519-646-2222WAGE DECLINES, TAX INCREASES = MORE DEBT
Is there any end in sight to a grossly unbalanced economy?
Since the 1970s the so called “middle class” has been in steady decline. Incomes have been going down in real terms and taxes, since 1970, have almost doubled. Bank profits have soared to incredible numbers and the value of a dollar drops with every credit or debit card purchase made.
More people have their name on title of their homes than ever before in the history of Canada. But people home less and less of the equity in their homes than at any previous period.
Household debt is at a historic high and continues to grow. Although, during the last forty years, average family incomes have fallen by aproximately 40%, when adjusted for inflation, most modern families are supported by two incomes while most were living off one in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the 1960s and 1970s the goverment was building superhighways across the country – the 401 and the Trans Canada Highway for example. in the 2010s even though we pay twice as much in taxation we can barely get the potholes filled.
People are living off credit – more than 120,000 people a year are filing for bankruptcy relief (through a bankruptcy or a proposal). Interest rates are at historic lows for fear that an increase will cause a run on default.
Each year more and more jobs move to cheaper offshore market places and we are told that there is a “global economy”. The fact is that the price of labour in Asian countries, where there are minimal labour laws and regulations, is so cheap that the workers are paid less than Canadian workers were 100 years ago.
A global economy would be one in which there were global standards in taxation for corporations, global wage levels, global health and safety rules and global benefits for workers. There would also be internationally enforceable rules. Ah Eutopia!
What can you do when almost 50% of every penny you earn is paid in taxation? When your take home income is insufficient to support you and your family you become resourceful and use “credit” – or as it properly known DEBT!