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The bottom line for me is economic fairness - those who have, should pay more - be they individuals or corporations. And corporations need to justify the need for tax breaks before getting them!
ETA: no 'Occupy Quebec City'? Lots of room outside the National Assemby!
A maximum wage ;)
I love the idea of a maximum wage, but I don't see it ever happening, sadly.
How about an economic system that is based on meeting human needs with the minimum amount of resources? Where people are guaranteed a minimum standard of living? Where there is a universal recognition that the economy needs to exist within a sustainable ecological footprint? Where economic overhead activities like investment banking and product advertising fall away because they add no inherent value to our lives? Where the amount of work we need to do during the course of our lives is dramatically decreased as we hack away at the vast wastefulness of capitalism? Where creating new jobs is a cause for concern and embarrassment, not celebration? Where happiness and freedom (real freedom, not economic freedom) are the goals instead of economic growth?
How about that?
Repatriate the 500 GBU-12 Paveway guided munitions Canada bought to drop on the people of Libya - only the bad ones of course.
And carpet-bomb the 905.
I second the motion: Bombs Away!
..but please don't copy the choral-crowd repetitions
Vote Liberal or Tory, or don't vote at all, and you'll get more of the same guaranteed!
on second thought save a few of those GBU-12 Paveways for the H of C!
Tabby cats are far nicer. Even if they are cats.
Renationalize money and impose to bank to have in liquidity the same amount that the saving they were entrusted.
We need a tool to organize this discussion more effectively. A poll application would be great so we could see which issues people feel are most important. We also need a way to prioritize issues so that we can see that while all issues may be important, some need to take priority. Moderators we need your help here! We need a way to evolve this discussion towards consensus. Individual posts are good for allowing people to express themselves, but I don't think it's useful for building consensus.
I like the wiki model, where anyone can edit, but there is a group of users who have earned credibility that can make more important decisions. Is there a way to bring a wiki type application on to this board?
I really believe this is the crux of the matter. And we should not shy away from it because it seems impossible. Bringing down dicatators in the Middle East and North Africa were things many people said would likely never happen.
Nearly all of the issues listed here are the result of the unfair inflluence large corporations exert over democratic processes. The ruling class is able to remain in power, not because of higher intelligence, higher morals or better looks. Their influence comes through access to vast sums of money.
We know the necessity of a minimum wage. We need to see the necessity of a maximum wage. We need to see that once you start earning an income past a certain point, the influence you begin to exert over the democratic process is unhealthy. We need to concentrate our weight on pressure points.
A maximum wage is a simple, powerful and elegant demand. It is also very specific and goes straight to the heart of the matter. It is outrageous yes, but only because we don't see it in the context of 99% vs 1%.
We live in a world of finite resources. For too long we've lived under the illusion of infinite economic growth. Cancer is so vicious because unike a normal cell, a cancerous cell can't stop multiplying. After a certain point an income too becomes cancerous...
A so-called "maximum wage" (not a really appropriate term because the rich don't earn "wages" as such) can be implemented quite simply by imposing a 100% marginal income tax rate on incomes above whatever you choose to be the maximum.
- Source
Yes, follow the trail of chee$e all the way to the big red and blue cat houses, and a non-elected cat chamber cattery for fat-cat party hacks most of whom were rejected by us lowly mice if only by fraudulent first past the cat elections before sneaking their way into chee$e for life appointments. Too bad they don't choke on their Bay Street fur ball$ those fat cats.
It's been a catastrophe in Ottawa for the last 140 years in a row non-stop without a break for the mice.
The problem is that the tax deductions and credits are such that even alternative minimum tax can't effect a "maximum wage."
Here is what Occupy Vancouver put on their web site. They got it right IMO.
http://occupyvancouver.com/
My suggestion is here:
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2011/10/its-time-nationalize-banks
Nice self promotion.
I think it is time for Canadians to discuss the Official Languages Act. What was meant to bring equality among people has turned into language Apartheid in certain areas of the Country. The ways of Quebec are quickly being pushed onto New Brunswick to the point that the province is broke and relies on all the other provinces to support it. Yet we nor our MLA"S are allowed to question it or duality or any cost saving measures that involve cutting anything to do with francophones services.
This act has created what they call stakeholders, which gives anyone of any minority or special interest groups millions in free government money while we continue to pay for it.
New Brunswick is on the brink of destruction and as for the rest of the country
Air Canada's $12,000 episode says it all.
Seems off topic to me, but I think it was your legislature which established NB as the only officially bilingual province in Canada, no? If this were something imposed by the federal government I think the first line of defense would be your legislature.
But I am not that familiar with NB politics.
On the question itself, I have always been suspicious of the notion that government coffers are being broken and society is being divided by expanding language services. Go to other parts of the world and speaking two or three languages is common. And already here many banks and businesses are offering a multitude of language services beyond our two official languages.
Sorry if I don't see this as a bad thing.
I think it will eventually all be distilled down to the separation of corporation and state.
That's what it's got to be.
is that going to be nationalization of the banks without compensation, or do we exchange the bank shares with government bonds? some people have their pensions tied up in bank shares...
Nationalization of the banks in Canada or the USA is a very faint pipe dream, but still a good idea. It'd probably take a civil war, first, to achieve.
This interesting bit of video (making the rounds on facebook) might provide some food for thought, and amusement.
Chris Hedges handing Kevin O'Leary his ass on a plate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAhHPIuTQ5k&feature=player_embedded
To bad, as he said, he won't be back.
I don't have cable, so I never see any of this shit, but I did heard Hedges giving a great and far more sympathetic interview to Michael Enright on the Sunday Edition.
Interesting how he says that the conservatives are the ones calling for the rule of law. The radicals are the 1% who are undermining everything.
if the govt doesnt mind exchanging share paper for sovereign debt the profits from the bank would convert those bonds to cash pretty quickly anyway. maybe you could have a cap of 5,000,000 per portfolio or something, the rest just expropriated.
Off topic, bigoted trolling.