|
Ed, when the poor kick back politicians will
act.
I agree, and in some cases they have on
matters such as housing, for example. But they can't seem to present any
kind of unified front. The people I described as using my food bank, older
guys from the valley, embarrassed young mothers with kids, and the young who
graced us with their presence really wanted to have very little to do with each
other. What we need is a unification of the poor and politicians who pay
attention to them, but we seem to have run out of people like Tommy
Douglas, Stanley Knowles and David Lewis and we now seem to have a plethora of
people like Peter MacKay, Stephen Harper and Paul Martin, people who pay far
more attention to the rich than the poor. In the past few decades, the
political drift has been rightward, and the drift of society as a whole has
been toward the establishment of a middle class identity that
sees poverty terms of personal flaw and the poor as
undeserving.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 10:37
AM
Subject: RE: Slightly extended (was Re:
[Futurework] David Ricardo, Caveman Trade vs. Modern Trade
Ed,
when the poor kick back politicians will act.
I'm not laughing, Harry. I've just accessed a
report by the Canadian Council on Social Development that shows that poverty
in urban areas, including poverty among the working poor, increased in
Canada between 1990 and 1995. It has probably continued to increase
since then. I'm not sure of what can be done about it, but I would
agree with Arthur that foodbanks are not the answer. Neither is
kicking the poor harder, as politicians seem increasingly to want to
do.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 4:09
AM
Subject: RE: Slightly extended (was
Re: [Futurework] David Ricardo, Caveman Trade vs. Modern Trade
Ed,
Not only to liberty and justice not taste too
well, when they aren't there to taste, you will be sure that ends will not
meet.
Two hundred years ago, Ricardo postulated the
"Iron Law of Wages" and about 125 years ago George picked it up and ran
with it. Of course that's all Classical stuff - out-of-date for
these complex modern economies.
So, we have welfare for people with full-time
jobs who can't survive on what they get. We even have a name for them -
the working poor. We have a law to force employers to pay a minimum wage,
when in the England of half a millennium or so ago - there was a law
to keep wages down (the Statute of Laborers).
Why don't we laugh? Even though it might sound a
trifle hollow.
So, in ten years, or twenty, or a hundred, will
we still be trying but failing to provide something for an ever increasing
number of the poor?
On second thoughts, don't
laugh.
Harry
********************************************
Henry George School of Social
Science of Los
Angeles Box
655 Tujunga CA 91042 Tel: 818
352-4141 -- Fax: 818 353-2242
http://haledward.home.comcast.net
********************************************
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ed
Weick
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 6:08 AM
To:
Thomas Lunde; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re:
Slightly extended (was Re: [Futurework] David Ricardo, Caveman Trade vs.
Modern Trade
Thomas, very good posting. Ontario has just
raised the minimum wage from peanuts to peanuts. Many of the poor
are working full time and even double time, but are still unable to meet
the rent or buy enough food, let alone get their kids the kinds of in toys
("status goods") that are going around. They can try eating freedom
and justice, but they don't taste very good when you can't make ends
meet.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003
3:36 AM
Subject: Re: Slightly extended (was
Re: [Futurework] David Ricardo, Caveman Trade vs. Modern Trade
They don't need money, Thomas. They
need justice and the freedom to enjoy it.
Harry
Thomas:
In a way,
you are right. Being poor and working with the poor as customers
and neighbours let's me see the many ways the poor are lacking
justice. A recent article in the paper made the outstanding
statement that 37% of workers in Canada are not covered by the Labour
Code and laws. When wages for the poor are kept artificially
low, then the only way to compensate to maintain a survival standard
is to work more. Of course, there are about 4 to 5% who are
mentally incapable, or physically disabled or in the case of single
mothers, family challenged. However, the work more solution has
only produced the working poor, who still have to use food banks and
subsidized housing, if thet can get it. Not only that, as you
suggest, they do not even have the freedom to enjoy what little they
have. I would agree, that justice and freedom would go a long
way to compensating for money - or as you might suggest, make the
earning and spending of money a by product of an effective system of
justice and the freedom and thereby create a surplus to
enjoy.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked
by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.548 /
Virus Database: 341 - Release Date:
12/5/2003
|
