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This is the middle third of a brief overview of the Parkland Institute report on the decline of equality in Alberta that will focus on the specific contributing factors mentioned but not enumerated in part one. Starting with:
“a | The Tax Cut Agenda: The flat tax was a transfer of wealth to high-income Albertans. Middle-income Albertans actually pay more tax than in most other provinces, while the top income bracket pays by far the lowest taxes in the nation. Alberta also has the lowest corporate taxes in the nation and collects by far the lowest taxes in the nation, $10.7 billion less than BC, the next lowest province in 2008.”
Ah, Alberta where we penalize the middle class for daring to be successful. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well as long as you’ve already ‘made it’.
“b | Stalled Social Spending: Alberta spends less on average than many other provinces on a per capita basis. As a percentage of GDP, total spending of combined provincial and municipal governments in Alberta fell from a high of 21 per cent in 1991-1993 to only 13.4 per cent in 2007. For comparison, the OECD average was 21 per cent, while at the top end Sweden and France spend 29 per cent.”
We bleat and moan about our healthcare spending and then never think to look at the precursors to ill health, that is the social conditions we face and the supports in place to ensure healthy living for everyone in Alberta. As the statistics show, we spend less on the front-end social supports and then wonder why the back end is costing us so much.
“c | Labour markets: Jobs have become increasingly contingent – temporary, part-time and self-employed – while average wages have barely been keeping pace with inflation. A study of inequality trends in OECD countries found that the most important factor in equality was trade union membership. On this front, Alberta compares poorly with the lowest rate of unionization in Canada.”
Of course Alberta has the lowest rate of unionization, we need our workers free of the protections unions offer so they can be more easily exploited.
“d | Offloading of community services: In downsizing government many services were offloaded to the voluntary or community sector which has been shifted to a ‘contract culture,’ with insecure funding and low wages and benefits.”
Ah, the hallowed “Charities will pick up the slack” balderdash makes its appearance. Private charities are not comparable to public institutions when it comes to taking care of the disadvantaged. The private charities meme exists more to assuage the guilt of the wealthy of society rather than making a meaningful effort at tackling the conditions that presuppose the necessity of a private charity in the first place.
It is not all doom and gloom, we as Albertans can push to make Alberta better for everyone and here is how. How we can fix Alberta will be tomorrows post. :)
The constant boom/bust cycle in Alberta allows the Tory government to evade the valid concerns of its citizenry and consistently mismanage the wealth of the province. In a report by the Parkland Institute the failures of the current government are highlighted and summarized. I’ll be commenting on the executive summary, but you can get it and the full report here.
“Alberta has been prone to booms and busts but overall has seen long-term growth in the size of the economy and a dramatic increase in wealth. However, along with this wealth has come disparity; inequality in both income and quality of life is creating problems across Alberta. Alberta’s economic growth has gone mostly to those in the higher incomes. Quality of life indicators such as income security, personal disposable income, social cohesion, food security, housing affordability, leisure and family time, and educational attainment show that middle and low-income Albertans are struggling to keep the status quo and many are being left behind.”
Funny how that works when you have a flat tax that absurdly favours the rich. I’m not sure where we ditched the idea of progressive taxation, but it is a major coup for socialism for the wealthy.
“Research shows that the costs of this inequality cut across all of society. Some of the impacts visible in Alberta include: economic and social exclusion evidenced by increasing food bank usage and homelessness; Alberta has the highest rates of family violence in the country and leads the country in domestic assault, homicide-suicide and stalking; Alberta has record low voter turnout; Albertans rank the lowest in the nation for sense of belonging in their community; Alberta has low university participation; and Albertans have the lowest leisure time in the nation.”
Ah, the hardworking Albertan. More likely to be abusive, poor and atomized within society. Not exactly the cherished “Alberta Advantage” that was the talk of the town not so long ago. Lets look at the inequalities the report mentions.
“• Aboriginal families, single parents, and newcomers in Alberta live in deeper and a more persistent state of poverty than in any other province in Canada. The unemployment rate for newcomers is double that of the general population. Women continue to earn 72 cents of the male dollar.”
Yep, a big thanks to the inherent Patriarchal and racist memes that are so prevalent in our culture.
“• Minimum wage does not pay enough to live and work at levels that allow people to realistically meet their costs.”
Is it really surprising that one cannot make it on 8.80/hr?
“• Middle income families have come under increasing pressure. Wages have barely kept up with inflation and in some cases fallen, they are working more hours, have less disposable income, higher debt loads and they pay amongst the highest out-of-pocket costs for services such as childcare, health care, education, utilities, recreation and vehicle insurance in the nation.”
Ah yes, enjoy all the benefits of the free market, you can in fact, pay more for less and be less well off as a result of your hard work. Universal day-care, that is the ugly scourge of socialism that the people of Alberta will not stand for.
“• Albertans work 1,880 hours per year, the highest in Canada, and much higher than many other developed economies. Albertans work an additional 300 hours or about 7.5 weeks more than the OECD 15 average. This is because Alberta has a much longer work week and has less paid holidays and vacation entitlements (two weeks compared to six weeks for the EU).”
Because working harder not smarter is the paradigm that we have chosen for our little sweatshop of a province.
“• Social assistance rates are far below the poverty line and have not been keeping pace with inflation. Increasingly stringent asset and earnings exemption regulations make it difficult to escape from poverty. The current patchwork of different programs means people can fall between the cracks.”
I think we’ve channelled social-Darwinians to construct our social programs. The delusional idea that helping people less makes for a better society remains proudly(?) emblazoned upon the Alberta boilerplate.
“• Alberta’s Aboriginal peoples experience the most extreme disparity: income disparities are severe (Aboriginal incomes at 2/3 the average income for men and ½ for women); levels of unemployment are triple the average; Aboriginal children are very over-represented in children in care; there is disproportionate representation of Aboriginal people at all stages of the justice system, both as victims and offenders; levels of educational attainment are much lower; health outcomes are much poorer; housing quality is lower; and food security is lower.”
It must be because they are lazy and just do not want to work. It is almost like they have a victimhood complex and just want handouts from the government (insert anecdata about the lazy Indian you know about here). Would they be in such a bind if they started out with the same privileges white males get in society? It is about as fair as running a 100 yard dash but some people have 50 pound sacks of potatoes strapped to their ankles.
So here are the problems, what are the causes?
“Key causes of Alberta’s disparity: The erosion of social infrastructure through the adoption of a flat-tax regime and 25 years of governments spending too little on social assistance programs have exacerbated inequalities as have labour market policies and offloading to community services agencies.”
It is almost like the rich are setting the agenda so that only they do well and a big hearty “frack-you” to the rest of us. That gentle readers, is the political truth in Alberta.
The specifics of the mismanagement of Alberta will be covered on Tuesday as 900 words for a post is already well into TL;DR. territory.
People riot over the prices of food and cooking oil on the streets of Algeria.
What ruins societies? The maldistribution of wealth between the very rich and the very poor. Inequalities that are magnified by state apparatus that legislates for and caters to the the class that holds the power. This particular drama is being played out in Algeria.
“Algerian authorities have vowed to punish those responsible for nationwide food riots in which at least four people were reported killed and more than 800 injured.
Press reports on Sunday quoted Dahou Ould Kablia, interior minster, saying that troublemakers “will not go unpunished”.
It is important to mobilize the coercive agents of the state to keep the people in line. The status quo, after all, needs defending.
“The government on Saturday said it will cut taxes and import duties on some staple foods, amid a series of deadly riots that have killed at least three people.
According to state media, a meeting of ministers in the capital Algiers agreed to measures which would reduce the price of sugar and cooking oil by 41 per cent.
“Nothing can cast doubt on the resolute will of the state, under the direction of the president of the republic, to intervene whenever necessary to preserve the purchasing power of citizens in the face of any price increase,” a government statement said.
Algeria has seen three days of unrest over the rising costs of living and unemployment, which government figures show standing at about 10 per cent, but which independent organisations put closer to 25 per cent.
Layachi Ansar, professor of sociology at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera that the cutting of food taxes and duties was “a superficial measure” that doesn’t address “the deep crisis” going on in Algeria, connected with the “unequal distribution of wealth – this wealth is spoilt by corruption, by bad governance and lack of accountability of government officials and state civil servants”.
Throw them some crusts and curds and hope they ignore the lavish feast going on in the background.
“Mohamed Zitout, a former Algerian diplomat, told Al Jazeera: “It is a revolt, and probably a revolution, of an oppressed people who have, for 50 years, been waiting for housing, employment, and a proper and decent life in a very rich country.
“But unfortunately it is ruled by a very rich elite that does not care about what is happening in the country – because they did not give people what they want, even though the government has the means to do so, the people are now revolting.”
Young people clashed with police in Algiers and several other towns across the country on Friday despite appeals for calm from imams. In Annaba, 600km west of the capital, rioting broke out after Friday prayers in a poor neighbourhood of the city and continued late into the night. A local government office was ransacked, according to witnesses. Protesters also cut down electricity poles during the night, cutting off power to the working class suburb of Auzas.”
Breaking points are reached, the poor majority finally can take no more of a country being run for the benefits of a small segment of society. Will it be popular revolution or even more repression when it comes to Algeria? It is too soon to make a prediction.
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