Mayor John Tory's Toronto

[SunriseChampion]

There. Fixed that for you.

That reminded me of something I saw just an hour ago: Capitalism for the poor. Socialism for the wealthy.

What's his face Blyth said it on some podcast.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Stay tuned, off-street (Green P) parking rates may, finally, be on the rise.

Existing policy has, for many decades mandated rates be roughly at 75% of nearby competitor parking lots.

The proposed new policy would seek to price roughly in line w/peer private parking.

https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/pa/bgrd/backgroundfile-147371.pdf

This will be a positive change, if adopted.

Now to do the same for Permit Parking and on-Street parking!

I guess this is good, but I won't be happy til we have congestion charges and such. Wake me up when we finally decide to get real.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I think it is valid to know that such tent cities have a very negative effect on the local community.

Seems to me like the inverse may be also be true.

Just sayin.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Because if you had strict enforcement you'd have bleeding hearts, who are entirely unaffected by the presence of tent cities in their neighbourhood, jump down police and politicans throats.

Unfortunately, this is true but does nothing to account for people such as me who are in favour of their existence and are by no means bleeding hearts who are unaffected by the presence of such encampments as I have stated above, having very personal experience of such.

 

[SunriseChampion]

To address that issue (as best one can), we need to build vastly more affordable housing.

We need to fix shelters, as the interim step by moving to single-room occupancy, with key card access. This would allow shelter residents to have a de facto fixed address, to secure their belongings, to enjoy better hygiene (SRO should contain its own bathroom facilities.), and should allow shelter residents to stay during daytime hours.

We also need to address timely, free access to mental healthcare of all types, but particularly those seeking addiction treatment.

All of which, will cost money.

It will, more than likely pay for itself within a few years.

But upfront, government must raise taxes, as it must to tackle a host of other issues as well.

We will not solve big societal problems without sacrifice.

I can agree with these prescriptions whilst also being very aware of the fact that none of this will abolish homelessness.

 

[zang]

In the 1950's, the US had high taxes (without the loopholes) for the rich. That paid for their interstate highway network.

That paid for most of the economic boom that was the 1950s and 1960s. People like to credit that solely to post-war manufacturing, but GI mortgages, combined with (the very limited success of) Truman's "Fair Deal" built a social safety net that kept people housed, raised the minimum wage and expanded social security. And then in subsequent generations, the rise of Randian/Libertarian "individualism" stripped everything good away.

It's funny, during quarantine, my wife has been watching a lot of classic television. It's astounding how many sitcoms, shows and media in general glorified the ultra rich. They associated "rich" with being intelligent, kind, level-headed helped wipe away the "greedy banker" image left after the depression. All the while, this gave the rich cover to lobby for the destruction of social programs and reduction of taxation. And of course, gave us the current blight on the world, Donald Trump.

 

[zang]

and were involved in a Cold war arms race.

Imagine if that money had been spent in the education and health systems, instead of putting a generation in fear of a state that was doomed to fail anyway.

 

[zang]

That reminded me of something I saw just an hour ago: Capitalism for the poor. Socialism for the wealthy.

What's his face Blyth said it on some podcast.

There was a time that a single income family living in New York City with a housekeeper was considered middle class.

We need to get out of the Reagan-era (or Mulroney, if you prefer) thinking and start taxing the ever loving hell out of the rich. Individualism is incompatible with a society. Let them buy an island somewhere and live by themselves if they don't want to contribute. But a society doesn't exist without cooperation.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Imagine if that money had been spent in the education and health systems, instead of putting a generation in fear of a state that was doomed to fail anyway.

After WWII, a lot of money was spent on G.I. education in both U.S. and Canada.

 

[SunriseChampion]

There was a time that a single income family living in New York City with a housekeeper was considered middle class.

We need to get out of the Reagan-era (or Mulroney, if you prefer) thinking and start taxing the ever loving hell out of the rich. Individualism is incompatible with a society. Let them buy an island somewhere and live by themselves if they don't want to contribute. But a society doesn't exist without cooperation.

I deal with the wealthiest of Canadians through work. I'm not one of those people who thinks they need to be taxed to the hilt....I find that sort of attitude can be based in jealousy. I'm not implying that this is the case with you, by the way.

I do, however, think that we need to break bollocks to prevent tax avoidance and simplify the tax code to abolish all the loopholes and subsidies.

 

[DSC]

I deal with the wealthiest of Canadians through work. I'm not one of those people who thinks they need to be taxed to the hilt....I find that sort of attitude can be based in jealousy. I'm not implying that this is the case with you, by the way.

I do, however, think that we need to break bollocks to prevent tax avoidance and simplify the tax code to abolish all the loopholes and subsidies.

While I completely agree that the tax code is FAR too complex, and there are far too many targeted subsidies and courting of special interests, I would say that tax avoidance is simply common sense. According to Wiki "Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law." Tax Evasion is quite different and should certainly be severely punished.

 

[zang]

After WWII, a lot of money was spent on G.I. education in both U.S. and Canada.

General education is what I mean. K-12, post-secondary and the institutions, rather than as a reward for four years of indentured servitude to the nation.

 

[zang]

I deal with the wealthiest of Canadians through work. I'm not one of those people who thinks they need to be taxed to the hilt....I find that sort of attitude can be based in jealousy. I'm not implying that this is the case with you, by the way.

I do, however, think that we need to break bollocks to prevent tax avoidance and simplify the tax code to abolish all the loopholes and subsidies.

I grew up the son of a wealthy man. It's not jealousy that drives me, but the unfairness of the situation. That lack of compassion, the breaking of the social contract, the building personal wealth over the well being of employees is what I detest.

Take Galen Weston; one of the richest men in the country. Constantly devaluing his minimum wage employees, and one of those pushing hardest to minimize labour at any costs. Hell, his company was even found guilty of price fixing (bread). All the while he spends money building a massive near-monopoly in bread, grocery and now drugstores, buys his (or a company he owns) name a wing on just about every major museum in the country, and is one of the biggest lobbyists for self-checkouts (even against the wishes of employees, customers, franchisees, etc.) and has been against every raise of minimum wage in the past couple of decades.

Yeah, it's great that Loblaws and Shoppers have (temporarily) bumped pay up $2 during Covid-19, but lets not forget:

Loblaw shareholders reject proposal on ‘living wage’ for employees

A living wage, calculated annually, is an hourly rate set by looking at an area’s typical expenses such as food, housing, transportation and child care.

www.thestar.com

The greed shows no end.

 

[SunriseChampion]

While I completely agree that the tax code is FAR too complex, and there are far too many targeted subsidies and courting of special interests, I would say that tax avoidance is simply common sense. According to Wiki "Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law." Tax Evasion is quite different and should certainly be severely punished.

Sorry, to be clear, I meant tax evasion althought I believe tax avoidance is also a moral failing. It being the legal manipulation of the tax structure doesn't make it virtuous.

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I grew up the son of a wealthy man. It's not jealousy that drives me, but the unfairness of the situation. That lack of compassion, the breaking of the social contract, the building personal wealth over the well being of employees is what I detest.

Yeah, that's fair and actually a position of value when having this belief, I think.
I agree with you in regards to the moral failings of the wealthy in this context.

Take Galen Weston.....

.....take any number of similar people and families. Believe me, I've seen it all. New money, old money, beneficent, greedy, kind, dickhead.

Actually, it can be quite interesting. One of the nicest, kindest, and genuinely grateful wealthy people I have dealt with were featured in the Panama Papers. So, it's like......what am I supposed to think of them? Tax cheats yet genuinely kind and grateful people.

I've met a lot of these folk......as wealthy as the Thomsons and as poor as upper middle class.

As with any sphere, generalisations don't do the truth any justice.