"We sold ourselves a pipe dream that everyone could get rich and no one would get hurt — a pipe dream that exploded like a pipe bomb when the already-rich grabbed for all the gold; when they used their fortunes to influence government and gain favors and protection; when everyone else was left to scrounge around their ankles in hopes that a few coins would fall.
"We have not taken care of the least among us. We have allowed a revolting level of income inequality to develop. We have watched as millions of our fellow countrymen have fallen into poverty. And we have done a poor job of educating our children and now threaten to leave them a country that is a shell of its former self. We should be ashamed."
Blow provides a data assessment of social justice in the OECD countries showing the US stuck in the bottom quintile followed only by Greece, Chile, Mexico and Turkey. The top quintile is reserved exclusively for the Nordic countries. Canada falls into the second quintile behind the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg. It sounds like Stevie Harper has a lot of work ahead of him to drag us into line with his American Idol.
Wilkinson, along with co-author Kate Pickett (both epidemiologists), wrote an excellent book, The Spirit Level. Read it. Buy it if you can.
It seems the blindingly obvious is now reaching the mainstream.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's obvious yet we have allowed our leaders to adopt a Chicago, neo-liberal form of economics that powerfully rejects equality. When did you last hear a prominent Liberal denounce the growing scourge of inequality in Canada? And, by inequality I include inequality in wealth, income, opportunity and social justice as well as corporatism. With each passing day my former party demonstrates how far it has fallen since it was last fit to govern my country.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I think Stevie Harper has his plans to destroy Canada well in hand. He is quickly turning our country into a petrostate in which our economy will succeed or fail on the basis of the price of Tar Sands oil and shale gas. We will be distracted with tax cuts while our social programs are being defunded. When our social programs start to fall apart from defunding, they will be privatized because they no longer work. Hey, he's still got almost four more years to go!
ReplyDeleteGreat comments by all. The world is waking up while large parts of Canada's population due in large part to our msm still have their eyes closed... “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”... The harperCONS are slowly turning us into nothing more than wage and debt slaves.
ReplyDeleteCanadians need to wake up to what the Occupy Movement is all about and get involved by doing their part to take back our country from the 1%ers. We are the 99%!