tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post4943311310475445612..comments2024-03-28T19:18:40.387-04:00Comments on Northern Reflections: Generation Y Gets The Short EndOwen Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-84283324393917126482016-03-08T18:48:37.383-05:002016-03-08T18:48:37.383-05:00It's truly remarkable, Mound, how governments ...It's truly remarkable, Mound, how governments have adopted policies which were proved retrograde long ago. Myopia has become as prevalent as the common cold.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-23190056426770986022016-03-08T17:47:43.400-05:002016-03-08T17:47:43.400-05:00This won't change, Owen, until we kick over th...<br />This won't change, Owen, until we kick over the traces of neoliberalism. Look at the impressive economic recovery in the United States since the meltdown of 2008. Where has it gone? To the top 1%. All other groups, white and blue collar, have seen their incomes stagnate or worse. <br /><br />That is an engineered outcome, the result of targeted legislation. It is neither merit nor market based. Stiglitz lays this out convincingly in "The Price of Inequality." Logic and fact have been stood on their head. We have been successfully fed this great lie about 'wealth creators' and how their prosperity 'trickles down' to the plebs when, in reality, legislated tax cuts, deferrals and exemptions coupled with subsidies, grants and the provision of public property to private interests at below market costs if not free has created a 'trickle up' economy in which wealth is siphoned out of the state and the majority of its citizens to those who are designated to receive it.<br /><br />We have created a 'rentier' class and in a throwback to the Victorian era and the centuries before it, they've stopped investing and have instead diverted a good deal of their newfound wealth into accumulation. Corporations are doing the same, sitting on earnings, what Carney and others call "dead money."<br /><br />There was a time when we recognized wealth redistribution as a fundamental and desirable responsibility of government. This was instrumental to the creation of a healthy, robust economy capable of weathering recessions and similar disruptive events. <br /><br />If we are to get out of this and restore social cohesiveness that will be sorely needed to meet the other challenges of this century, we must tax excess wealth at very high levels as we once did. This is addressed clearly in Roosevelt's 'Square Deal' speech of 1910. Without it there can be no progressivism.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-4523274479177008442016-03-08T13:14:26.934-05:002016-03-08T13:14:26.934-05:00According to the latest data from Elections Canada...According to the latest data from Elections Canada, a lot more young people turned out to vote last time around, ffd. Things could be changing.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-9381028172889333782016-03-08T11:46:32.204-05:002016-03-08T11:46:32.204-05:00Weird thing is that younger people are much less l...Weird thing is that younger people are much less likely to be politically aware and active and even to vote than older people. Issues like affordable housing and renewable energy should be of deep interest to younger people but they aren't on the whole.ffdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-64196787430839210952016-03-08T11:15:54.992-05:002016-03-08T11:15:54.992-05:00All three of our children fit into that demographi...All three of our children fit into that demographic, Lorne. They are all have university degrees. But they have discovered that a university degree does not necessarily lead to a good job. They have a harder time than my wife and I did.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-86228659604639825422016-03-08T10:58:43.163-05:002016-03-08T10:58:43.163-05:00If one has kids fitting into that demographic, Owe...If one has kids fitting into that demographic, Owen, one knows all too well that these reports of the struggles of the millennials are not exaggerated. Not only are we bequeathing them a world climate extremes, we are also leaving them one with employment extremes. One hopes that with the power of the young being tapped in the Sanders campaign in the U.S., increasing numbers of young people will begin to appreciate their potential political clout.Lornehttp://www.politicsanditsdiscontents.blogspot.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-39551121572087532272016-03-08T09:45:49.758-05:002016-03-08T09:45:49.758-05:00Interesting, isn't it, Anon? The young recogni...Interesting, isn't it, Anon? The young recognize the real deal -- and age has nothing to do with it.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-31312349207791649992016-03-08T09:44:05.848-05:002016-03-08T09:44:05.848-05:00True, thwap. But, whatever group you consider, the...True, thwap. But, whatever group you consider, the winners are few and far between.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-43256992670431835742016-03-08T09:34:38.912-05:002016-03-08T09:34:38.912-05:00The fact that most national governments are ignori...The fact that most national governments are ignoring the plight of generation Y is one reason I admire Bernie Sanders. He and his supporters claim he is running as a presidential candidate because it gives him a national platform to advertise that injustice, and should he be elected, to do something about it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-78212571832407255872016-03-08T08:57:40.990-05:002016-03-08T08:57:40.990-05:00I have my doubts about the gains of those other gr...I have my doubts about the gains of those other groups too. I know Gen-X hasn't done well. They're probably skewing things with "averages" that include a few winners.<br /><br />Gen-Y hasn't had much time to produce "winners."thwaphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15399550285738440669noreply@blogger.com