Poverty Today, Like Poverty Yesterday, Like Poverty Tomorrow
I'm watching a typical panel on television discuss poverty in Ontario (typical because it involves a politician from the current government, in this case, Liberal, talking about strategy, planning, longterm solutions) and I find it amusing that the representative Minister has talked to employers a lot about this issue and they've told her that if the minimum wage was raised right now to $10.25, it would cause job losses.
Okay. I guess employers have a right to say whatever, although I'm not sure why whatever they say is parrotted back by a government Minister as necessarily reasonable, or reliable, or even practical. She didn't mention having talked to any poor people to ask them what they thought about there being a minimum wage of $10.25 right here right now in Ontario.
Because if people working full time, all year, are still living below the poverty line - and many of them are - then that tells me that somebody who's not an employer or, I guess, a self-interested poor person, should say to the Minister, so fucking what if raising the minimum wage to $10.25 results in job losses? Obviously, not having a minimum wage of $10.25 isn't helping the full time working poor much, anyway - is it.
It's poverty. And because poverty is the problem we're trying to fix, then it makes sense that the much maligned solution of throwing money at it is exactly what is called for here. I mean, if you're poor, you need money. Right? It's just common sense - common sense without the revolution.
I dunno. These governments today: poor = in need of money. And I'm not sure why, after all the progress we've made, socially, the Minister isn't talking directly to poor people to solve the problem of poverty. My guess is that she knows what they'd say and there'd go the need to talk about strategy, planning, longterm solutions on television panels.
