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Tom Monto

It's time for you to use your head

To lower the cost of living there are many ways to go --

You can lower the cost of production by cutting wages paid to workers and prices paid to farmers. For this to lower consumer prices, the head offices that set prices would have to cut prices despite the fact they could still sell at the old prices, which consumers had gotten used to, which is not very likely. Of course the workers and farmers being paid less would save money if prices dropped (not likely) but would certainly not be any farther ahead overall.

OR

you can drop taxes on consumption such as the GST or provincial sales tax. Government revenue could be maintained by raising income tax or corporate tax, that is if you are not in the top shelf who would have to pay the higher tax.

or

you can re-allocate government pay--outs so people don't have to pay for some or many of the things they would otherwise have to pay for. Public roads and government police forces provide important things (mostly) for no cost to the consumer and have proven themselves for more than a century. Public health care is of more recent invention in Canada but has also proven itself as an efficient alternative, both to the individual and to society as a whole. Just taking the profit margin out of the provision of health care likely saves five or more percent, while the great efficiency of a program province-wide or country-wide also creates savings - Did you notice how U.S. sick and elderly have been coming to Canada to buy our cheaper medications?


To lower the cost of living government could extend government services to cover dental and eye care, to subsidize public transit... in Alberta the government could cover education taxes with its general revenue much of which is raised by income and corporate taxes. This has been discussed off and on for many decades, and would certainly lower the tax burden on the working families struggling just to stay ahead or to keep up.


As well, lowering the cost of living is fighting the general trend of prices.

In a prosperous economy prices rise.


Alberta 's economy is growing - maybe not as quickly as predicted always but that might reflect more the false optimism of those who gamble on the future and fear that an economy that is stable is the end of the world. There is demand for more and more money, more and more goods and services - this causes inflation. The $5 annual treaty pay-out 130 years ago paid for most staples (flour, sugar, etc.) a person needed for a year. Now it doesn't. That is inflation - the cost of living as measured at the grocery store is constantly rising. One old-timer noticed how he seemed to be getting stronger as he aged - when he was young he could barely lift a grocery bag holding $20 of food now he can do it easily.


Prices constantly rise overall unless we are in a Depression and then boy oh boy many of us will have problems. Those with steady work and solid incomes will do better during a Depression when prices drop but maybe a third will do terribly.


So if inflation is constant and trying to drive down the cost of a family's survival is a struggle against historic trends, what can be done for struggling families?

Some families have to rein in their spending. There is a saying "those who think having enough is nothing will find that nothing is ever enough." This includes the high price of real estate although many families (using their house as a retirement fund) and business people thrive from astronomically increasing real estate prices, it is a great expense. It accounts for maybe a third or more of a working family's spending month by month. Some prices may have to level off.


A better way to help families survive - getting ahead may be too optimistic these days and may be over-valued anyway - is to give them a leg-up.


If prices are not likely to come down then let's give families a boost to help them out. Increased family allowance and pensions fully indexed to the cost of inflation would help the old and the young and give them spending money that would help the economy roll along. It is more supporting of Canada's economy than tax cuts to the rich who would sock it away in a bank where it could lent out to pay for higher real estate prices or used for out of country junkets.


Support for families also shares out the burden bringing up the young, Overall all benefit from having well-cared for healthy people coming into the world. We as a society and as individuals suffer from lawlessness and bad behaviour, caused in part by some growing up in poverty and ignorance. Public schools help most grow up on a somewhat even playing field.


Do employers pay more to two parents than to two single people? Do employers pay more to a single mother of two than a single person? No, but the ones with children would have more expenses. If push comes to shove, is it possible for single people to push many parents out of the work force by being able to undercut them? Yes, George Bernard Shaw referred to this in his book The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism... so it is not new but many people have maybe never thought about it.


So families need help, the old and the young need help, the sick and lame need help, all of us who depend on the government pension plan for some support in our old age need solid help in the future.


If the government cares about their cost of living, they should lean down and give them a leg up. But the government will only do this if forced, it seems, by having the right people in power, by us electing a government that cares about helping these parts of society through real help.


I believe the NDP would be the best party in power to achieve these benefits for most Canadians.


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Keyword : It's time for you to get ahead = false promises in the wrong direction

federal election

Scheer


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