for, and defend to their last breath and spark in their synapses… a conservative party that is hell bent on more free trade deals that make Walmart and its war on the middle class possible Look at the Chinese FIPA deal and say bye bye to your sovcereign democracy much less your livelihood and paycheck.

IMHO

excusemebut2, I see your point. People working full time, and yet still subsidized by government with food stamps to feed their families… all so that Walmart can make more corporate profits destroying the labor market through slave labor subsidized imports and further undercutting what people will have to take to have a job at all.

This food stamp requirement of a full time corporate employee is a corporate subsidy paid for by government no doubt.

In America corporations are subsidized by food stamps… in Canada corporations are subsidized by universal health care that creates free enterprise conditions on the ground as companies no longer compete on private health care insurance costs as a part of doing business… but rather in Canada we have an equal across the board cost structure for health care that enables a meritocracy of business strengths to the market economy where companies compete through productivity, marketing and other business related activity and not insurance eligibility and costs structures for various firms based on other intangibles not related to the business model.

In Canada our corporate subsidy to business through universal health care enables free enterprise economics that makes new entry to a business or industry possible on a fair footing. In America the corporate subsidy of food stamps enables a monopoly capitalist economics that picks winners and losers through insurance actuarial risk determinations.

Two vastly different uses of corporate subsidies underlying two vastly different economic models.

Of course in Canada we also subsidize the oil and gas industry with their marketing budgets and lobbyist agenda in Washington. Maybe through our tax cuts at times as well.