By David Boese
It’s the Economy stupid!
The ongoing Wall Street demonstrations, soon expected to come to Bay Street, have a lot to do with economic disparity and a lack of jobs.
The real phrase should be “it’s the Debt stupid.” The real problem facing our current economic malaise is that from individuals to sovereign states, we’re all carrying too much debt. Why is this? Well quite simply it’s the money supply or lack thereof, controlled by a handful of “Robber Barons” or more commonly know as “Banksters.”
When one per cent of the world population (private and corporate) control the financial destiny of everyone on the planet, greed sets in and power is king. Something isn’t working and a new monetary paradigm is the only answer to close the income disparity gap.
When I talk to people who have a job and tell them I’m advocating for a guaranteed living income for everyone, they immediately say that the jobless are just lazy and if you give them a guaranteed annual income they will refuse to work. I don’t believe this to be true.
Yes, there will always be lazy people, no matter what. Can I dare say that there are actually lazy people who are rich and that we have a lot (not all) lazy bureaucrats who don’t contribute a dime of wealth for our country! I believe that most people want to be engaged in a meaningful occupation and like to keep busy, regardless of their economic status.
For a lot of people who don’t have a job, it is through no fault of their own. Who do you turn to if you lose your job because of illness, work related accident, downsizing, outsourcing, or because the company you work for goes bankrupt after stealing your pension savingsand the investments you hold for your retirement become worthless! The list goes on!
As an employed person, things may seem A.O.K., but situations can turn on a dime and then your thoughts will turn into helplessness. So, I’m suggesting that we become proactive and support reform for monetary issues.
David Boese is a Niagara native and an advocate for monetary reform and for a living wage for everyone. He has his own blogsite called ‘Apathy Begone: Activating Minds and Voices and you can visit it at boeseblog@wordpress.com.
(Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views below.)
Niagara At Large 
The rich minority that owns most of the stock market needs to start sharing the pain.
People who don’t support transitions away from fossil fuels need to understand what retired U.S Brigadier -General Steve Anderson had to say at a Keystone Pipeline hearing:
” The U.S gluttony for oil is partly why two wars were launched in the past ten years, conflicts that have killed thousands of U.S soldiers…our addiction to oil gets our soldiers killed. Stop the pipeline”
These grassroots protests indicate people’s frustrations with many valid issues, and many of these issues relate to corporate issues that are too often driving public policy. (Another one would be for profit healthcare.)
LikeLike
David Boese is right on. Liviable Income For Everyone advantages all – as L.I.F.E. monies would be spend locally, aiding our own ecomony and certainly provide everyone with the security most do not have.
LikeLike
My theory is simple. Would you rather be rich, whether it’s because you’re smart and work hard or just plain lucky….or would you rather be poor, not necessarily because you’re dumb or lazy, but rather because you have a health issue or you’re unlucky? I’m sure we would all choose the first choice. Therefore, the rich should be thankful and willing to share a little of their “lucky gains” with those less fortunate. Isn’t that supposed to be the Christian thing to do?
LikeLike
Some think the rich should redistribute the wealth to the poor. I think that devout Marxists also believe that.
LikeLike
I don’t necessarily believe the rich should redistribute wealth to the poor. To me that sounds like sarcasm. They should, however, rather that hoarding it or having fur lined sinks in their corporate jets, reinvest it in enterprises creating jobs for those in need of jobs. Instead they are investing in a way that is not really helping others, that is outsourcing to foreign countires with child labour and miserable wages all to the purpose
of maximizing profits with no real concern for the slightest hint of altruism. We are going through the most recent “gilded age” but it is now, as in the past, only gilded for those in the top few percentile. Unions and social programmes were the result and solution in the past and now the pendulum is swinging back the other way.Crass comments like Herman Cain’s “people hate the rich and expect them to write them a check. They have themselves to blaim if they are not rich. They should go out and become rich themselves. Reminds me of the old Steve Martin routine, how to become a millionaire and never pay taxes. “First, get a million dollars. Then, ‘forget’ to pay taxes”. It seems so easy it’s a wonder we didn’t all think about it..He exhibits about as much compassions as most of his type.
LikeLike
Cont….Capitalism is fine but a balance is needed with some socialist elements to keep things on an even keel and prevent rampant abuse of wealth and power as is now occurring. It is not the systems to blame for our problems but rather the abuse of the various government systems by selfish, uncaring individuals. It is not the “isms” that are at fault but rather the “ists”. Right now GREEDY capitalists have scuttled everything by their excesses to the chagrin of the general populace. They own the government and also the media and use it to keep the populace divided into right/left, Lib/Cons. and so on so we fight each other rather than the true source of our misfortunes.
LikeLike
I’m not a Marxist, far from it, which is one reason why I am troubled by the fact that North America is shipping so many jobs off to Communist China. Recently, Canadian ships that should have been built at Port Weller, were being built in China.
Local farmers can’t compete with produce shipped from China, so we’re losing sustainability and good farmland. What will happen when/if the Chinese impose economic sanctions on us?
LikeLike
Our economy is in a sinkhole and it will be US that pay for it, not those that caused the problems in the first place … they’ll continue to get their corporate welfare handouts, tax cuts and private jets, while we lose the middle class and the economy sinks further.
LikeLike