Debt Scolds
Sep. 17th, 2022 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewlineI wrote a letter to the editor at the Ottawa Citizen today complaining about right-wing debt scolds complaining about the lack of disrespect for the needs of the debt-chained.
No idea if it's going to be published. Ever.
The text:
After reading the opinions of Sharon Moren as published in the 17 September edition, I am left with an anger that I still cannot hope to be rid of.
Thanks to people who think like her, including Pierre Poilievre whom she praises for being a fellow debt-scold, as well as Stephen Harper, Doug Ford, Mike Harris and so many more of like mind in federal and provincial government across these past decades - and I note that I'm just speaking of Ontario here for now - there is no escape from financial rainy days for far too many of the rest of us. Those days are now with us constantly, leaving no difference between "need" and "want" anymore, no room to plan for whatever futures are still left. And still these debt-scolds blame their prey for being preyed upon.
Enough of this.
We need Universal Basic Income. If only because it costs money to look for work, however you find yourself ending up without work, and because it costs money to live while you're looking. And if unable to work, disability supports have to be there for you in addition to UBI, and not clawed back from it! And for those able to work and actively holding down jobs, a true living wage rather than a minimum wage that's still below the poverty line.
This would be a start on getting back to a place where we could all make a distinction between "need" and "want" again.
Enough from debt-scolds and austerity-pushers!
No idea if it's going to be published. Ever.
The text:
After reading the opinions of Sharon Moren as published in the 17 September edition, I am left with an anger that I still cannot hope to be rid of.
Thanks to people who think like her, including Pierre Poilievre whom she praises for being a fellow debt-scold, as well as Stephen Harper, Doug Ford, Mike Harris and so many more of like mind in federal and provincial government across these past decades - and I note that I'm just speaking of Ontario here for now - there is no escape from financial rainy days for far too many of the rest of us. Those days are now with us constantly, leaving no difference between "need" and "want" anymore, no room to plan for whatever futures are still left. And still these debt-scolds blame their prey for being preyed upon.
Enough of this.
We need Universal Basic Income. If only because it costs money to look for work, however you find yourself ending up without work, and because it costs money to live while you're looking. And if unable to work, disability supports have to be there for you in addition to UBI, and not clawed back from it! And for those able to work and actively holding down jobs, a true living wage rather than a minimum wage that's still below the poverty line.
This would be a start on getting back to a place where we could all make a distinction between "need" and "want" again.
Enough from debt-scolds and austerity-pushers!
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Date: 2022-09-18 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-18 08:04 pm (UTC)