Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Inequality Is Not Inevitable
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Dec. 8, 2011
The paper… considers the many economic and social factors that contribute to high poverty and rising inequality… Poverty and inequality are complex problems that require a set of linked interventions related to affordable housing, early childhood development and child care, education and skills training, and decent employment opportunities that pay a living wage. This paper focuses, however, upon the crucial redistributive role of the federal government through income security programs and a progressive income tax system.
Tags: child care, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Reduce income gap, think-tank says
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Dec. 6, 2011
The report found the gap between rich and poor in its member countries had reached the highest level in more than 30 years in 2008… The aim of the study is to dispel the assumption the benefits of economic growth trickle down automatically to those on the lower end of the earning spectrum… “Greater inequality does not foster social mobility,”… “Without a comprehensive strategy for inclusive growth, inequality will continue to rise. There is nothing inevitable about high and growing inequalities. Our policies have created a system that makes them grow and it’s time to change these policies.”
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
OECD calls time on trickle down theory
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Dec. 5, 2011
Trickle down theory is dead. The belief fostered by Ronald Reagan in the U.S. and Margaret Thatcher in the U.K. in the 1980s, that if the rich got richer, their income and wealth would trickle down the income scale so that a rising tide lifted all the boats, has had the last rites pronounced on it – by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Its report “Divided We Stand” published on Monday highlights how income inequality is rising almost everywhere in the developed world.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Crime bill cuts concessions to aboriginal circumstance
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Dec. 6, 2011
… Canada has failed to come to terms with the over-incarceration of aboriginal offenders… The Gladue decision urges courts to be more creative with sentencing, to look deeper into causes and solutions and to draw from aboriginal traditions. One of these traditions is restorative justice, which seeks to bring victims and offenders together, enabling offenders to make meaningful amends for the harm they have done. The judicial tool that has allowed for such creative sentencing is the conditional sentence… Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, however, will continue to cut away at the ability of courts to impose these conditional sentences.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, Indigenous, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Canada’s wage gap at record high: OECD
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Dec. 05, 2011
“Income inequality increased during both recessionary and boom periods, and it has increased despite employment growth”… The richest 1 per cent of Canadians saw their share of total income rise to 13.3 per cent in 2007 from 8.1 per cent in 1980… Two factors explain Canada’s growing gap: a widening disparity in labour earnings between high- and low-paid workers, and less redistribution. “Taxes and benefits reduce inequality less in Canada than in most OECD countries”
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Women still owed wage parity
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Dec. 5, 2011
Sure, women have seen advances… Statistics Canada reported last year that between 1997 and 2007, the proportion of women matching or exceeding their husbands’ earnings climbed to 42% from 37%. But crunch the numbers differently, and the figures tell a much different story. In 2007, Canadian women brought home an average of $43,000; men earned $60,300. Put another way: women earned an average of 71.4% of men.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Equality Debates | 2 Comments »
End native apartheid
Thursday, December 1st, 2011
Dec. 1, 2011
Children living in such squalor in non-native environments would be likely removed from their families and placed in foster care. But the grim legacy of the residential school system, and the political incorrectness of jeopardizing the maintenance of their aboriginal heritage, means native kids are left to suffer while the rest of Canada remains largely ignorant… the reality is that by leaving them in environments like Attawapiskat, we are knowingly condemning them to a cycle of poverty, abuse and neglect, a cycle that no amount of tax dollars has been able – or will be able – to break.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
Third World conditions — First World ignorance
Thursday, December 1st, 2011
Nov 30 2011
When emergency situations occur, First Nations like Attawapiskat must either use the money provided for their basic needs or they must call upon the federal and provincial governments to provide financial assistance. Often they end up using their existing funding to address crisis situations in their communities, with no reimbursement from any level of government. As a result, they go into deficit… It’s not the time for finger pointing or attempting to convince the Canadian public that loads of money has already been spent on aboriginal peoples in Canada, and that accountability and transparency are the answer.
Tags: budget, housing, Indigenous, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Aboriginal apartheid sentences Canadian natives to misery
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Nov 30, 2011
No one is advocating that First Nations children be subjected to the cruelties of residential schools… But the reality is that by leaving them in environments like Attawapiskat, we are knowingly condemning them to a cycle of poverty, abuse and neglect, a cycle that no amount of tax dollars has been able – or will be able – to break.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Occupy moves us into a new era
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Nov 21 2011
Are occupations really necessary to draw attention to their cause? Perhaps not. But I’d trust their judgment over mine. After all, they’ve managed to change the public discourse, putting inequality front and centre — something activists and writers, myself included, have failed to accomplish despite decades of trying.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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