Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category
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50 Years Later: The War on Poverty Needs an Update
Sunday, January 12th, 2014
The trouble is that we still tend to view poverty through a strictly financial lens… Currently, a single person with annual income below $11,490 is considered to be in poverty… There is no law that says someone is “poor” because they are illiterate or homeless, no regulation that says someone is “poor” because they are discriminated against or denied opportunity. But surely it is the hardship that people face that we really care about, not just a measure of income.
Tags: featured, homelessness, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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As the Working Poor Become More Common in Britain, So Does Hunger
Monday, January 6th, 2014
The working poor, long a part of the social landscape in the United States, are becoming more common on this side of the Atlantic. As their numbers grow, so too does hunger… not pain as such, more an obsession that consumes all your thoughts and energy… Average hourly earnings have risen a mere 7 percent while the cost of living has gone up by almost 20 percent, leaving at least 500,000 people here reliant on food aid, three times as many as a year ago
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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All roads lead to increased pension savings
Saturday, December 21st, 2013
By better preparing Canadians for retirement – be it through an enlarged CPP, a proposed pooling of voluntary savings or some combination of the two – the government cannot avoid one obvious truth. Saving more for tomorrow will mean a leaner economy today… But ultimately, if we don’t want to be eating tins of cat food when we retire, we need to save more today. Full stop.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
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No to enhancing the CPP [?]
Saturday, December 21st, 2013
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty makes absolutely no sense by saying that people cannot afford to have more money taken off their paycheques, then insisting that we should be saving more / … Jim Flaherty is telling us that the economy is not strong enough to enhance the CPP… It seems even the Conservatives don’t believe their propaganda. / When a sizable portion of the population has either a part-time or temporary job, how can you acquire a good pension?
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, standard of living
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Poverty costs Canada billions of dollars every year
Wednesday, December 18th, 2013
Taxpayers’ dollars (federal, provincial and local) are being wasted. Research by economists for the Ontario Association of Food Banks demonstrated that the cost of poverty in Canada is between $72-billion to $86-billion annually (health care, soup kitchens, shelters, police, corrections). Poverty could be eliminated for just a fraction of this amount.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, economy, featured, Health, homelessness, ideology, Indigenous, poverty, standard of living, women, youth
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Who needs CPP?
Wednesday, December 18th, 2013
First, there’s Flaherty’s glib little spin line about “payroll taxes.” The CPP is not a payroll tax: it is the last bastion of a pension for seniors in this county, a measly $12,000 a year that is, for many, the one remaining constant in a working world that has seen, under Flaherty’s watch, companies flee from defined benefit pension plans and from pensions altogether…
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, privatization, standard of living
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Flaherty to savers: You’re on your own with CPP as it stands
Tuesday, December 17th, 2013
The CPP is not a welfare program, or an income-redistribution program. It’s not paid for by taxes. It’s a defined-benefit pension plan… It’s actuarially sound, independently run and low-cost. It’s one of the world’s best-run retirement safety nets… The choice is between each of us saving more on our own and all of us saving more, together. Canada’s extremely low savings are testimony to the fact that the former approach, Mr. Flaherty’s preferred route, isn’t working.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, privatization, standard of living
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Ottawa is wrong to block much-needed CPP reform
Tuesday, December 17th, 2013
This failure of federal leadership and prudent stewardship is leading us nowhere good. Clearly, the CPP needs beefing up, insofar as it leaves millions at risk. Currently it covers earnings only up to about $50,000, providing up to $12,000 in annual pension. That’s little enough today. What will it be worth in 30 years’ time? … The advantages of a broad, enhanced CPP should be obvious… CPP reform is the way to go. And it’s past time we got going.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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Finance ministers make right call on big CPP
Monday, December 16th, 2013
The starting idea, that Canadians are not saving enough and are at risk of ending up in retirement poverty, is a hotly debated theory that divides experts along ideological lines. Does government really know how much Canadians should be saving? Should it impose forced savings to meet specific macro-economic targets? What really stalled CPP expansion… is simple enough. The plans failed because of the underlying weaknesses of the claims and proposals put forward by proponents of radical expansion.
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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Disabled in Ontario increasingly forced onto welfare
Saturday, December 14th, 2013
From its origins in the 1960s as the disability benefit of last resort, the Ontario Disability Support Program has become the only financial assistance available for a growing number of Ontarians… Due to the rise of part-time, contract and other forms of non-standard work, more and more Ontarians who become sick, injured or disabled no longer qualify for Employment Insurance sickness benefits, workers’ compensation or workplace disability benefits…
Tags: disabilities, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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