Many editorial and opinion letters continue to spout diatribes about socialism and promote a climate of charitable organization praise while quoting biblical verses and stating there always will be the poor. For some readers there is no desire to read these articles even for second opinion value.
God-given free will also includes critical thinking. Charity touted as panacea for poverty only masks poverty and should be viewed as sinful when it replaces decent indexed living wages or pushes poor further into poverty while financially privileging the wealthy and fleecing the poor. As if the poor love to use charity. Author of “Low wages are a subsidy” brings absolute truth to charity being a subsidy.
Two diatribes ad nauseum of the wealthy are higher education (good) and public service employees (bad).
Higher education doesn’t do a damn thing when the wealthy, married, white privileged, and government lobbyists in Canada and USA control the financial outcome for minorities and the poor. Examples: singles with good education and jobs still have to live frugally while being forced into smaller housing costing more per square foot and paying more taxes without same benefits and pension splitting of the married, USA mortgages for black and brown persons calculated differently than for whites, and USA student loans defaulting every 23 seconds.
Public service employees are more likely to be married with children with one spouse working in the private sector. Benefits and pensions of public service employees benefit more than just the employee as they extend to the children and private sector spouse.
The married can manipulate non-taxed RRSP benefits between spouses and maybe even get higher Canada Child Benefits. Public service pensions are taxed, but both spouses will be able to pension split and maybe receive less Old Age Security clawback while one spouse is receiving public service pension. Surviving spouse of the deceased public service employee will receive public service pension to which he/she has not contributed as a private sector employee.
Some employees in sectors like oil and gas are unionized and participate in company pensions. The healthy wages of the Alberta oil and gas sector helped push up public sector wages. The private sector seems to believe only entrepreneurs and corporate elite are deserving of higher incomes instead of fair compensation for all work including wage earners. If City of Calgary and government pensions are problems, then solve those problems instead of attacking the whole public sector population.
Climate of truth with critical thinking on income and benefits fairness includes a solid base of indexed living wages based on Market Basket Measure criteria.
Lin Gackle
