The Quebec situation in the context of falling tax revenues and deteriorating social programs
Hey babblers - wrote this piece about what's going in in Quebec (I'm in Montreal)
http://www.tonyezzygetsajob.com/blorg/?p=1
I was spending a lot of time arguing with people who were against the protests, or didn't undersatnd them, and instead of repeating the same points over and over I decided to write this and refer people to it.
I really think that if we shift the narrative of the Quebec situation from people refusing to pay more tuition, to the idea that Canada's wealth has doubled while corporate taxes have plummeted so that we can no longer afford to fund education or health care, we can get the whole country banging pots and pans and demanding major policy changes.
Let me know what you think, including criticisms, as I can always edit it.
I want to make pamphlet versions of this, and a short version just with graphics and captions - if anyone knows where I can find inflation adjusted graphs of things like total tax revenue per capita, corporate profits over time, corporate tax revenues per capita, corporate tax revenues over time, average (not median) wealth, federal healthcare transfers per capita, and other useful charts, please let me know!
Thanks!
great article, me and my friends have been having essentially the same conversation.
Thanks, glad to hear you guys are having the same conversation - this movement can explode if we seize the moment, these positions are really popular, even among conservatives, even among people who instinctively hate the protesters. Maybe we can push back 20 years of corporate globalization.
agreed. i think it's the case that if given the facts most people would agree with the protesters but the all they hear from the media and politicians is that they're "spoiled"....
it's the exact same tactic they use with unions. even though everyone wants the benefits of unionization, it's become a dirty word that people instinctively recoil at because they told over and over again that it's the unions that are greedy for wanting a say in their working lives.
it's like that old saying: "the people must believe they are not being manipulated in order to manipulate them effectively"
See:
http://www.budget.finances.gouv.qc.ca/Budget/2012-2013/en/documents/Hist...
Table 6 (on page 7 de 21) shows Quebec government revenues since 1973, projected to 2013-2014. It might prove useful.
Cool thanks - no EZ graphs in there, but still interesting. I'm espeially looking for things that span decades to get a long view. Not sure how Quebec sees it's revenues rising given taxes are set to fall!
The Maple Spring and the Mafiocracy: Struggling Students Vs 'Entitled Elites' - by Andrew Gavin Marshall
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/06/03/the-maple-spring-and-the-mafio...
"...We are told that this is called 'democracy' and a 'strong economy'. We are told that this is the 'best system in the world,' which benefits everyone...not just you. I prefer to use another word to describe it: Mafiocracy..."
Woah, super long piece but really interesting stuff in there, thanks! He should make links to his statistics though
For example, I want to know the source for when he saus every time tuition goes up $1000 the proportion of poor students goes down 19%
Alice Klein See sources footnoted at bottom of the page.
---
The Andrew Gavin Marshall essay is a good one. It really is a mafiocracy. And the CIA is the biggest dope delivery service in the world. They would love to get their hands on Cuba and turn it into another Haiti and port for running drugs to the mainland while exporting military aid and running guns the other way to Latin American militaries and drug lords in Mexico, Colombia etc.
Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions December 2009
Charest is most likely in the pockets of the mafia. He is a hypocrite, and lapdog newz media help privileged Liebrano elites to portray Quebec students as spoiled brats. Charest's education was more affordable than those of students in Quebec today. Like their federal cousins the Quebec junior wing of the Liebranos are crooked liars the same.
Thanks, the source was lnked to on top of the stats, vs below, so I missed it.
Going to make a blog post of just stats on the tuition and taxation issue, without all the commentary for people to use as a resource