The Ontario legislature is currently debating Doug Ford's budget. That document, Fred Hahn writes, is another example of what Naomi Klein has dubbed "disaster capitalism:"
When we factor in inflation and population growth, base funding will decrease for education at all levels, social services, and municipalities. Funding for health care, the program area that sees the most support in this budget, will in effect be flatlined.
That means personal support workers and staff in long-term care aren’t seeing additional funding in this budget to ensure four-hours of direct, hands on care. Nor will they see any additional funding for compliance inspectors who help protect residents.
That means education workers who protect our schools, keeping them safe and clean while supporting students’ learning, will see no new pandemic funding to reduce class sizes or improve ventilation.
And while funding is set to decrease over time, tax breaks for corporations get bigger:
The government is also handing over money to large industrial and commercial businesses with increased electricity subsidies. This means that companies like Loblaws and Amazon, which have reported record profits during the pandemic, are getting government money to pay their hydro bills. Electricity subsidies now cost taxpayers more than $6 billion a year.
Coupled with the more than $3 billion in tax cuts handed out in the 2019 budget, and the years of record-low corporate taxes, what we’re actually seeing in this budget looks more like just another chapter in a long, ongoing, systematic heist of Ontario’s collective resources.
We are witnessing more corporate giveaways that have robbed Ontario of the revenue needed to support front-line public services that everyday people rely on — before, during, and after this pandemic passes.
So, the juggernaut continues -- you know, the one where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.
Images: pinterest.com
10 comments:
I am so sick and tired of this.
When will the Left propose something other than grumbling and one-off protest rallies?
It's a given that our society is populated with enough right-wing imbeciles and/or ignoramuses to make these grifter parties viable. But the majority of us aren't wired that way. Still, we allow this to happen.
I despise Doug Ford.
By now, thwap, we should know that these folks who claim to be "for the people" are selling snake oil.
The International Labour Organizatgion (ILO) has just released a study that predicts income levels will drop for low wage workers, in part because of the Covid pandemic.
"GENEVA (ILO News) – A new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) has found that monthly wages fell or grew more slowly in the first six months of 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , in two-thirds of countries for which official data was available, and that the crisis is likely to inflict massive downward pressure on wages in the near future.
"The wages of women and low-paid workers have been disproportionately affected by the crisis.
"Furthermore, while average wages in one-third of the countries that provided data appeared to increase, this was largely as a result of substantial numbers of lower-paid workers losing their jobs and therefore skewing the average, since they were no longer included in the data for wage-earners."
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_762547/lang--en/index.htm
Industry Leaders magazine reports that in the better-off "top third" countries, Covid has exacerbated inequality.
"...monthly pay fell broadly in two-thirds of countries for which official data was available. The daily work wages of women and low-paid workers were disproportionately affected by the crisis.
"In the remaining one-third of countries, including Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, and the US, the average wages show a major wage inequality. A substantial number of lower-paid workers lost their jobs and, therefore, were no longer included in the data for wage-earners. It also says that state subsidies and current minimum wage policies will only play a small part in mitigating the pandemic's effects in the long term."
https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/ilos-report-says-covid-19-pushed-wage-inequality-further/
This does sound just like "disaster capitalism" Owen. And, yes, it appeals to modern conservative instincts. Still it was Ontario's proles who put Ford in office.
As an aside, isn't it interesting to see how wholeheartedly Kenney goes the socialism route when his government's pandemic policies have led to Alberta's hospitals becoming overwhelmed? "Please, Mr. Trudeau; please, Red Cross; please send me those emergency hospitals because, once again, my rightwing policies have screwed the pooch."
Disaster Capitalism is all about privatizing profits and socializing losses, Mound. And that's exactly what's happening.
What I cannot believe is the amount of Con trolls on most MSM websites. Reading comments used to be as interesting as the article. Now there are hundreds of trolls that populate the comments with drivel. They are very "coordinated". X makes an anti-Trudeau comment (which has nothing to do with the article) and a minute later Y follows up on the same thread. Then along comes comes Z who makes a dumb statement supporting Trudeau so that X can come back a comment disputing what Z said. They have made reading comments (especially CBC) a waste of time. Do they sit a "War Room" somewhere and get paid to do this?
The so-called left is so preoccupied with its politically correct agenda that it can't see the forest for the trees in the way. The causes may be valid; they usually are. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there is money from conservative chests stoking the fires of this or that progressive cause, such wonderful distractions they be.
Political operatives have long since figured out how to use social media to power their agendas, Rob. There is one rule, however, that continues to hold true: choose your information sources carefully.
So much about politics these days is about distraction, Toby. The powers that be know that our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.
“I'd have wasted a lot of time and trouble before I learned that the best way to take all people, black or white, is to take them for what they think they are, then leave them alone.” ― William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Faulkner's people were never paragons of virtue, sal. But they were accurate portraits of humanity -- in specific and in general.
Post a Comment