It has always seemed to me that if those with the publicized point of view are making money they will feel that the economy is strong. Which is to say: if businessmen and politicians and policy-makers are all doing well for themselves they will likely say that Things Are Good. This is born out in the States, where rampant illiteracy, poverty and impotent public education are still somehow overlooked in the “we rule the world” light because the government is fueling a very agressive image of prosperity. Well, a few people are getting very rich, aren’t they.
But while it’s easy to pick on such a fat, bloated, corrupt target it would be unfair of me to imply that Canada is not also declining in social integrity.
A recent independent international study spells it out:
Canadian poverty rising despite economic boom.
To put it simply – all the money continues to rise to the top. That’s how capitalism works. There’s a boom, alright, but it’s pretty high over head. Efforts to offset this imbalance with social programs tend to be of the “give a man a fish” variety. There is still far too much inertia entrenched in politics and committees to enable real social reform.
I think perhaps the author of the Canada portion of the study is still missing the point. It is asserted that there are far more resources available now than ever before. I agree. There is more money in the system. But it’s not being effectively channeled into building a system that supports itself. A system that, by nature, raises the base line.
High quality public education. A U-turn safety net. Everyone contributes and everyone gets ahead. Those that are willing to work harder still thrive, but with the added advantage of not having to support non-contributors.
There. Maybe that got your attention. All I want is for domestic policy to invert itself. Rather than invest in luring business to Canada and hoping that money will trickle down (which it does, but that’s hardly comforting when the corporations pick up & leave for a better tax break elsewhere), I say we invest in raising the quality of life across the board. If, on the micro scale, everyone wants to live in the nice part of town where their kids can get a good education and no one has to lock their doors at night… doesn’t it make sense to make your whole country that neighbourhood? Especially if it doesn’t cost anyone any more than they’re already paying?
I don’t pretend to have all the answers but I do know that so long as we keep layering more bandaids over old bandaids to keep us going while we chase Mr Fatwallet we’re never going to heal.